MW 'I want to live in a place that I can enjoy': I'm 69, single and get $3,000 in Social Security. Can I afford $2,000 rent?

By Quentin Fottrell

'With inheritance, I now have a little over $1 million in cash and investments'

"I'm ready to relocate as a renter. My car is paid for and I have no debt." (Photo subject is a model.)

Dear Quentin,

I'm a 69-year-old happily single woman. With inheritance, I now have a little over $1 million in cash and investments. I get $3,000 a month in Social Security. I'm ready to relocate as a renter. My car is paid for, and I have no debt. Can I afford to pay $2,000 a month rent in a new town? It would be $400 more than what I'm paying now.

I want to live in a place that I can enjoy.

Retired and Happily Single

Related: My boyfriend, 69, moved in. He refuses to pay more than $1,300 in rent and won't do yard work. What should I do?

You can email The Moneyist with any financial and ethical questions at qfottrell@marketwatch.com, and follow Quentin Fottrell on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Paying two-thirds of your monthly income on rent is extremely high; most advisers recommend no more than 30% of your income.

Dear Happily,

Yes, you can afford to live somewhere that will make you happy.

Happiness is an inside job, but it won't hurt to live in a town that gives you pleasure, whether it's near family and friends or beside the sea, in a climate that suits your lifestyle, or a town that has a sense of community and cultural activities you enjoy. At 69 you have earned the freedom to make these choices.

Spending two-thirds of your monthly income on rent is extremely high; most advisers recommend that no more than 30% of your income go toward accommodation. You don't say how much of your $1 million is invested and how much is in cash. A "moderately conservative" portfolio at your age would have 50% in stocks, according to Charles Schwab $(SCHW)$, but you could be less cautious.

For the sake of simplicity, however, let's say you currently have your $1 million split 50/50. If you took 4% withdrawal from $500,000 invested in the stock market with a 7% return after inflation, you would have the following: $515,000 after Year 1, $837,000 after 10 years and $1.38 million after 20 years. In other words, you would never run out of money from that source.

That would help subsidize your $2,000 rent in this new town, which we can assume would also go up over time. The alternative would be to use a chunk of your savings to buy an apartment in this new location, if you decided to live there permanently. If you purchased a house for $700,000, put $500,000 down, at 6% interest, you'd have a mortgage of around $1,200 a month.

That said, there has been a 30% increase in renters over the age of 65 from 2013 to 2023, according to U.S. Census data, partly due to people's wish to downsize and live in an area where they may not be able to afford to buy, and the desire to avoid the burden of homeownership costs (home insurance, maintenance and HOA fees among them).

Related: 'My whole financial world is upside down': I'm 'medically retired' at 51 with $428K in stocks. Is this enough to live on?

Use your $1 million wisely

This $1 million retirement fund has given you choices, but you also need to ensure that you use that money wisely (investing a large enough amount that it keeps providing income over the next several decades). Real World Investor, an investing website, released research in June estimating that Americans will need more than $1.1 million in additional savings to retire comfortably in 20 years.

Inflation, longer lifespans and rising living costs play a role. As Adam Koprucki, founder of Real World Investor, noted: "A comfortable retirement requiring $50,000 per year for 25 years means saving over $1.25 million, an amount that seems out of reach for many." That will be news for millions of would-be retirees who have only a fraction of that sum saved.

As you enter your 70s, this is the perfect time to focus on getting your money to make money for you for the next 20 to 30 years, and free up more time for yourself. We spend our working life paying taxes in the hope that we have a decent Social Security benefit when we reach full retirement age and, if we are fortunate enough, a 401(k), IRA and/or pension.

You have that. You're doing OK. The average monthly Social Security check is close to $2,000, according to the Social Security Administration, so you're ahead on that front. Your allocation of invested funds to stocks and bonds at any age depends, in part, on your risk tolerance and your level of financial stability. If you don't purchase a property, you could opt to put more than 50% in equities.

Two years of expenses in cash are often recommended for retirees; that is all the more pertinent for someone who is not living in a two-income household. Most retirees with IRAs and/or 401(k)s want to have a cash cushion to avoid drawing on their investment accounts in bear markets like those of 2000-02, as the dot-com bubble burst, and 2007-09, when the implosion of subprime mortgages brought a market crash.

Whatever you decide, rent before you commit to the location.

Related: 'I am highly alarmed by the proposed changes to retirement accounts': I don't want bitcoin or private equity in my 401(k). What can I do?

Previous columns by Quentin Fottrell:

I'm 67. My wife, 48, is financially illiterate. How do I teach her to manage our money? After all, I won't be around forever.

'I'm confused!' Why does President Trump want a rate cut so badly?

'He is increasingly angry': My troubled son lives with me. How do I ensure he is financially secure after I die?

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-Quentin Fottrell

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September 19, 2025 08:28 ET (12:28 GMT)

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