My parents are what livingalmostlarge describes. Actually, my dad makes more now in retirement than he did working. Their house has been paid off completely for 30 years. My dad retired about 17 years ago (and my mom about 7 years ago). Actually they both have good pensions (especially my dad’s). Here in Canada you also get old age pension (everyone gets this whether they worked or not – it’s usually around $500 a month, but they give you extra if you’re poor) and Canada Pension Plan (our version of social security – although our payments are capped at around $800 a month and that’s only if you made enough money and contributed the maximum into it). Between all their pensions and the fact that they haven’t had a mortgage (and have never been in debt for anything else) for 30 years, they do very well. They don’t need a huge bank account. They probably have between 40-50K in the bank at any time (just because they don’t spend a lot of money day to day). I’m guessing they net between $5-6K monthly. Actually, my dad said putting money in an RRSP (our version of 401K type thing) was a really bad move for him. When he had to start withdrawing it (they make you do so by a certain age here) he was at a higher tax rate than when he put it in. Retirement savings vehicles like that often aren’t a good idea for people who have good pensions from their work (which is obviously not as many people nowadays).
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