... I don't know how they expect two people to live on $1100.00 a month!!
My question would be, why do you only have $1100 a month income? Didn't you plan and save for your retirement while you were working?
When my dad "retired" and I saw him struggle to get by on the $750/month he got from SS (that was in the 1980's), I swore that wouldn't happen with me. My sister and I ended up supplementing his income so he would have enough to live on.
I started putting money into a 401k savings plan at work when I was in my 30's. A 401k is nice because that money is taken out of your paycheck before taxes so the government is giving you a little boost. On top of that, many companies match a portion of your savings so that's like getting a raise from your employer. After 30 years of doing that, I now have a nice little nest egg to tide me over in retirement. My wife and I each get SS and a pension as well.
She retired about 10 years ago, I retired in Jan last year and we were fine financially (even supporting 3 of my adult children who live with us). I got bored so went back to work in Feb of this year. I'm currently contributing to my 401k at a decent rate which will build the next egg a bit more before I retire for good in about 2 years.
The one thing that scares me is that it would only take 1 major medical situation (one of us get cancer or something like that) to wipe out our savings. Even then, we would still both get SS checks and our pensions so we would still have a decent income.
I hope I'm not coming off as bragging as that isn't my intention. It may be too late for Dan and Celery to do anything about their situations but, for you younger guys still working, I'd advise you to put money aside for your old age starting as soon as you start working. Retirement may seem like a long way off but it might sneak up on you. I think both Dan and Celery retired early due to medical reasons.