By now you’ve likely heard about a recent report that found Latinas and Black women have suffered immense financial losses over the course of the pandemic. The statistics don’t look much better when talking about retirement – in 2019, only 31% of Latinx workers contributed to an employer-sponsored retirement plan.
A combination of systemic oppression, xenophobia, and need for more widespread financial literacy, now paired with a pandemic that continues ravaging communities of color, has combusted into a severe economic downturn for the Latinx community, and particularly for Latinas. It’s a combination that feeds into the effects of generational trauma that some Latinas experience when addressing their finances.
But in the face of these reports and statistics are a growing group of Latinas who are making space for themselves and other women of color in the personal finance world. While the financial services industry has historically looked white and male, Latinas are showing up on social media platforms to teach other women how to build wealth not only for themselves but for generations to come.
From investing to eliminating debt, these mujeres are tackling a subject that remains taboo in many of our Latinx families out of fear that we’ll be considered greedy or too ambitious. Here are five Latinas who are creating financial literacy courses, using social media platforms to connect with their audience, and sharing their own personal finance stories along the way.
@investinglatina
Jully-Alma Taveras is the self-described JLo of personal finance. A Dominicana raised in New York, Taveras created Investing Latina in 2019 to teach Latinas how to start investing in the stock market. She began investing at age 19, becoming the first person in her family to open a retirement account. Initially putting away a monthly $50, Taveras is now on track to save $1 million by the time she decides to retire.
Her Youtube channel has over 60 videos of free content, including responses to questions that come directly from her followers, and she regularly breaks down complex financial topics into Instagram posts that are easy to understand.
@anjiekonte
Anna N’Jie-Konte is the founder of Dare to Dream, a fee-only financial planning firm serving women of color in their wealth-building journey. She is a certified financial planner and fiduciary who is ethically bound to provide advice that is in her clients’ best financial interest. N’Jie-Konte, who has roots in both The Gambia and Puerto Rico, is a native New Yorker who worked in the financial services industry before launching her own firm, blog, and podcast.
On her podcast, First-Gen Realness, she unpacks Afrolatinidad, talks about trailblazing in the financial services industry, and discusses how culture impacts our money. She hosts workshops such as “Become the Rich Aunty” and Instagram Lives answering questions about finances for small business owners.
@yoquierodineropodcast
Jannese Torres-Rodriguez is the host of Yo Quiero Dinero, a personal finance podcast created for Latinas and people of color. An engineer by day and self-described side hustle guru, she advises Latinas to build multiple streams of income and teaches her money-making strategies in her Side Hustle Moguls program. She might have a thing or two to teach us after earning $100k last year from her side hustles alone.
Torres-Rodriguez, a first-generation Puerto Rican mujer, is also a fierce advocate of investing with the goal of early retirement. Her content on Instagram, Tik Tok, and the podcast addresses topics from tackling debt to estate planning to financial independence and more.
@delyannethemoneycoach
Early into the pandemic, Delyanne Barros went from attorney to money coach, certified financial planning student, and attorney. Barros, who spent her early years in Brazil before growing up as an undocumented immigrant in Miami, first invested about $50K a few months before the pandemic led to a market crash in March of last year. She has since grown that amount to over $425K – all while paying off over $100K in student debt.
Now on track to retire by age 45, Barros advocates for investing for retirement with low-cost index funds. Her following has increased consistently on TikTok and Instagram, where she regularly shares brief videos and posts explaining the stock market, breaking down investing myths, and updating her audience on news that may affect their finances.
@luzwarrior
Linda Garcia, a Californian with roots in Mexico, began investing several years into her career as a marketing executive in television and film. Last summer, she launched “Wealth Rules Everything Around Me,” her first stock market beginner course, which has since sold out every time she has offered it.
The course soon led to a growing Latinx investing online community called “In Luz We Trust” and to collaborating with her daughter, who is a teacher, on a coloring book that teaches young children about the stock market. Garcia’s Instagram often features personal, inspirational stories about her investing journey and a focus on what she calls “spiritual development rooted in wealth building.”
These five mujeres are only a few among a growing community of Latinxs focused on creating generational wealth. But this wave of personal finance Latinidad comes at a time when Latinas and Black women across the United States are bearing the brunt of job losses and continue making cents on the dollar that white men earn.
Next time you find yourself feeling anxious about your finances, look them up to learn how to take control of your finances without the stress. And remember – the wage gap that Latinas and other women of color experience can only be narrowed if we talk about money. So let’s build our emergency savings funds, address our debt, and invest in the stock market so we can build the generational wealth that will help our families for years to come.
Lupe Ontiveros (as Carmen Garcia) and America Ferrera (as Ana Garcia) in Real Women Have Curves (2002) directed by Patricia Cardoso (HBO)
Venecia Troncoso and Fenessa Pineda in “Mosquita y Mari” (2012) directed by Aurora Guerrero (THE FILM COLLABORATIVE)
