POR Alexandra Mendoza
Promoting financial education among the Hispanic population has become the “daily grind” for Mexican-American attorney Antonio Barbosa.
With a law degree from Mexico’s Iberoamericana University, the current Vice President of Community Development for Wells Fargo Bank in San Diego spends his time educating the community regarding these very important topics that, unfortunately, are not thought about at a younger age.
“(saving for retirement) if something we feel we need to think about once we get older, when the truth is we should start thinking about it as soon as we start working”, said Mr. Barbosa.
The current average retirement age among the white American community is between the ages of 63 and 65, while for Hispanics it is 72, he shared.
“We seem to live more day-to-day, and that’s part of the problem, that we are not disciplined about money”.
After four years of working in the Protection and Liaison units at the Mexican Consulate in San Diego, in 2002 he got his opportunity at Wells Fargo, where he arrived with the commitment of helping the Latino community.
Over the years, he has seen the need to promote healthy finances so that Latinos and other low-income people can live with peace of mind once their working days are over.
To that end, he has worked with different NGOs, such as Casa Familiar, Chicano Federation, and Bayside Community Center, in addition to being a member of the City of San Diego’s Small Business Advisory Board, which provide him with a new platform from which to promote a culture of savings and economic development among both residents and small businesses.
His key take-home message is simple: get to know your monthly budget, including income and expenses.
“By studying just one month’s expenses, you can start to realize what your financial issues are and where your money is going”, expressed Mr. Barbosa.
By doing this exercise, a person will become aware of their regular expenses – both essential and secondary – and will have a clearer idea as to what percentage of his/her budget could be invested in a retirement fund that will allow him/her to live worry-free down the road.
This culture is taking hold little by little in the younger generations who, because they have more access to information, are making these kinds of decisions more carefully; we see, for example, that they are more careful with their credit now than in the previous decade.
“Since they got to see their parents go through that whole economic crisis when home prices plummeted and people struggled to make their mortgage, I believe they are being more careful with credit”, he said.
Another one of his roles at Wells Fargo is supporting development projects that focus on helping low-income communities.
In the past few years, he has helped promote work development organizations that train and certify workers so they can get better-paying jobs.
Among these groups are the Job training Center and Workshop for Warriors (which works with War Veterans). Some offer training for jobs that can potentially earn a person up to $140,000, thanks to workshops that sometimes last less than 12 months.
Mr. Barbosa believes that creating good jobs in a city where the cost of housing is high bolsters the economy and offers a better quality of life.
“We focus on promoting high-impact projects” states Antonio Barbosa. “I find it rewarding to seek out and work with these priceless organizations that aim to do the right thing and then giving them my support”.