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Latinos are an economic engine for the US. They are the fastest growing minority: by 2030, 1 in 5 workers will be Latino. And they have the highest rate of entrepreneurship of any race: their businesses have grown by 12.5 percent over the past five years, compared to 5.3 percent for White-owned businesses. READ MORE AT MCKINSEY & COMPANY

The rise of remote work during the pandemic led several Silicon Valley venture capitalists to escape California, with its wildfires and high taxes. Miami, with a large Latino population, and Atlanta, with a large Black population, have both seen higher interest.

Data from Crunchbase compiled for Reuters showed startups with a Black or Hispanic founder got 3.5% of the record $311 billion U.S. venture funding in the year to Dec. 16, up from an average 2.5% in the previous five years.

Florida and Georgia were the only states with significant deal flow that showed an increase in the number of deals for Black and Latino companies. READ MORE AT WHBL

There have been more new businesses formed so far this year than ever. Literally ever.

According to data from the US Census Bureau analyzed by the Economic Innovation Group, there were about 1.4m new startup applications filed with the government through 30 September 2021. That’s compared with 1.14m during the same period in 2020 and 987 thousand in 2019. Every year before had been significantly less. READ MORE AT THE GUARDIAN

Latinos are a fast-growing, young segment of the U.S. population that’s also highly entrepreneurial, yet businesses that Latinos start often struggle to get the financing they need to grow and succeed.

These businesses are among the “most overlooked opportunities for investors,” the Boston-based Bain & Co. wrote in a report released earlier this month. READ MORE AT PENTA

Hispanic Americans have long dealt with racial discrimination and unfair lending practices, contributing to a racial wealth gap between Hispanic and white families. A survey from the Pew Research Center found that 70% of Hispanic Americans said they didn't have emergency funds to cover at least three months of expenses during the pandemic, and more than half said they worried daily or frequently about keeping up with expenses.

Those already-grueling financial circumstances have only grown worse over the past 18 months. Earlier in the pandemic, the Paycheck Protection Program provided over $521 billion in funding and over 5 million PPP loans to small businesses. However, Latino business owners didn't reap the benefits of the first round of funding. READ MORE AT INSIDER

Latinos play a key role in economic growth as their buying power jumped to more than $1.7 trillion, according to a report from the University of Georgia. In 2020, the census pointed out a drastic national spike, with Latinos making up more than half of the population’s growth.

Their buying power is a driving force in economics ­as they reach closer to nearly $2 trillion, according to US Hispanic Market Report. READ MORE AT NBC10 NEWS

Families led by Black or Hispanic adults are less likely to be invested in the stock market, compared to those led by white adults, according to the latest Pew research. About 61% percent of white U.S. households own some stock, compared to 28% of Hispanic households. READ MORE AT YAHOO FINANCE

San Antonio’s Black and Latino college students are significantly more likely to avoid taking out student loans because they’re afraid they won’t be able to pay them back.

In a survey Texas Public Radio sent to students currently or recently enrolled in one of San Antonio’s public institutions of higher education, Hispanic students were just as likely as white students to take out loans. But the reasons they didn’t take out loans varied depending on their race and ethnicity. READ MORE AT TEXAS PUBLIC RADIO

The numbers speak for themselves. Latinas have to work for nearly two years to make what white men make in a year, earning only $0.55 to every dollar a white man earns. Black women make $0.62 per $1 made by a white man, and Native American women make $0.57.

The pay disparity that Latinas face has barely improved over the last 30 years. But these Latina money experts are done waiting. READ MORE AT NEXT ADVISOR

The proliferation of financial fraud in the form of scams is undeniable. Federal data show the highest ever year-over-year rise in fraud reports between 2019 and 2020, and we know that scams are severely under-reported. We also know that when consumers are aware of specific scams, they are far less likely to engage with them, and far less likely still to lose money or sensitive information. READ MORE AT AARP

Consumer confidence among U.S. Hispanics fell in the second quarter, though optimism about their overall finances is building as the nation continues its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Hispanic Consumer Sentiment Index decreased to 90.8 from 92 in the first quarter, but it remains high above the 82.8 during the second quarter of last year, according to the Florida Atlantic University Business and Economics Polling Initiative (FAU BEPI) in FAU’s College of Business. READ MORE AT FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY

With more than half of all Hispanic and Latino Americans unable to set up a basic checking account or send and receive money, the pandemic has highlighted the deep divide between those who are able to access digital banking, and those who are not.

Cuentas (Nasdaq: CUEN), a Miami-based fintech company focused on serving the Hispanic and Latino communities, is looking to narrow that divide, if not eliminate it outright - one card and one app at a time. READ MORE AT THE STREET

Despite being the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. small business ecosystem, Latinos continue to struggle to secure capital from national banks.

That’s according to the State of Latino Entrepreneurship 2020 research study from the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative.

Stanford’s report found that only 20 percent of Latino-owned businesses that applied for national bank loans over $100,000 obtained funding, compared to 50 percent of white-owned businesses. When looking at loans of all sizes, the percentages change, but not the gap: among Latinos, 51 percent received loans versus 77 percent for whites. READ MORE AT CBS NEWS

In California, more than 50% of Latino households are hard-pressed to make it financially, despite the state’s booming economy and strong labor market, according to a new report from Oakland’s Insight Center for Community Development. READ MORE AT CAL MATTERS

The Hispanic consumer may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the travel industry, but a deeper look into travel trends shows that they perhaps should be. READ MORE AT FORBES

No two consumer groups are identical in behavior or belief. Whether the differences are due to gender or politics, education or ethnicity, brands know that what might appeal to one crowd of potential shoppers won’t appeal to another.

With an estimated 55 million Hispanic people living in the United States, new data from YouGov Plan & Track uncovers 10 ways Hispanic consumers aged 18+ living in America differ from the general public. READ MORE AT FORBES

The United States is the most popular destination for immigrants in the world. As such, the nation’s demographic composition is anything but static. Comprising over 17% of the total U.S. population, Hispanics and Latinos are one of the largest and fastest growing groups in the United States.

As recently as 1980, the United States was home to some 14.8 million people of Hispanic or Latino descent. Today, more than 55.9 million Americans identify as Hispanic and Latino. READ MORE AT USA TODAY

As a child, I don’t remember having a conversation with either of my parents about finances. The handful of lessons came from watching my parents. I was seven when they bought our first home for $80,000. It was a very modest two-bedroom on a small acreage. I know my father wanted something he could pay off in a few years. He wasn’t a fan of owing money for a long period of time. I also remember him putting a huge down payment on a Custom Craft van for our annual road trips and paying it off quickly. I got the message loud and clear; mortgages are not good. I don’t know if his motivations were financial independence or lack of trust in any institution that had his money. READ MORE

Historically, financial service companies have been slow to focus on the burgeoning U.S. Hispanic market. While certain sub-categories, namely money transfer services, check cashing and mortgage providers have aggressively pursued Hispanics, most efforts have been focused on the “unbanked” — an unsophisticated and relatively small segment of unacculturated Hispanic consumers that were generally outside the mainstream financial world. 

However, with continued growth of the Hispanic population and the well-documented increases in socio-economic status of Hispanics — e.g., college enrollment by Hispanics has surpassed Whites and Hispanics were the only major ethnic group to see a decline in its poverty rate in 2014 – the financial services industry is paying a lot more attention.

 READ MORE AT MEDIAPOST