His Parents Died And Left Him Everything — Now He's Begging Boomers To Do This One Thing

When a parent dies, there's a lot to deal with. Alongside managing your grief, you have to sort out everything that's been left behind. It's something filmmaker Eric Becker has dealt with personally. He posted a video on Instagram in August 2026 about the aftermath of his parents' deaths and what he wishes boomers would do before they die — namely, have a solid plan in place. As Becker shared, "My parents died in February, and since then, I've spent 80 days in their ramshackle house in San Antonio, Texas on a salvage mission." As Becker professed, "My message today is really for boomers. You're going to die [...] If you're over the age of 70, let's say, and you have children, guess who's going to have to deal with all your s*** if you haven't cleaned it up? It's them." 

As he advised simply, "If you love them, you will do some semblance of estate planning before you die, so that maybe they have a chance at surviving in this brutal economy and some bit of generational wealth." The filmmaker also detailed how much money he'd already spent just trying to get his parents' house into shape to be able to sell it. While some celebs don't want their kids to inherit millions, Becker's pleas are directed towards the everyday person. Not everyone may have a lot of money, but working with an estate planner or a financial advisor can give parents and children alike some peace of mind that everyone's on the same page before the worst happens. If you can, follow Becker's advice and set your kids up for success by leaving them money and/or property. But as we saw in this case, sometimes being left property isn't a blessing.

Certain material things, known as "transitional objects," can help you process grief. But when there's a whole house filled with a lifetime's worth of stuff, it can easily become overwhelming, which is what seems to have happened with Eric Becker. If you remember decluttering pro Marie Kondo, whose book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing" was a runaway bestseller, she talked about how to adjust your relationship with stuff. Only keeping that which "sparks joy" is one of her tips. Following Kondo's advice can help make things easier while you're alive as well as helping those who have to deal with your stuff after you pass away. 

Another good resource for this kind of situation is Margareta Magnusson's book "The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter." It's the idea that you should go through your house and belongings with an eye to getting rid of things so that your children or others don't have to deal with it after your death. Granted, Becker acknowledged that his father was a hoarder, something that Kondo reckoned comes from a place of anxiety, and he said in his video that he'd "removed three 20-foot construction dumpsters worth of garbage so far." 

As such, the particular situation that he was left with is perhaps more extreme than what most other people will experience, but regardless, it's still one that more and more children of boomers will have to face. Content creator Nick Fox calls it the "millennial inheritance" — the stuff children have to figure out, and all the emotions that accompany it.