Laurence Kotlikoff
Larry Kotlikoff is an economics professor at Boston University and President of Economic Security Planning, Inc. , which markets MaxiFi Planner PRO and Maximize My Social Security for Professionals -- economics-based financial planning tools for professionals. Learn more here .
Articles by Laurence Kotlikoff
- Retirement & Income Planning
2032 Is Just Beginning of Social Security’s Problem
The System's $71.9 Trillion Unfunded Liability Is Over Twice What its Trustees Mention
- Retirement & Income Planning
Are AI and Financial Advisers Are Missing Massive Roth Conversion Tax Savings?
You may continue to contribute to tax-deferred retirement accounts. Doing so means even more tax-deferred assets available, over time, for conversion.
- Artificial Intelligence
Retirement Decisions Powered by AI May Be Leaving Six Figures Behind
Rules Precisely Right is Critical to Your Retirement. Asking AI to Guess What's Best Based Largely on Wall Street Training is Asking for Trouble.
- Artificial Intelligence
Financial Planning Faces a Reckoning as AI Misses Crucial Economic Reality
Yes, this household has lots going on financially and demographically. But every household’s situation is involved once you sweat the details.
- Artificial Intelligence
AI’s Greatest Value Isn’t Automation — It’s an Independent Source of Truth
We use AIs to correctly answer our questions, not to tell us what we already know. Hence, we want AIs to tell the truth.
- Opinion
America’s Democratic Decline and the Rise of Authoritarian Power
Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from the world’s best informed and impressively clairvoyant global and political economist.
- Money & Life
Investing for Loss: Why Low Risk Can Still Leave You Behind
Downside Investing Is Financial Masochism. Risky Investing is an Option, Not a Starting Point.
- Opinion
Fed Chair Drama vs. Market Reality
But Fisher would be having a great laugh at the hullabaloo surrounding the choice of the new Fed Chair.
- Opinion
How the World’s Nuclear Powers Are Responding to Trump’s Escalating Personalism
Today, Paulo posted the following column, in which he raises Brazil’s immediate need to acquire a nuclear deterrent. Against whom? The United States.
- Opinion
The Impact of Trump’s Personality on Power, Policy, and Outcomes
Narcissistic traits often intensify with age due to declining ability to maintain a facade, accumulated grievances, loss of power or enablers
- Opinion
The $Trillion Truth: What Generational Accounting Reveals About America’s Unsustainable Future
The problem with official debt runs far deeper than ignoring particular commitments. Scientifically speaking, it’s a measure in search of a concept.
- Opinion
Are Lifecycle Funds Helping Workers—or Setting Them up for Failure?
Jane will also be auto billed for the opportunity to have, as I’ll argue and demonstrate, her saving potentially very badly misallocated.
- Opinion
Is This 1929 All Over Again?
Former Chief Economist, Head of Independent-Economics, and Leading Global Analyst, Talks Today's and Tomorrow's Geoeconomics and Geopolitics
- Opinion
AI Stocks Are the New 1929: Why Nvidia’s Valuation Defies All Reason
$30–40 billion in enterprise investment into GenAI, this report uncovers a surprising result in that 95% of organizations are getting zero return
- Opinion
Is Freedom in Decline? The Past, Present, and Future of Being Free
Deeply fascinating scholarship is a sober take on what we take for granted -- that freedom is clear cut, fundamental, universal, and here to stay.
- Retirement & Income Planning
Why Taking Social Security Early Is a Mistake for Most Retirees
Delaying Social Security through age 70, in the case of retirement benefits, and through full retirement age for auxiliary benefits, is the optimal
- Opinion
The Wall Street Journal's Columnist Holman Jenkins Has Seen It All — And Says We’ll Be OK
I found our conversation remarkably calming. Holman is a true student of history, so when he says this too will pass, it’s particularly reassuring.
- Opinion
The New Tariff Reality: How Trump’s Trade War 2.0 Is Reshaping Global Business
From one day to the next, imported products, be they pharmaceuticals, kitchen cabinets, lumber, or foreign movies, are being tariffed at massive rates.
- Opinion
QCDs: The Little-Known Tax Move That Supercharges Charitable Giving
But what if we could get Uncle Sam to match our donations? Would that loosen our wallets?
- Opinion
When Supply Outruns Demand: Will AI Leave Us All Out of Work and Out of Options?
What happens when no one can afford to buy what robots produce?
- Opinion
The Unsung Tech Visionary Who Quietly Shaped the Digital Age
Bill Raduchel is a pioneer of the digital revolution. -- Eric Schmidt, former CEO, Google
- Opinion
Destabilizing the Data: Why Removing the BLS Commissioner Threatens Economic Integrity
These data include the number of new jobs added by the economy, our nation’s unemployment rate, and the Consumer Price Index
- Opinion
When a Supreme Court Justice Said ‘I’m Uninsured’—What It Meant Then and Now
I’m sure Justice O’Connor, who passed in 2023, would, given the One, Big, Beautiful budget BBB bill, permit my making it public.
- Opinion
Social Security’s Future: Inside the Truth With PBS' Financial Journalist Richard Eisenberg
When it comes to personal finance journalism, Richard is simply as good as it gets.
- Opinion
What’s Next for Energy: Capital, Climate, and the Coming Shift
Power is a huge issue for all of us. Will AI data centers drive up electricity demand, prices, and carbon emissions?
- Opinion
From Big Ideas to Big Debt: How We Sold Out Our Kids
Please share with every fiscal-child-abuser in Congress and the Administration #laws #debt #USA
- Retirement & Income Planning
Yes, Social Security’s Outlook Is Grim. No, That Doesn’t Mean You Should Cash Out Early
Run MaximizeMySocialSecurity.com Before Shooting Yourself In the Financial Head. #Retirement #SocialSecurity
- Money & Life
Everything You Need to Know About Trusts — From One of America’s Most Trusted Estate Attorneys
Unless you do proper estate planning, what you leave may not go to the people you wish or in the form you wish. #estate
- Opinion
How to Shield Your Portfolio from Trump’s Tariff Shockwaves
Now be able to afford, say, 15 Barbies rather than the usual 30. That means Mattel will lay off perhaps a quarter rather than all of its salesforce.
- Opinion
Can Tariffs Really Bring Back Manufacturing Jobs? Steel’s Harsh Lesson Says Otherwise
Will Tariffs Restore Manufacturing Jobs? University of Arizona Economic Historian, Price Fishback, Provides the Facts #tariffs
- Opinion
The Economist Who Knows Putin Best: Anders Åslund on America's Strategic Failures
Anders assessment of the future of Ukraine, what's driving President Trump's policy, and his scary assessment of the world economy. #Trump #Ukraine
- Opinion
Why Apollo’s Chief Economist Sees a 90% Recession Risk
The markets are going nuts for a good reason. The Administration is taking, at random, three steps backwards and 1 step forward on a wide range of issues.
- Opinion
Detecting the Universe’s Secrets: The Work of Lawrence Sulak
This podcast is a fascinating learning experience, presented by one of the world’s most engaging and inspiring science educators. #science
- Opinion
Around the Corner or Overblown? Breaking Down Recession Fears
One of today’s major unknowns is whether our trust-me financial system will melt down less than two decades after it last seized up. #recession
- Opinion
Tariff Troubles Decoded: Your Burning Questions Answered
The Zone includes a full blown trade war with tariffs as high as the last ten decades record. #Trump #tariffs
- Opinion
The Trump Recession
Fred Lane and Jack Schibli of Lane Generational Weigh In on Trump's Tariffs #stockmarket #trade #tariffs