 Liscio was born to Armand and Josephine Liscio in Manhattan and matriculated from Fordham Preparatory School in the Bronx to Fordham University where he earned a bachelor's degree.He served in the Marine Corps before becoming a financial writer and analyst in the late 1970s.He was a senior editor at "U.S. News & World Report" and worked at "Barron's" in the late 1980s into the early 1990s.