5 things you really need to sell if you’re a retired US boomer (if you want a low-stress life). How many do you own?

Sharon Wu

Mon, August 31, 2026 at 6:10 PM GMT+3 7 min read

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Stress in retirement doesn't always come from having too little. Sometimes, it comes from holding onto too much — extra cars, empty bedrooms and investments nobody's checked on in years.

The 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) (1) and Greenwald Research found that only 64% of Americans feel confident they'll have enough money to live comfortably throughout retirement. And fewer than seven in 10 retirees say they have enough savings to cover an emergency, a decline from the year before.

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With numbers like that, what you choose to hold onto — and what you let go of — carries more weight than ever. Here are five things retired US boomers are better off selling if a low-stress lifestyle is the goal.

1. A second car

A second car costs more than most people realize, especially once you're not commuting anymore. Car insurance runs about $2,266 a year on average, according to Experian (2), and that bill shows up whether you drive the car daily or once a month. Older or rarely used cars also develop problems — dead batteries and cracked tires can turn into surprise repair costs.

Selling a second car frees up a decent amount of cash and removes one thing from your to-worry list. Once you're down to one car, it's a good time to take a closer look at what you're paying to insure it. Insurers often raise rates on customers who never shop around (think a "loyalty tax").

Insurify lets you compare quotes from more than 100 providers in a few minutes, for free, so you can see whether you're still getting a fair deal. Many US retirees also qualify for lower rates by driving less, and if you're keeping a home policy too, bundling both could save you up to 15%.

2. Short-term rental(s)

Hosting an Airbnb in retirement can get stressful, emotionally and financially. A guest locked out at midnight, a broken air conditioner in July, a bad review because the WiFi cut out — all of it lands on you, usually with little warning. What gets marketed as "passive income" often turns into an unpaid, on-call job with unpredictable hours.

Real estate can still make sense in retirement, but it doesn't have to mean managing guests yourself.

Mogul, founded by a team of former Goldman Sachs real estate investors who handpick each property, helps you buy fractional shares in the top 1% of single-family rental homes. Investments range between $15,000 and $40,000 per property, and the platform's offerings have averaged an annual return of 18.8% to date. You can also collect monthly rental income without dealing with 3 a.m. tenant calls.

Getting started is quick and easy. All you have to do is sign up for an account, and you can browse available properties in just a few clicks.

3. The empty nest

After kids move out, a lot of the house goes unused. Extra bedrooms, a bigger yard and more square footage to heat and cool all cost money whether anyone's using it or not. Property taxes, insurance and utility bills also tend to scale with the home's size.

Selling an empty nest offers meaningful financial upside that many retired boomers overlook. When you sell your primary home, IRS rules (3) let you exclude up to $250,000 of the gain from taxable income, or $500,000 if you're married and filing jointly. In plain terms, that profit doesn't count against you come tax day, up to those limits.

Downsizing also frees up your time and energy. With no more weekends lost to yard work or chasing down repairs on rooms nobody uses, you can finally travel, see your grandkids or simply rest.

4. Complex investments

High fees on complex products like variable annuities (insurance contracts that promise income later, often with steep fees buried in the fine print) or managed mutual funds (professionally run investment pools that charge yearly fees regardless of performance) chip away at retirement savings year after year. And a market dip in your golden years leaves little time to recover before you need the money.

Figuring out what's worth keeping and what's dragging you down isn't something you have to do alone, especially with a portfolio over $250,000. For those with savings of at least this size, WiserAdvisor connects you with pre-screened financial advisors who specialize in retirement planning, for free.

Answer a few questions about your savings, timeline and goals, and get matched with up to three advisors for a no-obligation consultation.

Note: WiserAdvisor is a matching service, not a financial advisor itself. All matches are third parties, and results aren't guaranteed.

5. Collectible coins

A coin collection can feel like a safe way to hold onto money, but retirement is an expensive time to keep one. Standard homeowners insurance policies cap payouts for money, coins and precious metals at just $200 per loss, per the Insurance Information Institute (III) (4). That leaves most collections seriously underinsured unless you pay extra for specialty coverage.

There's also the question of what happens to the coins later. Grading, storage and finding a buyer who'll pay a fair price all take effort. It's work your family may not want to inherit if you don't sell the collection yourself. Offloading your collectible coins now turns something difficult to insure and harder to pass down into cash you can use.

If part of the appeal was holding onto something tangible like gold, you don't have to give that up. Goldco lets you roll savings from an existing 401(k) or IRA into a gold IRA, tax-free. This way, you can still hold physical gold as a hedge against inflation — in a form that's insured, securely stored and easy to pass on.

With a minimum purchase of $10,000, Goldco offers free shipping and access to a library of retirement resources. Plus, the company will match up to 10% of qualified purchases in free silver.

If you're curious whether this is the right investment to diversify your portfolio, you can download your free gold and silver information guide today.