My dad, who started out as an electrician and ended up president of a savings and loan, always said that the best day to die was January 1 because then your family could claim a whole year’s tax exemption based on one day. Ironically, he died on December 31.
I was thinking about this because there was consternation on Wall St. about the timing of President Ford’s day of mourning. If it were to be on Friday, December 29, then all those people who were putting off making financial decisions until the last day of 2006, were going to be out of luck. If, on the other hand, they delayed it until Tuesday, January 2, then the stock exchange would be closed 4 days in a row –  something that Wall St. never likes to have happen.Â
Hopefully, the wishes of the financial markets didn’t play a role.  But, seriously, if the former president had listened to my dad, he would have waited until next week. Funny how these things have a life (or death) of their own.