He isn't living in poverty, not even close. His family's 2012 spending was just under 26k but that doesn't include income taxes, his mortgage is paid off, and he isn't saving in a retirement account any more. For any normal working person those thee things would likely account for nearly 60% of costs. His life style is probably equivalent to a still working person who is making 75k.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/01/21/exposed-the-mmm-fa...