A close relative lives on a 400€/month pension in a northern climate. Close friends, a family of five, live frugally, but comfortably on a high _four_ figure in

A close relative lives on a 400€/month pension in a northern climate. Close friends, a family of five, live frugally, but comfortably on a high _four_ figure income, as in sub-9999€. Wouldn't be for me, but they do it and they're really happy. Ill health - yourself or someone dependent on you- might be the reason, or extremely bad luck, not-so-smart decisions, living and working in a VHCOL area, or ... Something other than inflation might be the reason you are struggling financially.