Culture and Personal Finance

As we're about to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month it brought me back to a realization I had a few years back and has deeply shaped the way I work as a financial advisor: our views on money, especially investing, are heavily influenced by our cultural upbringing.

As a Latino advisor working with many clients from different cultural backgrounds, I often see familiar patterns. Growing up, money was talked about in terms of saving but never investing. You might have had a savings account, maybe a pension or 401(k), but no one really explained how it all worked. In my family, I had one uncle who was into stock trading, but other than that, investing just wasn’t part of the conversation.

This isn’t unique. I’ve worked with people from a wide range of backgrounds, and for many, especially underserved populations, investing can feel unfamiliar, risky, or even untrustworthy. Sometimes it’s simply a lack of information or exposure. Other times it’s skepticism that comes from a place of cultural experience, one rooted in survival, not long-term financial growth.

A mentor once put it in perspective for me. He said, “Many people of color didn’t start investing until maybe the last 40 years.” And when you think about it generationally, that makes sense. The first generation immigrates and works hard just to make ends meet. The next finds more stable jobs, often in manufacturing or union roles, with pensions or basic retirement benefits. But it’s often the third generation that goes to college, earns higher incomes, and starts engaging with concepts like 401(k)s, mutual funds, and diversified portfolios.

Even then, there are barriers. Many, for instance, lean heavily toward real estate. It feels tangible. It's something you can see and touch. So when I sat down with a younger Latino couple a few years back and they asked, “Why should we invest in the market? My family always just invested in real estate,” I get it. I grew up around that too.

But my job is to show them that investing doesn’t have to be either or. It can be both. Real estate is an asset, just like stocks and mutual funds. One might outperform the other depending on the market cycle. But real strength comes from diversification. I’m not the type to say, “Put everything in the market.” I understand the value of tangible assets. I just want people to be thoughtful, patient, and diversified.

I also talk about risk, not to scare people, but to level the playing field. People say the stock market is risky, but so is real estate. Think back to 2008 when housing prices dropped 40 percent. Everything has risk. But with time, patience, and smart planning, those risks can be managed.

And there’s another layer, one we don’t talk about enough. Sometimes, people in our own communities hesitate to work with professionals who look like them. I had a Latina business owner tell me she was hesitant to share everything with me because she didn’t want people knowing her business. There’s a word in our culture: chisme. It means gossip. And unfortunately, it creates a wall of distrust, even when we’re trying to support each other professionally.

So yes, there are obstacles. Cultural, generational, and emotional. But I believe that financial literacy, trust, and representation are powerful tools. When we bring these conversations into our families and our communities, we start to change the narrative.

It’s not just about growing wealth. It’s about reclaiming the ability to make confident, informed financial decisions on our own terms.