Preparing for an ‘avalanche’ of Baby Boomer belongings
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Baby Boomers are downsizing, and with that comes an avalanche of items they’ve accumulated over a lifetime. As Boomers retire, move into assisted living, or pass away, their children — Millennials, Gen Xers, and even Gen Z — are faced with figuring out what to do with all the stuff.
Emily Stewart, senior correspondent at Business Insider, recently coined this phenomenon the “boomer stuff avalanche,” and joined News 8’s “Daybreak” via videoconference to chat about the challenges facing younger generations.
“Boomers are a material generation,” Stewart said. “They came of age during a time of economic prosperity. Their prime years were in the ’80s, when the mantra was ‘He with the most stuff when he dies wins.’ Now, they have a lot of stuff.”
From wedding china to furniture and collectibles, many Boomers are looking to offload the items they’ve cherished, but their kids aren’t always eager to inherit them.
“People are looking around at these lovely items and thinking, ‘I absolutely do not want this,’” Stewart said.