Millennials are about to be crushed by all the junk their parents accumulated.
Every time Dale Sperlingās mother pops by for her weekly visit, she brings with her a possession she wants to pass on. To Sperling, the drop-offs make it feel as if her mom is ādumping her house into my house.ā The most recent offload attempt was a collection of silver platters, which Sperling declined.
āWho has time to use silver? You have to actually polish it,ā she told me. āIām like, āMom, I would really love to take it, but what am I going to do with it?ā So sheās dejected. She puts it back in her car.ā
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Sperlingās conundrum is familiar to many people with parents facing down their golden years: After theyāve acquired things for decades, eventually, those things have to go. As the saying goes, you canāt take it with you. Many millennials, Gen Xers, and Gen Zers are now facing the question of what to do with their parentsā and grandparentsā possessions as their loved ones downsize or die. Some boomers are even still managing the process with their parents. The process can be arduous, overwhelming, and painful. Itās tough to look your mom in the eye and tell her that you donāt want her prized wedding china or that giant brown hutch she keeps it in. For that matter, nobody else wants it, either.
Much has been made of the impending āgreat wealth transferā as baby boomers and the Silent GenerationĀ pass on a combined $84.4 trillionĀ in wealth to younger generations. Getting less attention is the āgreat stuff transfer,ā where everybody has to decipher what to do with the older generationsā things.
