[thatfrenchguy]

> Anybody with a middle class income can do it

Median income in the US per person in 2018 is 35000$. 500$ a month is 6000 a month, or 17% of that before tax. At that income level you probably don't have any income to spare after housing + food + car + health care.

[shantly]

If you (have to) have a car and you've got more than one person in the household I'd say any margin over expenses (savings) under $1000 is just rainy-day money, not retirement savings. It will be eaten by copays, deductibles, new tires, and so on. Just a matter of time. Might go a few months "saving" then bam, kid breaks an arm and you're in it for whatever your annual out-of-pocket max is (may be really high, but bad news, if anything more than the sniffles happens, you're hitting it)