Larry Kotlikoff

Should You Now Wait Till 75 To Take Your IRA?

Should You Now Wait Till 75 To Take Your IRA?

The Secure 2.0 Act, which Wall Street loves, gives retirees the ability to defer taxable withdrawals from their IRA accounts from the current age 72 to 73 in 2023, if you reach 72 in that year or later, and to 75 starting in 2033. That may not be a good financial decision, however.  More

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Are US retirees foregoing large sums of Social Security benefits?

Are US retirees foregoing large sums of Social Security benefits?

90% of Americans are likely to benefit if they wait until age 70 to claim their Social Security benefits. Yet only 6% do so. If you add up the loss of benefits from these decisions over the remainder of a retiree’s lifetime, the typical retiree is leaving $182,370 (in present-value terms) on the table by claiming benefits too soon. More

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Social Security COLA Still Fails To Keep Up With Inflation

Social Security COLA Still Fails To Keep Up With Inflation

The COLA is supposed to keep our (I’m also a recipient) benefits even with inflation. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. The COLA is calculated based on the rise in the Consumer Price Index between September 30th and October 1st of the previous year. Hence, we’re getting compensated for past annual inflation, with a three-month lag to boot! This leaves us perpetually behind the eight ball. More

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The US is a Waning Economic Superpower

The US is a Waning Economic Superpower

The U.S. is a waning economic hegemon. But far too few Americans, including politicians, realize this. The eventual new and very big kid on the block is, under all but extreme scenarios, China; and, after China, India. By 2100, the U.S. will be in third place, when ranked by GDP — producing only 12 percent of global output compared with China’s 27 percent and India’s 16 percent. More

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Inequality has been Greatly Exaggerated

Inequality has been Greatly Exaggerated

A new study by Goodman Institute Senior Fellow Laurence Kotlikoff and his colleagues says that middle-aged families in the top fifth of the income distribution have almost 200 times the wealth of families in the bottom fifth.  But after taxes and entitlement transfers, the difference in lifetime spending power is only 7.5 to 1. Our fiscal system is far more progressive than critics like to admit. See the New York Times description and the technical paper.

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We’re Not Saving Enough

We’re Not Saving Enough

Americans don’t save enough, either individually or collectively. Yet by looking at the wrong data, many journalists and even top economists are claiming we’re experiencing a “savings glut.” This is hogwash. It’s time to talk turkey about U.S. saving and for journalists and professionals to either do their homework or hold their pens. More

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Could We Talk Ourselves into A Recession?

Could We Talk Ourselves into A Recession?

Congress should take this opportunity to make the tax system fully inflation-neutral. But neither inflation nor the Fed’s minor rate hikes will kill the economy. Nor will Putin’s war, which is stimulating the defense industry. Nor will ongoing slowdowns in Chinese production, which is stimulating home production. What can kill the economy is enough people, who should know better, talking it down.

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