I am amazed at how people can live on so little. Even with medicare, I still am paying out nearly $400 a month for insurance ( Part A/B and Medicare Supplement Insurance.) I know I could live somewhere else where my RE taxes might be a little less, and utilities a little less, but I would not fare well in ultra conservative areas.
I was self employed all my life, so no 401K, pension or other goodies. Saved about $600,000 over the years from my business (could have saved more, which I regret - but no do overs) Then like you, I purchased some rental properties, and was lucky to sell a few before the crash was about a year old, but saw the others sink to levels below what I paid for them in and around 1995. But when I got sick, I turned over $500,000 to a well known bond investor, who invested part of it in Fanny Mae, General Motors, a bank that went under, and I can't remember the 4th one that went under, so I instantly lost $160,000 in a blink of an eye with no possibility of a come back, and the total amount shrunk down from $500,000 to $220,000. I am now back up to just a little over that $500,000 amount invested six years later. Not a great return. I had another portfolio I invested myself at about the same time (Only about $150,00) but that has now more than doubled. Still have one more rental. Trying to wait it out if I can before selling it.
At any rate, I managed to put together over a million. BUT IT'S NOT ENOUGH !!! I need almost three times what you live on, and I own my own home free and clear. If you can manage on $1300 a month, then your a better man than I. I am learning how to be frugal late in life, and wish I learned a little earlier.