Book Synopsis
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.
Review Quotes
"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
"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
"The best personal finance book you'll read this year."--Terry Savage, Tribune Content Agency
"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 a] comprehensive overview of the many aspects of managing personal finances." --Tribune Content Agency
"Kotlikoff's valuable insights will appeal to a wide audience seeking financial wisdom."--Booklist Online
"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
"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 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
"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
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.
