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Like I’m sure most of you, all the things I normally do now, from jazz band and vocal jazz ensemble class at the community college, to lunching and walking with friends and family are on hold  until at least April 7th. But I still have a lot of time on my hands--even with the hours of addiction to TV and internet--watching the Covid-19 cases going up and the stock market going down. It has not even been 24 hours yet, but so far I think it’s easier than a few months ago when the fire-prevention measures up here required shutting off our electricity for four days. Because you can surf the internet, stream TV shows and movies (My Brilliant Friend is back!), turn on the heat and lights, and blow dry your hair.

When you are married, and you inherit the estate of your spouse when he or she dies, this exemption isn’t even relevant yet, because you can inherit an unlimited amount from your spouse and not pay estate tax. Then, when the second spouse dies, (again assuming 2019 exemption numbers), you don’t just get an $11.4 million exemption, you can get double that—$22.8. So if you purchased Apple stock a zillion years ago for 50 bucks a share and it’s worth $250 the day you die, your heirs can sell it for $250 and pay NO capital gains tax. It means the optimal tax strategy for the very rich, fine-tuned and promoted by the wealth-planning industry, is straightforward: Hold assets until death, borrow against them for living expenses and barely pay income taxes.

On our last big trip, to Italy two years ago, I made Doug sign a piece of paper on the flight home that said, “I, Doug, hereby certify that I am never travelling again. After spending two hours getting from gate to curbside at the Rome airport, in my jet-lagged haze, I left my purse behind in the taxi from the airport to the hotel. Yes, I know this also turned out to be a happy story, but you know that sinking feeling before you know it’s all going to work out? And since we had no checked luggage, we were able to get moved to a different airline’s flight six gates away that was boarding NOW and connecting through Vancouver.

But instead of working, I’m checking in on the stock market, reading the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. Because Monday night is small jazz combo class, and Thursday night is jazz big band class with my dad. It’s a lot like work, I mean if you totally loved everything you were doing every minute of every day when you were working. And just like back in the day, we’re on the couch with a glass of wine at 5pm watching Anderson Cooper.