It has been suggested that her fiancé, bank employee Reed Porter, was relying upon Sylvia to explain the complications of the worldwide financial panic.

She graduated magna cum laude from Hunter College in 1932, and her expertise in government bonds enabled her to get a job as assistant to the president of an investment counseling firm.

[6] Starting in 1934 as S. F. Porter, she published a newsletter devoted exclusively to U.S. government bonds, and was able to persuade the New York Post to hire her to write a thrice-weekly financial column.

This was followed by If War Comes to the American Home, which relied upon simple language and interesting anecdotes to explain national defense to the average reader.

In February 1966 Porter advised President Lyndon B. Johnson on the appointment of Andrew Brimmer, the first African American to serve on the Federal Reserve Board.

[7] In 1975, she published Sylvia Porter's Money Book, subtitled "How to Earn It, Spend It, Save It, Invest It, Borrow It and Use It to Better Your Life".