Personal finance for people who want to be great with money — written by the friend who already is.
Fifteen years at the Big Four, then five years running her own practice. Believes most people overpay taxes by five figures without knowing it.
About Priya
Priya writes the way she talks to clients — direct, patient, and completely uninterested in cute tax tricks that don't survive an audit.
Her lane at The Smart Money is the Tax Desk: bracket management, entity structure, timing moves, and the handful of deductions civilians consistently miss.
In their own words
“If your CPA only calls you in April, you don't have a CPA — you have a preparer.”
— Priya Menon, The CPA
The money story
Grew up watching her parents pay a strip-mall preparer $80 to miss deductions worth thousands. Went to accounting school angry about it. Fifteen years at the Big Four taught her the code; five years running her own practice taught her how to translate it.
Signature playbook
Every serious tax move has a season. Miss the window and the strategy dies with it.
Q1 — File & Forecast
File last year, then model this year's income, withholding, and estimated payments before April closes.
Q2 — Structure Check
Revisit entity, retirement plan design, and payroll before mid-year when changes still count for twelve months.
Q3 — Bracket Management
Project year-end income and decide on Roth conversions, deferrals, or acceleration while there's still room to move.
Q4 — Harvest & Give
Tax-loss harvest, bunch deductions, fund donor-advised or DAF gifts, and lock in the year before December 31.
A taste of the beat
Sample headlines from Priya's desk.
Rules I won't break
The non-negotiables — the things Priya refuses to recommend, no matter how good the pitch.
Filed by Priya
Jul 14
Taxes Desk
Not clever. Not aggressive. Just the boring, high-leverage moves most people forget until it's too late.
1 min read
Time-sensitive
Jul 8
Taxes Desk
Nine moves that only work if you make them before December 31. A seasonal playbook, not a to-do list.
1 min read
Time-sensitive
Jul 7
Small Business Desk
One number tells you the answer. Everything else is noise the internet added.
1 min read
Evergreen
Jun 9
Small Business Desk
The tax savings are real. So is the paperwork. The crossover point isn't where the internet says it is.
1 min read
Evergreen
The weekly dispatch
The kind of financial advice you'd get from a friend who's already figured it out. No hot takes, no leaderboards, no affiliate hustle.