How to Plan When You Are Your Parents’ Retirement Plan

Picture of a Latino family

Many 2nd generation Latinos are often put in the position to have to not only provide for themselves, but for aging parents as well. Generations of white people have had unfettered access to education, real estate acquisition, and other wealth building opportunities, while Latino (and Black and other non-white people) families haven’t had the same access. This has resulted in Latino children having to go beyond just caring for their aging parents, but to also be their parents’ financial retirement plan.


With the Latina wage gap increasing in 2022, the future seems even bleaker than before. Meanwhile, the dutiful daughter complex lives on strongly in the Latina community making the responsibility of providing a good quality life for parents even more anxiety-ridden.

But there is a way to manage it. Unless our elected officials make meaningful changes to address the horrific wealth gap, the overall landscape won’t improve anytime soon, however, we can be proactive about how we move forward with taking care of ourselves and our loved ones.

Get an idea of your parent's finances.

Finances in many Latino households aren’t a popular discussion. While many 2nd generation Latinos end up understanding the value of money simply because of different socioeconomic situations they encounter, the conversations end there. It’s not enough to just know where your parents land on the income scale, you have to know their whole portfolio or lack thereof.

Do they have any savings at all? How much, if anything, do they expect in private retirement or social security payments? Do they own a home and if so, what’s owed on it? It’s important to sit down with your parents and have an honest conversation about their lifestyle and what they expect to maintain after they are too old to keep working. And most importantly, how much you can contribute to help.

Manage each other expectations.

Along with the difficult conversation about how much money they have and what they can depend on, it's important to manage each other's expectations for what is expected of you. This includes the caretaking, expenses, and how they will contribute. If you even need to go so far as to have it in writing, do that. This includes any end-of-life documents such as medical power of attorneys, a will, and any life insurance they may have.

Clear boundaries will help relieve the stress of having to figure it out on the fly when someone all of a sudden can’t work or if a parent should unexpectedly pass. No one wants to depend on a go fund me, so don’t.

Don't expect your parents to remain in perfect health.

While many start retirement planning before any illnesses come to mind, it’s important to note that with aging parents come higher healthcare costs. Budgeting for potential illnesses or shopping around for insurance that might enable better care pre-retirement is vital to ensuring that retirement-age expenses will be accounted for. When budgeting for retirement, many people do so without healthcare costs in mind, so be prepared for the unexpected and potentially the worst outcome will ensure everyone is equipped to deal with the situation.

As previously mentioned, life insurance is relatively inexpensive especially when the policy is purchased earlier in life. Many people mistakingly believe that all insurance is unaffordable and this simply isn’t true. What’s unaffordable is having to fork over $10,000.00 or more for a proper funeral and worse, having to ask friends, family, and strangers to help thru a go fund me. Save yourself a lot of stress, anxiety, and time and prepare in advance for the inevitable.

Savings accounts save lives.

Opening up a Roth IRA is a great option for those working for employers that may not have retirement accounts available. Gains to contributions tend to be higher the earlier you begin putting money towards a Roth. Still, it's never too late to open an account and utilize it for savings - for those earning less than six figures; it also helps with taxable income, which helps present-day you as well. Making sure your parents understand the benefits of retirement accounts and the gains made from contributions can make a huge difference in the money they will have come retirement time.

Lifestyle changes might need to be made now to make it easier later.

Some of us know the importance of investing into retirement younger, so it's less of a catch-up once you are older. This means that adjusting current spending habits might need to happen to direct that money to more useful paths like a retirement savings account to offset the amount needing to be saved later. This includes getting rid of exorbitant car payments or money pits that could currently be presenting obstacles to proper retirement savings.

Create living wills.

Estate planning doesn't seem necessary if you don't have assets, but it is important to encourage your parents to create wills for the division of assets after their deaths. This prevents potentially costly arguments with the state over dividing what it is they left behind and can prevent family infighting during those sad times as well.

Insurance policies can go a long way.

Some employers have free life insurance policies, while others can be quite costly. Those life insurance policies can prove to be quite helpful to cover the costs of anything from funeral expenses to cover any outstanding debt you might have. Various types of insurance provide a solution should any financial obligations a person had when they were alive need to be met, so encouraging your parents to invest in policies as early as possible is a viable solution should they not have much saved in retirement accounts.

Some policies, like whole life policies, will accumulate worth and actually provide payments before death. There are many different types of insurance products that can work with your parent’s budget that will help them and you during difficult times.

We know that things get complicated as our parents age, and our own financial situations can change a lot with aging family members. It is important to keep in mind how we can all adjust to make being your parent's retirement account less stressful and more beneficial to all.

a woman giving the side eye to a man

Have you ever met someone who seems overly confident, self-centered, or even downright rude? Maybe they constantly talk about themselves, disregard your feelings, or even manipulate situations to their advantage. And, if you're anything like us and countless other Latinas, you might've thought, is this person just a purebred a**hole, or are they a narcissist?

Keep ReadingShow less
woman surrounded by colorful illustrations
Image by Sayuri Jimenez.

Nathalie Molina Niño has never been one to shy away from breaking barriers, and now, she’s focusing her attention on a new mission: demystifying corporate boardrooms for women, especially Latinas. Molina Niño is the President of Known, an asset management and financial services firm, a veteran tech entrepreneur and builder capitalist, and a board member at the iconic lingerie Brand, Hanky Panky, and others.

Like many corporate boards, Hanky Panky hadn’t publicly disclosed its board composition until recently. After the brand survived the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Molina Niño decided it was time for more women, specifically more Latinas, to know what it means to be on corporate boards.

