500$ (lets say after tax) is HUGE in many non-western countries. Depending on the city, it is possible to live very comfortably at this amount for a single person. And decently, for a family. And that includes medical insurance. We aren't talking NY or SF here, but there are lots of nice places in the world that aren't Silicon Valley :P

lol yep. my friends in Medellin make about 500$ a month and live great. They get to eat out occasionally, party, go on trips. Nothing lavish, but sustainable.

It's even possible in Europe. Lviv, Ukraine is almost Central Europe in both, its geographic location and the quality of life, with the rent prices 91.06% lower than in San Francisco[1].

[1] https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...

I agree with this to this extent: if you have no dependents, no plans to save money for retirement, you own your house or have a free living arrangement, you don't need to travel between cities, you don't maintain a car, then this is absolutely possible in many countries.

I just wanted to point this out for any potential digital nomads out there - yes it's possible, but probably not in most people's cases, although I'd like to hear stories of people who've made it work. Personally I could never make it work with less than $1k/month - but much of that was due to housing costs.

Keep in mind though the costs of even bare bones laptop & internet connection business models start becoming significant as a percentage when you operate at revenues this low. Replacing one broken laptop is going to eat more than half your monthly revenue, for example - and laptops/desktops are generally even more expensive when you're not in the US or China.

Additionally, $500 suggests a certain amount of work required and level of skill.