As we were reminded a couple of weeks ago during our @ALPFA event on Wealth Building for Latinos, wealth is power. The top 10% of Americans control 67% of the nation’s wealth. These are the ones called to influence policy, power, and business decisions across the country.

Overall, Hispanic households have tripled their wealth since 2014, but only $1 of every $4.47 in financial investment assets belongs to Latino families.

The Reality Check: Hispanic homeowners derive 66% of their net worth from home equity alone. This real estate overconcentration creates dangerous vulnerability. When housing markets shift, entire communities across the country feel the earthquake. We’ve seen this movie before in 2008.

Here’s the reality that keeps me up at night: Only 28% of Hispanic families owned stocks directly or indirectly, compared with 39% of Black families and 66% of White families Booming US stock market doesn’t benefit all racial and ethnic groups equally | Pew Research Center

Even more telling—only 28% of their households own stocks and just 8% own mutual funds Your Clients of Tomorrow: How to Attract Hispanic and Latino Investors | T. Rowe Price. Forty-nine percent (49%) of Hispanics don’t currently own individual stocks, mutual funds, bonds, or exchange-traded funds. These are the wealth-accelerating tools that compound over decades.

So, it is not only the overexposure on real estate, but in general, the Hispanic community is leaving money on the table and, with that, their chance to shape policy, markets, government, and corporations to build a legacy of influence.

This invisibility is part of what’s holding the community back from having a seat at every table.

The Opportunity That’s Staring Us: By 2060, Hispanic Americans will represent 29% of the U.S. population. But the transformation is happening right now. One in five affluent Gen Z Americans is Hispanic compared to just one in fifteen affluent Boomers.

The HENRY cohort (High Earners, Not Rich Yet), earning $200K+ is exploding. Hispanic business formation outpaces every other demographic group. These aren’t future trends, they’re today’s reality.

Over 2.1 million Latinos have assets valued above $400,000, yet they remain the most overlooked segment in wealth management. In fact, U.S. Latinos are on track to accumulate $113 trillion of wealth by 2050, according to Latino Power in Numbers – Finhabits—but only if they move beyond traditional savings into investment instruments.

Where Brands Get It Wrong: According to Finhabits, “banks have successfully won over Latinos in providing basic financial services — i.e., checking accounts. But this engagement is only surface-level deep. Banks have not been able to translate this success into winning over Latinos as they accumulate wealth over the course of their lives.”

Translating brochures into Spanish isn’t cultural competence. It’s ignorance. Real cultural insight means understanding that wealth-building for Latino families isn’t about individual gain; it’s about family and generational legacy. It’s about protecting what matters most while building what comes next.

The successful brands in financial services will be the ones embedding authenticity into their DNA. They’re partnering with community organizations, creating content and platforms that resonate with cultural values, specific consumer preferences, and designing advisory models that speak to both the heart and the spreadsheet.

The Bottom Line: As I always say, influence is the currency of opportunity. And right now, the Hispanic community represents the largest untapped reservoir of financial influence in America. The question is which financial institution will develop data-driven, culturally resonant strategies to earn their trust and lead the way as their partner of choice.