Coincidentally, the decision to finally be more vocal about this topic aligned with the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, which served as the perfect kick-off to the work.

"Something that rarely gets talked about and I think almost gets kept opaque by design is boards,” she explains in a recent Instagram announcement. “[This Latinx Heritage Month], that’s what I’ll be talking about.” Her goal? To equip more Latinas with the knowledge they need to navigate onto for-profit boards, where they can thrive and build multi-generational wealth.

For-profit corporate boards often feel like an exclusive club. And in many ways, they are, especially for Latinas, who hold the smallest percentage of board seats in Fortune 500 companies compared to other racial groups. According to the latest report from Latino Board Monitor, while Latinos hold 4.1% of these board seats (compared to 82.5% held by white people), only 1% go to Latinas. Molina Niño, a first-generation American of Ecuadorian and Colombian descent, is part of this boardroom minority.

When asked about her experience as a Latina board member during a recent Zoom interview, she said, “It’s been lonely. There’s not a lot of Latinas on boards.” She went on to explain that even serving on boards of Latina-founded businesses gets lonely because, “A lot of the times, people who serve on their boards represent their investors and, as a result, [...] you still don’t see a lot of Latinas on those boards.”

This lack of representation drives Molina Niño’s determination to increase Latina presence in corporate boardrooms. By sharing her insights, she hopes to give Latinas a roadmap to claim their seats at the table. “If you don’t know where to go, it’s impossible to figure out how to get there,” she says.

The Road to the Boardroom

Getting onto a for-profit corporate board isn’t an overnight achievement, but it’s not an unattainable dream either. People often think you need to be a CEO or have a certain type of background, but that’s one of the biggest myths about boards in Molina Niño’s experience. What they’re really looking for is expertise — whether that’s in finance, marketing, sustainability, or even technology. If you have that expertise, you’re already an asset. It’s simply a matter of which road you should take.

Understanding what boards are and how they operate is key to unlocking opportunities. For-profit boards serve as the governing body for companies, overseeing direction and financial stability, and guiding CEOs and executives in decision-making. But Molina Niño emphasizes that not all for-profit boards are created equal.

“There are two kinds [of for-profit boards] [...]. There’s the publicly traded business board and then, on the privately held side, there are, I would argue, two types of boards [...] the traditional business board and the venture-backed business board,” explains Molina Niño. Traditional businesses are often family-owned or long-established and may only form boards to meet requirements, like securing financing or transitioning through an ESOP. Venture-backed boards, on the other hand, are typically filled by investors who hold major stakes in the company.

According to Molina Niño, understanding the difference between them is how you can create a successful strategy. With publicly traded business boards, the whole world is privy to them, so, “The way that you get in there is a little bit more transparent. Sometimes those publicly traded companies will hire a recruiter to help them find new board members,” explains Molina Niño. For private companies, on the other hand, there’s no legal requirement to make announcements. As a result, most people don’t know anything about them or their inner workings.

“Usually what happens in traditional businesses that don’t have venture-capital investments is that the Founders, Executives, or the board members, if one existed already, they usually go to their friends,” and people they deem experienced to fill board seats. In other words, it’s the founder’s decision, and that’s an entirely different approach than hiring recruiters. When it comes to venture-backed business boards, the seats on the board are filled by whichever investor writes the biggest check.

This is why an understanding of the different types of boards and acknowledgment of their own strengths is what will help Latinas define a sound strategy. Whether that’s working with a recruiter, networking and connecting with founders to build trust, or making the biggest investment.

The Path for Latinas

For Molina Niño, the key to getting more Latinas into corporate boardrooms is education. Knowing what a board looks like and how it functions is how you can position yourself to get on it. In openly talking about this, without the mystique it’s usually shrouded in, Molina Niño is providing women, especially Latinas, with invaluable insights. “If we had Latinas understanding what are the three types of for-profit boards I think that, on their own, they would be able to figure out what their best chance is and adjust their careers to make themselves more competitive,” states Molina Niño.

When asked about the impact of increased Latina representation in boardrooms, Molina Niño flips the narrative. “Boards don’t help Latinas by offering them seats; Latinas help businesses thrive by being on their boards,” she says. “The whole point of sitting on a board is that you have experience and expertise, and as Latinas, you also have some cultural experience that everyone wants. [...] At the end of the day, we [Latinas] have to realize that we have a ton to offer and we have to be selective about where we put that expertise,” she explains.

As demand for access to the Latina consumer rises, Molina Niño predicts that more Latinas will find themselves recruited into boardrooms. But she’s not content to sit back and wait for that moment. By openly sharing her journey and insights, she’s making sure other Latinas know their worth and have the tools to claim their place at the table. “I realized that quietly being on boards that helped me personally is not helping other Latinas. [...] I was lucky enough to have friends who could advise me and share their experiences, so that’s why I’m doing this,” she stated.

With Hispanic Heritage Month as the backdrop, Nathalie Molina Niño’s mission is clear: “My goal is just to give Latinas enough information so they can make a plan for how to eventually get on a board that they’re paid to be on and that will eventually help them build generational wealth.”

flags of latin american countries fly behind performers wearing culturally traditional clothing

Ever noticed how September in Latin America is just one big celebration? As we wave goodbye to summer and avoid winter as long as we can, the streets come alive with parades, music, and festivities. Many Latin American countries celebrate their freedom this month, commemorating their hard-fought battles for independence from colonial domination. Let’s dive into these significant days and understand what makes each unique.

Keep ReadingShow less