How long have you worked with SCE? I worked for the company for 38 years, and I held various roles. Starting off as a meter reader and ending up as a senior supervisor.

What was the wisest thing you did to prepare for retirement? Haha and this is the honest truth, the wisest thing is when I first met with you guys some 10 years ago just to have a conversation.

What are your plans for retirement? My plans are to simply do my own things. Start my own little barbecuing business and also work on fun hobbies, like I just bought an El Camino that I'm getting ready to start fixing up.

What advice would you give to someone retiring in one year? Make sure that they have their financial planning in order to make sure that you know that they are financially prepared for retirement.

In your early working years, did you have a supervisor or mentor recommend you put as much away for the future as possible? Yeah, that absolutely happened. When I first started with the company, some of the old heads had told me, hey, you're going to retire one day, so you need to start preparing for it. They said to use as little sick time and vacation pay as possible because it will roll over and you can cash in on it in retirement. I vividly remember during my first year with the company, I was told to be prepared for my last day now, and I started saving as much as I could from then on. I thought, Okay, I will try that out. I took that advice and it paid off.

What are you looking forward to the most about retirement? Well probably just to make my own decisions. Really, just whatever I want to do, I do.