Market Overview
Do they only want your money?
“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
For the purposes of this article, we’re going to assume that you have, generally speaking, a happy family. As far as we’re concerned, your heirs hold you in the highest regard, are bound to you by golden threads of affection and want to enjoy your company for as many years as you can give them.
And yet, one thing unites all families these days, happy and otherwise: Your physical chattel means little to them. As tacky as this sounds, they’d rather have the cash. Even if they’d rather have your continued presence than your money, they’d still prefer your money to your mahogany credenza, your parents’ art deco ashtray or your parents’ parents’ silver sets.
Think like a Millennial
It’s not that today’s thirtysomethings are incapable of sentimentality, it’s just they don’t have room for it.
They grew up in a time when ownership is less desirable than leasing, a condition enabled by having a 12-square-inch device that has more computing power and storage space than it took for their grandparents to send men to the moon and back.
They think like this: Why make one monthly payment to the bank and another to an insurance company then lose an unpredictable portion of your disposable income to the gas station – all for the privilege of having a bumper sticker holder that you have to drive yourself? Why not take out your phone, click an icon, and have an Uber driver take you door-to-door? This alternative eliminates all fixed costs and parking, making this pay-by-the-drink model far less expensive overall (for many).
So why have a car? In fact, why even have a home? It might be cheaper in the long run to rent via Airbnb or Hotwire or some combination of sites that offer excess floorspace whether it be in private homes or chain hotels. When you pay all your bills online and do all your correspondence via SMS text or messenger apps, who needs a fixed address? Or a landline phone? Or furniture?
If your circumstances force you to downsize, you don’t have to worry about missing mortgage payments or breaking a lease. There’s always a cheaper place to live – and live well, if you don’t mind moving to another city or even another country. It’s called the digital nomad lifestyle, and it’s catching on.
Gig economy workers tend to have jobs that can be done anywhere that has wi-fi. That can be at the nearest coffeeshop or on the beach in Indonesia or in a research station in Antarctica. And if you ask them if they miss their friends, they’ll tell you no. Their community – both old friends and new – are online. They’re not only connected by social media, they see each other constantly on FaceTime and have weekly appointments to play League of Legends together in lieu of earlier generations’ bridge or poker nights.
Act like a Millennial
So, there’s little room in their lives for physical stuff. They don’t want your vintage Marhill cigarette lighter. They’d rather have a photo of you with it. And they’d rather have that photo uploaded to Instagram or Pinterest than the actual Kodachrome print.
They’d prefer it, then, if you saved them the trouble and monetized anything that has value. But how should you do that? Garage sales are so 20th-century. E-bay and Craigslist? They are so 2010.
Try these apps for selling your prized possessions locally:
There are others that specialize in consigning apparel, cars or electronic devices to your neighbors. If you’re interested, we found a Small Business Trends article that can give you more information.
And if you can’t sell something, just take a picture of it with your phone, send the photo to your kids, then throw the old thing out. That’s not us talking. That’s your kids. This is the rare Captain’s Table instance where we don’t end with “talk to your financial advisor.” You don’t need a professional to make this decision. Just go ahead and clean out your stuff.
Steve
Steve Anglin, CPA is a Managing Partner at Smith Anglin Financial, and the Head of the Tax Preparation Services. He is also responsible for Smith Anglin’s compliance supervision. He holds a BBA in Accounting and a BBA in Real Estate, and numerous securities licenses and designations.
