Personal Finance and the Impacts of COVID: Conversation with John McGraw

Mr. John McGraw, Visiting Instructor of Accounting at SUNY-ESF, met with the graduate student seminar “Perspectives on Career and Gender” last Wednesday, May 5th to facilitate a conversation about personal finance. McGraw emphasized the importance of planning and implementing personal finance goals and provided actionable tips and suggestions for students first beginning their journey into saving and investing on limited incomes. He is cautiously optimistic that the economy has began to recover after being harmed by COVID but acknowledges that recent graduates may take longer to find their first job than in the past. Students were then able to ask questions about investing and planning for retirement, topics that are rarely taught at SUNY-ESF.  Participants received a budget template, nett

Suggestions include:

• paying down credit card purchases as quickly as possible to reduce the amount of interest due "the time to pay back should not exceed the period the item is of use."
• Improving credit scores through the use of "good debt" such as student and car loans.
• Don't skip insurance
• Take advantage of matched savings
• Save as you can, and invest. Look into Mutual Funds and IRAs, which can be opened even with small amounts.

For students interested in learning more about planning their personal finances, Professor McGraw teaches Personal Finance in fall semesters covering net-worth, budgeting, goal setting, debt, insurance, taxes, saving and investing, housing costs, transportation costs and other aspects of personal financial literacy.

McGraw received his MBA from LeMoyne College in Syracuse and worked for many years as a licensed CPA for public and private accounting firms. He has also served on the Board of Directors for Child Care Solutions and the Landmark Theater within the Syracuse community. 

For more information about the Perspectives on Career and Gender seminar, please visit http://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus.  For upcoming public events, please visit ESF’s College Calendar at http://www.esf.edu/calendar.   

As part of the requirements of Perspectives on Career and Gender, students take turns summarizing class discussions. The above was prepared by Gwenyth Wildrick, MPS student in the Graduate Program in Environmental Science.