05/31/2026
Dear friends,
Why Personal Finance Is Very Important for women and what they can learn from the Tamil Movie *Thaai Kizhavi* (GrandMother - முதிய பெண்/பாட்டி) - Written
By Jeyamariappan Ganapathy, CFA | Registered Investment Advisor | Samatva Wealth Management LLC Business CPA & CFO Services | Tax Filing | Business Incorporation | Bookkeeping | Personal Finance & Estate Planning | NRI Fund Repatriation
Most recently I watched the Tamil movie *Thaai Kizhavi* and was very impressed by the storyline. It captured why learning personal finance plays very important role for women from India and those who have migrated from India to the USA or other countries.
1. Financial Independence Is Freedom
The film's strongest message is that women should strive for financial independence. A woman who can earn, save, invest, and manage money has greater control over her life and decisions.
2. Self-Respect Matters
The protagonist refuses to live as a burden on others. The film encourages women to maintain dignity, self-respect, and confidence regardless of age.
3. Age Does Not Reduce a Woman's Value
4. Mothers Are Individuals Too
Mothers are not defined solely by their role as caregivers. They have their own dreams, struggles, choices, and right to enjoy life on their own terms.
A woman's greatest security is not dependence on family or children, but her own financial independence, self-respect, and ability to make choices for herself.
If you are a woman who is currently not handling any personal finance for yourself and your family, and you completely leave it or outsource it to your husband, please start following the simple steps to gain your basic knowledge and understanding of personal finance which is a critical skill you will need throughout your life. My content will mostly help the women living in the USA. . I have covered how to manage bank accounts, short-term and long-term investments, how to manage income and expenses (paying bills) & budget planning, education about financial scammers, taxes and kids' college planning.
1. Set up a separate bank checking account under your name and start saving few hundred to few thousand dollars and learn how to transfer the funds from one bank account to another bank account and learn how to make digital payments using Zelle, Venmo, PayPal or cash apps in the USA or GPay or Paytm apps in India. Learn these payment apps by doing transfers of $1 or $2 between your friends or your kids or your husband's account. You can start the bank account with credit union banks and it requires a minimum of $5 or $10 balance and they do not charge any minimum balance fees and not many hidden fees as compared to the big banks. When someone else is requesting you to share your bank details for depositing money that you do not own, please do not share it and it will most likely be a financial scam and you will end up losing your money and mental peace. If anyone is promising guaranteed returns through investments in a very short period (quick rich schemes) please be careful and stay away from them. If you do not understand any investment deals from strangers, please walk away from it and talk to your trusted advisors or trusted friends and learn from them.
2. Aware of financial scammers and learn to stay away from them, which is very important. It will get more dangerous as scammers are starting to use the power of AI to scam their victims.
3. Understand how retirement accounts like 401k, Traditional IRA, ROTH IRA, Rollover IRA, SEPIRA or solo 401k or 457 or brokerage accounts work and how to do the withdrawals from these accounts and understand the tax impacts before making any withdrawals. Pretax retirement accounts, you will be taxed as per your top taxable income tax rate when you withdraw it along with a 10% penalty if you withdraw it before you reach your age of 59.5 years. Tax planning is very important before executing your withdrawals from pretax retirement accounts or liquidating the positions under your brokerage accounts. Get familiar with tax forms like 1099-R, 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, and 1099-B from your brokerage firms and the banks and you have to file these forms as part of your annual tax returns along with your W2 salary income. Learn how to file your taxes.
4. Set up multi-factor’s authentication for all your bank and investment accounts and handle your login details carefully. Make a photocopy of your debit, credit cards both front side and back side so that you can call your banks to freeze these cards if you lost it during your travel.
5. Learn how to change the investment allocation under your 529 college savings account depending on your kid’s financial needs and HSA health savings account based on your medical expenses needs and you can roll over up to $35k from 529 accounts to your kids ROTH IRA account.
6. Learn how to make the mortgage payment, how to pay the property tax and HOA fees and home insurance. Failing to pay your home's property tax could drag your home into foreclosure.
7. You should have the critical contact information for your spouse’s HR benefits customer service, mortgage loan servicer, fiduciary financial and tax advisor, CPA, Auto/home and life insurance claims department contact and save all their phone or email address information and keep it up to date.
8. If you have minor kids who depend on your income, spend time understanding the importance of the right term life insurance coverage (which is a MUST), WILL and Trust and find out how it can be used for your family financial risk mitigation and estate planning and inheritance. Do not get into complex financial products that might not be suitable for you and your family. Please consult with a Fiduciary advisor before getting into any financial products-based investments.
I have a very humble request to a dad or husband or brother, please share this post with your daughter or spouse or sister.
I hope this post helps you and your family.
Jeyamariappan (Mari) Ganapathy, CFA Samatva Wealth Management | Registered Investment Advisor Website: www.samatva.us | Email: [email protected] | WhatsApp: 301-758-4052 Facebook: www.facebook.com/samatva.us | eBook & Blogs: www.samatva.us/blogs
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