Hispanics' Retirement Plans, Priorities Vary

Fifty-five percent of Hispanic investors agree that “raising and investing in kids is the best retirement plan,” compared with 41% among U.S. investors overall, and a quarter (24%) expect to rely on family members to live and make ends meet in retirement, nearly twice as many as among U.S. investors overall. 

Fifty-nine percent say they want to have money to pass on to family or friends (similar to U.S. investors overall), and according to a new survey by Wells Fargo, 17% say that wanting assets for an inheritance most motivates them to build up their savings and investments (compared with 8% of U.S. investors overall). 

Those financial family bonds appear to have a solid foundation. Nearly 60% currently provide financial support to others in their families or communities (compared with 44% of U.S. investors overall), while half (54%) have lent or given money to an adult family member in the last year (compared with 39% of U.S. investors overall).  

However, almost half of surveyed Hispanics (45%) say that no one ever taught them about saving and investing (versus 31% of U.S. investors overall), and three out of four (76%) wish they had learned more about managing money when they were growing up (compared with 61% of U.S. investors overall). 

Perhaps as a result, the survey found that Hispanic investors are more risk-averse than others, with almost half (47%) preferring to put money for the future into savings with no risk of losing it (compared with 35% of U.S. investors overall). Hispanic investors also had different ideas on the best place to keep their savings. More than half (56%) of Hispanic investors feel that the best place to keep their savings is in bank accounts (38%) or real estate (18%), while fewer than half (45%) of all U.S. investors feel that the best place to keep their savings is in bank accounts (32%) or real estate (13%). 

The survey findings are based on an online survey conducted between June 12 and June 24 among 528 Hispanic investors nationwide. Qualified respondents were non-students, age 25-75, who are the primary or joint financial decision-maker in a household with investable assets of at least $10,000.