Title: If Money Could Talk
Author: M.L. Marcos
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 978-1-5320-6717-4
Pages: 221
Genre: Economics
Reviewed by: Carl Conrad

Read Book Review

In a book that will entertain you with anecdotes and brief profiles of famous people at the same time as it acquaints you with the various functions, uses, and purposes of money, M.L. Marcos’ book, If Money Could Talk, will also offer you direct knowledge of how to startup, finance, operate, and maintain a business from his more than thirty years of experience from having done so. With lessons, examples, slogans, and lots of encouragement, the author methodically and comprehensively takes the reader on a journey to learn the valuable lessons of what money could tell us, if money could talk.

His primary purpose, and repeatedly useful notion to drive home, was the point that the value of money is equal to the value of the goods and services it represents. This means that the balance between how much money is created and how many goods and services are available can be influenced by either creating more money – which, without a corresponding increase in goods and services, devalues the amount of money available, often called “inflation” – or by creating more goods and services – which, without a corresponding increase in money, increases the value of money which is often called “deflation”. So it is this aggregate balance between the amount of money created and the amount of goods and services available that determines how many goods and services can be purchased with each unit of money.

Mr. Marcos goes on to describe the ways in which money is paid to us – through work, ownership, and investments – as well as the many types of businesses that can be created with it – proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations – then takes the reader on a long tour through the mechanics of business development in which he describes how a business evolves and matures, of course first starting with the creation of a business plan because, as he says: “If you start not knowing what to do, you could end up not knowing what you have done.”

In an exhortation that “Chutzpah is the only qualification you will ever need,” Mr. Marcos identifies subcategories such as; leadership, the ability to communicate, age and health factors, as well as characteristics like rhythm, and flamboyance that can propel a person into success as a business owner. He also deals with how to start a business, how to manage a business, and how to maintain a business in which he offers many concrete ideas about factors to be considered when deciding what business to start and what markets to operate in.

It is a fun book to read as it also shows off the tremendous number and variety of people in all walks of life whom Mr. Marcos uses as examples to illustrate his points from Bill Gates of Microsoft fame to some as obscure as Norma Desmond of Sunset Boulevard who can tell so much “with just one look” that he often dazzles you with the breadth of his knowledge and his practical advice.

If you are looking for a primer on all things business and money, If Money Could Talk is a book that will tell you as much as you want to hear.