Will Having Roommates in Your 60s and Beyond Become the New Normal? Some Already 'Highly Recommend the Golden Girl Lifestyle'

Will Having Roommates in Your 60s and Beyond Become the New Normal? Some Already 'Highly Recommend the Golden Girl Lifestyle'

Adrian Volenik

Sun, August 30, 2026 at 10:01 PM GMT+3 6 min read

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For generations raised to see getting their own place as a major marker of adulthood, the idea of having roommates at 65 might sound like something went terribly wrong. But with housing costs eating up household budgets and retirement increasingly difficult to fund, some millennials and Gen Xers are starting to imagine a very different version of their later years.

A recent Reddit post asked whether people expect to reach their 60s still working "with no end in sight" while living with multiple roommates, and whether that could eventually become normal for millennials and Gen Z. The answers revealed plenty of financial anxiety, but also surprising enthusiasm for communal living.

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The 'Golden Girls' Retirement Plan

"It's definitely a 'new' normal," one commenter said. "By necessity," Another worried that unless the imbalance between wages and living costs improves, people could have roommates well into their 40s, 50s and beyond.

Yet plenty of people didn't see sharing a home in retirement as a downgrade at all.

One commenter said she and her best friend moved in together about 10 years ago after deciding marriage wasn't for them. They split household responsibilities, cook for each other, host game nights and travel together.

"Highly recommend the Golden Girl lifestyle," she wrote.

"I am going to Golden Girls the shi$ out of my old life," another millennial was even more enthusiastic.

One person envisioned "millions of single older women; divorced, never married, widows" pooling their resources and looking after one another. Others pointed out that living alone in old age isn't necessarily the historical norm anyway. Older adults have long lived with children, extended family or boarders.

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The financial side, however, is harder to ignore. A person who works in senior living in Colorado said a two-bedroom apartment at their facility costs $6,500 per month. Split between two residents, that's $3,250 each, including meals, housekeeping, transportation, activities and maintenance.

Building More Options Before Retirement

For people worried that housing costs could dictate how they live decades from now, building assets earlier can create more choices later. Real estate is one possibility, although buying and managing an entire rental property isn't realistic for everyone.

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The broader retirement worries in the Reddit discussion extended well beyond housing.

"I will literally never have enough money to retire," a Gen Xer wrote. "I have no savings and will therefore have to retire by dying." A 62-year-old widow said she expects to work until she is physically unable.

Others are already redefining retirement. One commenter expects to continue earning money but wants to eventually control when and how much they work. "Just controlling my own time will be enough 'retirement' for me," they wrote.

That may be the bigger distinction. Living with friends, siblings or chosen family can be an appealing way to reduce expenses while gaining companionship. Being forced to share a home with strangers because retirement never became financially possible is a very different future.

For some, the "Golden Girls" lifestyle may become a choice worth celebrating. For others, the goal is simply to build enough financial flexibility that it remains a choice.

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Qnetic

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This article Will Having Roommates in Your 60s and Beyond Become the New Normal? Some Already 'Highly Recommend the Golden Girl Lifestyle' originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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