Strictly Business

The bad news:
- Americans are often unprepared to retire
   Just 14 percent of Americans feel well-prepared financially for retirement, while the rest “do not have any idea about what their retirement income will look like,” according to an annual survey by HSBC Insurance.
   ... “A perfect storm is confronting pensions planning, created by an aging population, falling pension funds values, a drop in state and employer contributions and an economic downturn which is forcing people to make tough financial choices,” HSBC Group Chairman Stephen Green said in the release.

The good news:
- Goldilocks home market looks hot - Buffalo's Business by David Robinson
   In one first-quarter report by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Buffalo Niagara region ranked fourth out of 294 metropolitan areas for home price appreciation over the last year.
   In another, by the National Association of Realtors, the increase in median sale prices here was the 10th highest during the first quarter.

- Leisure Living doesn't let a near-disaster keep it down 
   Just over a year ago, fire swept through a warehouse at the rear of Leisure Living’s property on Niagara Street. Firefighters prevented the blaze from spreading and destroying the entire business.
... But the business recovered and managed to follow through on a plan it had laid out before the blaze, moving into larger space to accommodate its growth.

The chicken:
- Where there’s smoke, there’s often Chiavetta’s
   The same marinated aroma is familiar in towns and villages, at churches, fire halls, legion posts and Kiwanis Clubs throughout Western New York. The Chiavetta’s name has become a staple of summer barbecuing and fundraising in the region, raising nearly a half a million dollars for the hundreds of nonprofit organizations that use it for their events each year.

-- George Pyle/The Buffalo News