When you think of your life in retirement you imagine yourself traveling the world, spending quality time with family and friends, pursuing simple pleasures, and living the life of ease and luxury. With the children gone and various bills paid, it’s easy to assume that you’ll have sufficient income coming in to maintain your desired standard of living during retirement.

The lifestyle of the majority of senior citizens is anything but a life of ease and luxury. After 30 years of working hard, raising a family, and trying to maintain a quality standard of living, the thing that’s always procrastinated and oftentimes neglected is retirement planning. Creating your desired retirement lifestyle is going to take more than wishful thinking and groundless assumptions. It’s going to take proactive planning and purposeful execution.

Financial empowerment series

JULY 21—The YWCA Greater Pittsburgh will host a Financial Empowerment Series from 6:30-8 p.m. at the YWCA Homewood-Brushton, 6907 Frankstown Rd., Homewood. Every Wednesday, the four-session series will teach individuals how to create a successful strategy to improve one’s overall financial situation. The sessions will be focused on budgeting, using banks and credit unions, understanding credit-credit repair and saving-investing. The series will run through July 28 and a free copy of one’s credit report and free child care will be provided. Registration is required and the cost is $20 per person. Call 412-255-6749.

There is a natural tendency to procrastinate when it comes to stressful activities that you don’t enjoy. Combined with a busy, hurried lifestyle and competing demands, however, procrastination can create its own problems, such as stress, guilt and panic. Given the economic environment of the last several years—high unemployment, declining home values, escalating health care costs, complex tax law changes, and bitter economic scandals—many consumers approach finances with a sense of foreboding. Procrastination, here, though, can actually cost you money. The Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants offers a few tips on how to keep from procrastinating on financial issues.

In a January 2010 New Pittsburgh Courier article concerning the closing of the A-K Valley Federal Credit Union in Homewood-Brushton, the CEO and president of the branch stated that Homewood is a dangerous place and needs to be cleaned up.

The weekend of June 11 and 12, Homewood native Derrick Hemby took the opposite view and officially opened his fifth business in the community, the Galaxy Lounge and Entertainment Center. Located at 7246 Kelly St., the Galaxy, offering “an out of this world experience” is a combination bar and entertainment complex. “They said Homewood couldn’t do it, but here we are,” said Hemby during his grand opening celebration.

OH, WHAT A FEELING—Derrick Hemby, owner of the Galaxy Lounge and Entertainment Center addresses the crowd during the grand opening as his wife Carla looks on.

Classified as a sports bar, Hemby says he believes the Galaxy Lounge and Entertainment Center is the largest Black-owned facility of its kind in Pittsburgh offering fun, games, music, live entertainment, sports telecasts and good food. Between noon and 2 a.m. patrons can play pool, darts, basketball, ping-pong and other games. During the week happy hours and various specials and promotions take place such as Martini Mondays, Tournament Tuesdays, Wet Your Whistle Wednesdays, Ladies Nights on Thursday, Jam Sessions and DJ Tracey Lee on Friday and R&B Old School Saturdays.