This book is not devoted solely to persons who have established incomes, either pensions or investments. I plan to reveal how any adult American, with or without income, with or without savings, can retire and lead a more full life. However, before deal­ing with general details on how to accomplish this I should like to devote a short chapter to those persons who do have a small in­come already on hand.

I say a small income, because it is obvious that if you have a large one you have no need of my advice on how to retire, no matter what age you may be. Given sufficient money, nobody need have any difficulty retiring.

The very purpose of this book is to tell those persons who do not have sufficient money—or at least think they haven't—how they can accomplish this desirable goal.

Give a European a small income, you can almost say no matter how small, and he'll retire, no matter what his age. The average European feels that the most important thing in life is freedom to dispense his time in the way he wishes. He figures that as long as you are at the mercy of a business, even your own, or of an em­ployer, you are not truly free. Others dictate how your time shall be spent.

So you will find throughout Europe and especially in the very economical countries such as Spain, Austria and Greece hundreds of thousands of Europeans, both single persons and families, who have retired at any age from 18 to 80. They simply cannot under­stand why anyone should continue working after already reaching the point where he, or she, has sufficient funds with which to lead a full life.

I know I am going to run into disbelief here, but I personally have met, in various places throughout the world, single persons, couples and even families who have retired on as little as fifty dollars a month and have no other source of income.

That is correct. Fifty dollars a month—$600 a year.

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 fifty 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. One 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 a 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.

It's a matter of sitting down and thinking it out. What is it that you really want in life? What is really important to you?

If you must have the ultra-ultra gadgets that our civilization has dreamed up, then you will need a considerable income before you can retire, free of any work, because they are very expensive. In later chapters of this book I am going to illustrate ways in which you can make good money with a minimum of effort, but if you wish to retire completely free of any effort at all and still demand a king-size house, a new car, the most expensive of frozen and canned foods as well as the latest styles in clothing, you're going to have to have a whopper of an income.

However, I repeat, what is really important to you?

More than a million Americans are currently living within the boundaries of our country in trailers. Of these, hundreds of thousands are retired men and women. And of these it has been estimated that more than a hundred thousand have actual cash incomes of less than $1,200 a year. Needless to say, their lives have many advantages. They go where the climate is best, where the scenery is most striking. They fish, they hunt, they swim when such desires come to them. They see our country in all its glory, they grow to know it intimately.

There is no doubt whatsoever that if you have a sufficient initial amount of money to buy a car (it need not be new) and a trailer (it need be neither new nor large) and an income of approximately one hundred dollars a month, you can retire and see America, Canada and Mexico. Leisurely, thoroughly, happily. There is just no doubt at all. Tens of thousands of other Americans are doing it. You can do it too.

In Miami, to choose only one example among many, there are , thousands of persons who have chosen boats on which to retire, rather than trailers. Hundreds of these boats are docked along the Miami river and in bays and inlets in the vicinity. They range in size from thirty-five feet upward and every type of small craft ever heard of is represented. There are sailboats and motor cruisers, houseboats and yachts.

How much does such a boat cost? You will be hard pressed, per­haps, to believe this, but they run as little as a thousand dollars apiece for boats large enough for a couple to live upon. In fact, the last time I was in Miami I considered buying a several roomed houseboat which was priced at exactly $550. I decided against it because it wasn't as mobile as I wanted.

The reason that there are so many craft in the Miami area, so low priced, is due to the nature of our so-called upper class Ameri­cans. The usual person who can afford to buy a boat and operate it as a hobby, wouldn't be seen dead in a model that was several years old. Like their automobiles, they must show themselves off in the very latest. In short, depreciation is very rapid.

A person, couple, or small family, then, can buy these used boats at a comparative pittance. By living upon it full time, rent is saved and many of the playboy-type costs of boating are eliminated. You must pay dockage fees which will run you pos­sibly $20 a month, and if you are on a budget, can't take your craft out on fishing trips or cruises as often as you might like. But even on a tight budget, life on a boat can be pleasant indeed.

