Less Money?  No Problem

Indeed, this is one of the more unexpected and best parts about America today.  You don't actually need much money to live well.  The things that cost are:  housing, healthcare, and education.  One can actually live a pretty nice live separate from those considerations.  A very smart, practical person would rent, eat well and exercise to healthy in a preventative way, and self educate (or try otherwise to enhance whatever public school education is available).

Obviously, these things are easier for some than others.  If you suffer from a chronic disease, get in a terrible accident, or live in an area with bad public schools, it makes it harder.  But still, it's better to be poor in America today, than rich in many parts of the world or at any other time in history.  That's a good thing.