Milford, CT --  Do As I Say, Not As I Did is the sad—and also humorous and helpful—story of what the author did wrong over a lifetime and what he learned from the mistakes.

 

This bestselling book is a collection of anecdotes and useful advice on a wide range of subjects: money, relationships, parenting, business, work, cars, food & drink, life & death, education, health, technology, media, aging, time, animals, baseball, sailing, sex, writing & publishing and law. 

Michael N. Marcus often fantasizes about traveling back in time to warn himself not to make stupid mistakes. He says, "The ten-, twenty- and sixty-year-old me might have ignored the advice of parents, teachers, doctors and accountants—but not the advice of me. If I talk to myself I have to listen. While technology will not yet allow me to go back and talk to myself, I can warn and advise anyone else who’s willing to pay attention. That’s why I wrote this book. And maybe by looking back I can influence my own future."

 

In the beginning of the 21st century Marcus and his wife were "comfortable" but didn't think they were wealthy. They spent money carefully, gave to charities, helped less-fortunate relatives and saved for the future. They had a very nice house and a perfect credit rating. Life was good.

 

Marcus received a $4 million offer for his telecommunications business. But he was not ready to spend the rest of his life on the beach, he liked what he was doing and didn’t want to do the same work for a boss instead of for himself. He rejected the offer.

 

And then the Great Recession struck. Marcus’s income and savings went down-down-down and debt went up-up-up.

 

To pay off high-interest credit card debts, the Marcuses took out a home equity loan. The Marcuses optimistically and foolishly agreed to a five-year loan with monthly payments of nearly $5,000 (on top of first mortgage payments of about $1,800 per month).

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Marcus’s business had no phone service, email or electrical power for a week. He did no business, he had no income and asked the bank for an additional ten days to make the scheduled huge mortgage payment. The bank said it could take 60 to 90 days to decide on the ten-day extension.

Marcus says, "When you don’t need money, banks would love to loan you money. When do you need money or a favor, they act deaf, blind and stupid.

In retrospect, not selling the business was the stupidest of many stupid things Marcus has done with money and more—but like most mistakes, it seemed right at the time.

 

Michael N. Marcus is a journalist, editor, bestselling author of more than 40 books, award-winning advertising copywriter, publisher and mostly successful amateur attorney.

 

Do As I Say, Not As I Did  is published by Silver Sands Books. It is available as a $2.99 Kindle ebook from Amazon.com and a $12.95 paperback.

 

NOTE: you don’t need to own a Kindle e-reader to read a Kindle-formatted book like this one. You can use a PC, iPad or other tablet, smart phone, Nook, etc.