Interested in Building Wealth? Give Yourself Permission to Succeed
Building wealth may sound like an abstract concept, but Latinos can get started on that path with some strategic planning.
On February 1, The Alumni Society hosted the exclusive Wealth Creation Series: Harvard Edition featuring two members: Angeles Investors Board Chair Adela Cepeda and investor, advisor, and corporate board member Luis Ubiñas.
Cepeda and Ubiñas shared their individual journeys and approaches to wealth building, as well as their thoughts on early stage investing and venture capital as viable avenues for building generational wealth.
- Building wealth is a collective journey.
Building wealth is not an individual journey; it’s a collective journey. As the newest immigrants to the United States, Latinos need to build wealth if they want to be in our rightful place in this country. The journey to wealth is about security and safety and making sure you not only have what you need but also can keep your family safe.
2. Set clear financial goals.
The Latino community is growing by leaps and bounds, but the financial security gap must be breached. First, Latinos looking to build wealth must ask themselves exactly what they want to do and clearly define their goals. Is the goal to pay for kids’ college tuition? Is the goal to pay off student loans, to purchase a house, or save for retirement?
If Latinos do not ask themselves the “why,” then their ability to save money maximally will be diminished. Define the “why” and save into those pools. The risk tolerance and time frame for saving will be different for each one, along with its own unique investment strategy.
3. Homeownership is still important.
Cepeda and Ubiñas agree: homeownership is key to building wealth in the US. They noted that past recessions set the Latino community back and it hasn’t fully recovered. This has made individual family net worth significantly lower than white American families.
When it comes to younger Latino generations, it is a mistake to not see homeownership as a viable avenue to building wealth. Both young and older Latino generations need to pursue homeownership because that is a tenet in American wealth.
4. Give yourself permission.
Ultimately, Latinos need to give themselves permission to save money, to build businesses, to build net worth and assets, and to be well off. At the end of the day, this is the path to social progress. Cepeda and Ubiñas noted that the Latino community is inherently entrepreneurial because it has had to make do with so much less, not just in the US but also in Latin America.
By setting clear financial goals, embracing the concept of homeownership, and resetting individual mindsets, Latinos can immediately set themselves on a path toward building wealth.