Fish becomes a major item in your diet, and, particularly in Southern waters such as Miami, you will find fruits and vegetables in remarkable abundance at low price. If you have never been aboard the type craft of which I speak, I can only tell you that quarters are surprisingly ample, less constricted than a trailer, and the appointments and conveniences of the very best. Only remember that this boat which you have purchased at such a small amount was once a wealthy man's plaything.

But if neither trailer life nor life on the water appeals to you, you might consider one of the cheaper areas of our country in which to retire in a house. It is almost unbelievable, once again, the prices at which you can purchase a small house, or a small farm, here in America.

You see, fifty years ago it was still practical in our country for a family to live on forty acres of land or less and make an adequate living. Every state in the Union had tens of thousands of such small farms. However, as the agricultural revolution developed it became increasingly difficult for the small farmer, with his horse or two, his few cattle, his often-rocky fields, to make a go of it. Every year thousands of farms were given up and their occupants went off to acquire jobs in the city.

In many, many of the beauty spots of America, and I name only New England and the Ozarks of Arkansas, as two examples among the many, these farms remain—for sale at a pittance. You'll find long lists of them in the farm newspapers and magazines. Or, pos­sibly better still, get in touch with the United Farm Agency, 2825 Main Street, Kansas City, Missouri, which specializes in selling farms. They'll send you free catalogues and lists. In the same city is Strout Realty Company, 20 W. Ninth Street, which also specializes in such sales and will also send you free literature on such places.

And not only is the initial investment on these so small, but you'll find that costs of living in general in such areas are far below those to which we are accustomed in the cities. Meats, vegetables, fruits are to be purchased from the neighbors. Chickens and per­haps a pig or two are practical to have in your own backyard. Indeed if amateur farming is of interest to you, such a hobby can pay off nicely.

I am not suggesting, if you are city-bred, that you can go out and buy one of these former farms and make a full living upon it by working on a part time basis. It's been done, of course, but on an average you will find that if a farmer, born and raised on a farm, was not able to make a living on this place, neither will you be able to. But you don't have to. With your one hundred dollars a month basic income, you would only be supplementing your diet, picking up a few dollars here and there by selling your surpluses— not attempting to make a full time go of it.

Thus far, I have dealt with retiring in the United States on a minimum amount. And there will be many who have no desire to spend their lives outside the boundaries of our own country.

However, it is my own opinion that a person, or couple, that has a small income, whether it be a pension, or dividends from some investment, can stretch the amount much further by living abroad. As I have already pointed out, a dollar goes much further in such countries as Mexico, Spain, Austria and Greece, among others, than it does in the United States. In fact, the United States is one of the most expensive countries on earth, and many will tell you that it is the most expensive of all.

If you steer clear of the tourist centers, it is possible to live on a very high standard in these countries above mentioned on a hundred dollars a month. Don't forget what I have said above in regard to the Europeans. Very few of them, even in the better to do countries, ever see as much as a hundred dollars a month. Even France, the luxury center of the world, does not have an average income of one hundred dollars a month per family. The average French working man makes less than this by 1957 French govern­ment statistics.

It becomes obvious, then, that it is possible to live on this amount. In fact, a bit of consideration shows that since the European is working to acquire his wages, and you are retired, you will have various advantages over him. He must dress for his job, he must utilize the public transportation every day going to and from work. He has expenses you won't have, including taxes, since, as you possibly know, if you live abroad for over 18 months you need not pay American income taxes.

In following chapters we will go into detail on the cheaper countries and the desirable ones in which to retire. It would be duplication to give details here.

Nor will it be necessary to give case histories of Americans who have bought trailers or boats in which to retire. The examples are so many that we all know of them. If not, a short trip to the nearest trailer camp and a bit of conversation, will give you more basic information on the subject than I could list here on many a page. Detailed information on buying a small farm can be found, as I've already mentioned, in the farm publications.

The important thing, the must thing to remember is that the majority of us have false standards. We have been told by the greatest advertising industry the world has ever seen that we have to have this luxury, that we must have that one, that we must spend, spend, SPEND, if we wish to achieve the good life.

Nonsense! The good life is to be achieved by freeing ourselves of this very rat-race which they sponsor. And this can be done on a very small amount, if such an amount is steady and dependable.

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