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That is correct. Five hundred dollars a month - $6,000 a year (2003 dollars)
And when I mention families retiring on that amount, I don't mean per person, I mean the whole family.
Of course, there are a good many more who have retired on larger sums, and any addition at all to this minimum makes considerable difference in living standards, but nevertheless, there are some who stretch out one hundred dollars a month to the point where they can retire on it.
There are hundreds of thousands of Europeans who have retired on one hundred dollars a month, or less. In fact, there are few, if any, European nations where the average workingman can look forward to a pension that large upon his retirement at 60 or 65 years of age. Two hundred dollars a month is a fortune in the eyes of the average European. Actually, in most European countries the working man does not make that magnific3nt sum even while employed a full working week. Indeed, there are some European nations, Spain, for example, where even a skilled electrician or plumber, does not make as much as fifty dollars a month, working full time.
However, it would occur to comparatively few American couples who had a guaranteed income of a hundred a month, to retire. Why should this be?
Largely because we Americans have established a set of standards which makes five hundred dollars a month hardly more than pin money. There are some who say that this set of standards is a ridiculous one, but ridiculous or not it is there.
If you feel you absolutely must have a new automobile every year or two, then obviously you are not going to be able to retire on a hundred a month—in fact, it'll probably cost you that much to run your car, if you include depreciation and adequate insurance.
If prime quality steak is the only meat that you find digestible, I also doubt that you'll be able to retire on anything like this sum. If your clothes must be the latest styles from Paris, you're sunk and will probably have to keep on that treadmill for a good many more years. If the only beverages you find potable are imported Scotch or cognac, once again it's no go—unless you wish to give up drinking.
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