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A Retired Accountant's Manual

The plain moves that turned one accountant's salary into real wealth — without ever paying a stranger a percentage.

I spent 34 years as an accountant, and I've managed my own money since 1985, dollar by dollar, mistake by mistake, written down in my own ledger. Forty of those moves are in this book: organizing your accounts, drawing an income in retirement, keeping the tax bill honest, and closing the door on the people who target retirees.

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40 years managing his own money 40 numbered moves 8 sections 7-day refund
Charles's Plain Money Playbook — book cover Tested on
his own money
The thing nobody told you

You're not bad with money. Nobody ever showed you plainly.

Most of what it takes to organize a retirement is well within reach of a careful person with a plain explanation. The reason it feels harder than that is there's no commission in telling you so. There's a commission in the percentage fee, the annuity with the ten-year surrender charge, the “free” dinner seminar.

It's not a conspiracy. Nobody got in a room and agreed to keep it from you. It's just that the honest answer is usually a free government calculator, a five-minute beneficiary check, or a fund with a rock-bottom fee, and nobody can build a business on telling you that.

I had no choice but to learn it plainly. I started investing in 1985 while I was still working, and I've kept a record of every dollar in, every mistake, and every result ever since. Along the way, coworkers, neighbors, and family started asking, and I helped, because a plain answer shouldn't cost anybody a percentage of their savings.

This book is forty of those moves — organizing, income, taxes, healthcare, protection, spending, the mistakes that cost the most, and leaving things in order — the ones I'd tell you first, tested on my own money for four decades.

Read the math

Add it up for yourself.

Here's a year, the way I see most retirees pay it without ever adding it up. These are ordinary, publicly documented figures — you can check them yourself.

Work Order — A Year of Managing Money No. 0040
Retirement money the expensive way · illustrative annual cost
Advisor's 1% annual feeOn a $500K portfolio, every year, for decades$5,000/yr
One missed RMDPenalty on the shortfall aloneup to 25%
One “free dinner” annuityCommission built in, often 5–10% off the top$2,500–5,000
Claiming Social Security at 62When it wasn't necessary — locked in for life25–30% less
One old 401(k) left behindReal money, doing nothingoften $5,000+
One late Medicare enrollmentPermanent surcharge on Part Bfor life
What the expensive way can cost, year one alone ≈ $10,000+
Every year
after too
Charles's Plain Money Playbook — one time, yours forever $10,000/yr   $47

These figures are illustrative examples built from general, publicly available numbers, not a projection or guarantee for your specific situation — your own numbers will differ. I was never the smartest man in the room, but even I can do that arithmetic. One plain, one-time move is often worth more than this whole book costs. There are forty of them inside.

Get the Playbook — $47
The Playbook

One book. Forty moves.
Decades of decisions made simpler.

Organizing · Income · Taxes · Healthcare · Protection · Spending · Mistakes · Legacy
What's inside

Eight sections. Forty numbered moves.

Each one written plainly, with the real numbers where relevant, and told to you straight when it's time to call a professional instead.

Section I

Getting Your Money Organized

  • The one folder that ends the scavenger hunt
  • Finding and combining the 401(k)s you left behind
  • The simple ledger that tells you where you stand
Section II

Income in Retirement

  • When to claim Social Security, and why the date matters
  • Building your own paycheck out of savings
  • The 4% rule, without a math degree
Section III

Taxes in Retirement

  • Why you still owe taxes when you're not working
  • RMDs, and the penalty for missing one
  • The Roth conversion, in one sentence
Section IV

Healthcare Costs Nobody Warns You About

  • Medicare enrollment and the late penalty
  • Medigap vs. Medicare Advantage, plain and simple
  • The HSA you should never touch early
Section V

Protecting What You've Built

  • The phone call designed to rob you
  • The annuity pitch at the free dinner
  • Checking your beneficiaries in five minutes
Section VI

Spending Without Fear or Waste

  • The budget that fits on one page
  • The subscriptions quietly draining your account
  • Helping your kids without hurting yourself
Section VII

The Mistakes That Cost Retirees the Most

  • Selling in a panic when the market drops
  • Paying a percentage for what you could do yourself
  • Co-signing and lending to family
Section VIII

Leaving Things in Order

  • The will you don't have, and why “later” is expensive
  • Beneficiary designations beat a will, every time
  • Walter's ten rules, the whole trade in one page

Written ebook · 67 pages · Instant PDF download · Reads on phone, tablet, or computer

The offer

Everything, for less than one bad phone call could cost you.

What you get for $47
Charles's Plain Money Playbook40 numbered moves across 8 sections$67
The First-Weekend Action PlanThree moves that likely earn the book back before your next statement$19
The Wealth LedgerPrintable sheet to track what each move put back in your pocket$19
Document & Beneficiary ChecklistEvery account, policy, and form to gather and confirm$14
Lifetime updatesEvery new edition, every rule that changes, no extra charge$21
Total value$140
You pay today $47
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Charles, author of the Plain Money Playbook
A word from Charles
“This isn't about being a genius with money, or being rich to start with. It's about keeping what you already earned instead of mailing a piece of it to somebody with a commission.”

I spent thirty-four years keeping the books straight for other people, and forty years keeping my own straight for myself. A man named Walter taught me the trade in 1985, and I never forgot what he told me: money doesn't care how hard you worked for it, only what you do with it next. There's no secret society to any of this. There's just paying attention, and most folks quit paying attention because somebody convinced them they couldn't understand their own money. You can. You always could.

Charles · Retired accountant, forty years managing his own money · Midwest

Charles is an illustrative narrator created for this book. His voice is used to present real, publicly documented personal-finance patterns clearly. Any resemblance to a specific real person is coincidental.

Before you ask

Fair questions.

Do I need to already be good with money for this?

If you can read a bank statement and make a phone call, you're ready for everything in this book. Every move is written in plain language, in order, with the real numbers next to it. Where something genuinely needs a licensed professional, I say so plainly and tell you to call one.

Is this financial, tax, or legal advice?

No. I'm a retired accountant who has managed his own money for decades, not a certified financial planner, tax preparer, or attorney, and I never claim to be. This book is general education from public information and common personal-finance patterns. Anything touching your specific taxes, your estate, or a legal document is flagged clearly as a call-a-professional moment.

What do I actually get?

A written PDF with all forty moves, plus the First-Weekend Action Plan, the printable Wealth Ledger, the Document & Beneficiary Checklist, and free lifetime updates. It downloads the moment you buy, through Gumroad.

How do I read it?

It's a PDF. Opens on your phone, tablet, or computer. No app, no account beyond your download link, no subscription.

What if it's not for me?

Email within 7 days and you get every dollar back. Simple dissatisfaction is enough — no form, no explanation required, either way.

Is Charles a real person?

Charles is an illustrative narrator created for this book, his voice is used to walk you through forty real, widely applicable personal-finance moves clearly and memorably. The moves, figures, and principles in the book are real, drawn from public information and well-documented patterns, not from one verified individual's private records.

Start this weekend

Forty moves. One folder, one phone call, and an hour with your real numbers.

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“The folks who built this country's savings the old-fashioned way knew things we're only just starting to remember.” — Charles

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