The Business Behind Personal Finance: Managing Money to Stay Secure and Debt-Free

Featured Events | Nov 11, 2022 | Gabelli School of Business

Throughout Joseph Calandro’s consulting career, he’s met investment bankers and CEOs who took risks with their own finances that they would never suggest to their clients. Seeing people with seven-figure incomes struggling with outstanding mortgages and high expenses inspired him to help others secure their financial futures.

A fellow of the Gabelli Center for Global Security Analysis, Calandro is a managing director at PricewaterhouseCoopers and author of the new book The Business of Personal Finance: How to Improve Financial Wellness. In this webinar co-sponsored by the center, the CFA Society New York, and the Museum of American Finance, he shared sage advice on how to manage personal finances and stay debt-free. Calandro said that tried-and-true business practices—including collecting and analyzing all of your financial data before making big decisions—can vastly improve your financial status.

For young people who are just starting to build their careers, he suggested using the early years to figure out what you want your future lifestyle to look like, and then work toward achieving that goal in a realistic way.

“Pay attention to how you want to live, what you want to do, and ignore all the noise around you,” Calandro said. “You can live frugally, or you could live very well and really try to understand what makes you happy. Then you can work as efficiently as possible to make that happen over time.”