The Latino CFP®
My name is Argenis David Biscardi Melendez, and I’m a Financial Planner & Investment Management Advisor, which sounds cool (at least to me) but is nothing out of the ordinary since there are more than 690,000 such people registered with FINRA in the USA who can either sell you a mutual fund, stock, ETF or give you advice regarding investments.
What is extraordinary is that less than 10% of those 690,000 advisors are from Hispanic backgrounds, and an even worse statistic for the underserved Latino community is that out of the 104,895 CFP® (Certified Financial Planners) professionals, long regarded as the highest standard certification for advisors, only 2.7% or just 2,828 are Hispanic or Latino.
https://www.cfp.net/knowledge/reports-and-statistics/professional-demographics
Hispanics, although compromising 19% of the total US population, about 64 million and growing (with percentages much more significant in states like California, Texas, and Florida), we have only one CFP® Advisor for every 22,630 Latinos. For reference, there is one CFP® Advisor for around every 3,115 people in the white population.
I’m Hispanic, por que hablo español and Latino because I was born and raised in South America (Venezuela). In my practice we are in the business of giving advise to clients, many people come to us looking for solutions to their financial planning and investing needs. We don’t discriminate, I’m proud to say we help clients from different ages, level of income and assets, countries and ethnic backgrounds.
But, to be honest, I have a soft spot for my community. Regarding household wealth, Hispanics have only a median net worth of $48,700; white ($250,400) and Asian ($320,900) households have a much larger median wealth.
As you can see below, the typical Hispanic family has 5 times less wealth than an Asian or White family. Wealth is not a game where one person needs to lose for the other to win; this country offers possibilities for everyone who wishes to better themselves, regardless of their color, language, or where they come from.
There are many reasons for this wealth gap; lack of financial education, behavioral mistakes, and difficult access to trusted advice are the main culprits. Fixing the gap is not easy, but it is definitely achievable. We work hard and have an entrepreneurial spirit with high intellectual potential, and there are many success stories in our community, now more than ever.
To conclude, I’m creating this blog to help everyone who wants to improve their current financial situation and the others around them. The goal every week will be to talk about financial concepts that can help you reach your goals and dreams.
Sincerely,
Argenis David Biscardi, CFP®