Money Magic: An Economist's Secrets to More Money, Less Risk, and a Better Life

by Laurence Kotlikoff

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Personal finance backed by the science of economics, making this a unique approach with plenty of rewards, not to mention a contagious narrative voice. Digging into daily decisions, Laurence Kotlikof provides fresh insights and advice that isn't the cookie-cutter money savers you've heard before.

Increase your spending power, enhance your standard of living, and achieve financial independence with this “must-read” guide to money management (Jane Bryant Quinn).

Laurence Kotlikoff, one of our nation’s premier personal finance experts and coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Get What’s Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security, harnesses the power of economics and advanced computation to deliver a host of spellbinding but simple money magic tricks that will transform your financial future.Each trick shares a basic ingredient for financial savvy based on economic common sense, not Wall Street snake oil. Money Magic offers a clear path to a richer, happier, and safer financial life. Whether you’re making education, career, marriage, lifestyle, housing, investment, retirement, or Social Security decisions, Kotlikoff provides a clear framework for readers of all ages and income levels to learn tricks like:

• How to choose a career to maximize your lifetime earnings (hint: you may want to consider picking up a plunger instead of a stethoscope).
• How to buy a superior education on the cheap and graduate debt-free.
• Why it’s smarter to cash out your IRA to pay off your mortgage.
• Why delaying retirement for two years can reap dividends and how to lower your average lifetime tax bracket.    

Money Magic’s most powerful act is transforming your financial thinking, explaining not just what to do, but why to do it. Get ready to discover the economics approach to financial planning—the fruit of a century’s worth of research by thousands of cloistered economic wizards whose now-accessible collective findings turn conventional financial advice on its head. Kotlikoff uses his soft heart, hard nose, dry wit, and flashing wand to cast a powerful spell, leaving you eager to accomplish what you formerly dreaded: financial planning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316541954
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	01/04/2022
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	457,001
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Laurence Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow of the Econometric Society, Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, President of Economic Security Planning, Inc., and Director of the Fiscal Analysis Center.

Professor Kotlikoff has written 20 books and hundreds of professional articles and Op-Eds. He is a New York Times best-selling author and a frequent television and radio guest. His columns have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The Boston Globe, Bloomberg, Forbes, Yahoo.com, Fortune, and other major publications. In 2014, The Economist named him one of the world’s 25 most influential economists.

Editorial Reviews

★ 11/29/2021

Kotlikoff (Get What’s Yours), an economics professor at Boston University, offers an accessible guide to sound financial decision-making based on the premise that “even the most responsible, prudent, financially well educated, and psychologically balanced people make major mistakes” when it comes to managing their finances. Every financial choice one makes impacts one’s standard of living, he suggests, yet most people make such decisions without thinking through how doing so would affect their future. As a remedy, he presents his MaxiFi Planner program, which lays out how to calculate one’s lifestyle cost, plus ways to improve one’s living standard, and focuses on “simple and powerful ways to get more money without gambling your hard-wrought savings.” Tips come for such tricky but critical life choices include deciding when to retire (plan with “the oldest age to which you could live” in mind), whether to borrow for college (don’t, he advises), and how to navigate divorce (do “a cost-benefit divorce analysis”). He offers plenty of investment know-how, too, and ends with his top 50 “secrets” for financial security, including paying mortgages off as fast as possible and “when you get married, count on getting divorced” among them. Full of invaluable guidance, this is a must-read for anyone concerned about their financial future. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Money Magic is a must-read. An unconventional and entertaining page-turner, that will transform your financial thinking and show you how to improve your financial future.”—Jane Bryant Quinn, author of How to Make Your Money Last

“Provocative…worth checking out…offers clear economic advice and humorous anecdotes… Best of all, Kotlikoff enjoys playing the financial-advice iconoclast.” —The Washington Post

 “A must-read book that has valuable information for just about everybody…If you don’t save more than the price of this book, there is something seriously wrong with you.”—Forbes

“Money Magic is financial Freakonomics, delivering non-stop financial shockers –– all based on common economics sense. You'll love this amazing book. It's full of wit, wisdom, and startling paths to a better financial life.”—John Mauldin, author of Thoughts from the Frontlines

“Fact-filled, wisdom-filled, Money Magic is quite probably the best financial advice book ever written.  You can read it for Laurence Kotlikoff’s sage advice, which tells how to manage your finances for a happier, better life.  You can also read it for fun: there is a laugh on almost every page.  You should read it for both.” 
 —George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2001 and co-author of Phishing for Phools

"Money Magic is a delightful book. With wit and wisdom, Kotlikoff delivers rich economic insights, concrete advice, and hard-nosed, yet soft-hearted guidance on financial planning, all well-grounded in the science of finance.  It will change your financial thinking and improve your financial life. Wherever in the lifecycle—beginning student to beginning retiree, the reader is in for a treat: Bon Appetit!"
 —Robert C Merton, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences, 1997

“Money Magic is funny, ironic and an easy, brilliant read – all great things in a book about personal finance. But Kotlikoff does so much more. He shows us that true personal finance is about real-life decisions we can make. He shows us how to make them. Those choices are wildly powerful, often contrary to convention, and deeply empowering. Money Magic can literally change your life.”—Scott Burns, personal finance columnist

“Full of invaluable guidance, this is a must-read for anyone concerned about their financial future.”—Publisher Weekly

“Kotlikoff’s valuable insights will appeal to a wide audience seeking financial wisdom.”—Booklist Online

"[Money Magic is a] comprehensive overview of the many aspects of managing personal finances." —Tribune Content Agency

"The best personal finance book you'll read this year."—Terry Savage, Tribune Content Agency

"Laurence Kotlikoff, the provocative Boston University economics professor and Social Security expert, has written an excellent new book, Money Magic: An Economist's Secrets to More Money, Less Risk, and a Better Life In it, he offers counterintuitive and surprising personal finance tips regardless of your age."—Kerry Hannon

From the Publisher

Narrator Alex Kotlikoff’s flinty vocal clarity and spontaneous performance are perfect for this outstanding personal finance guide by an economist and expert on lifecycle money management issues. His vocal confidence is charming, full of the magnetic energy needed to perform information and advice that the author offers with his own blend of conversational writing, lucid illustrations, and funny asides. The audiobook covers the major financial decisions people face—from choosing a school, career, and marriage partner to financing education, buying a house, investing, using credit, optimizing Social Security, and deciding on lifestyle preferences. His advice and reasoning are often supported with calculations and projections that can be challenging to grasp—but any effort required will be worth it. T.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2022 - AudioFile

Narrator Alex Kotlikoff’s flinty vocal clarity and spontaneous performance are perfect for this outstanding personal finance guide by an economist and expert on lifecycle money management issues. His vocal confidence is charming, full of the magnetic energy needed to perform information and advice that the author offers with his own blend of conversational writing, lucid illustrations, and funny asides. The audiobook covers the major financial decisions people face—from choosing a school, career, and marriage partner to financing education, buying a house, investing, using credit, optimizing Social Security, and deciding on lifestyle preferences. His advice and reasoning are often supported with calculations and projections that can be challenging to grasp—but any effort required will be worth it. T.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2022 - AudioFile