Recently, I shared a video about the 9 Rules for Creating the Latino Economic Revolution. To be honest, I didn’t expect the response it received. That video ended up getting more than 178,000 views on TikTok, which tells me something important: our community is hungry for guidance about money, wealth, and opportunity.
In that video, I talked about the rules.
But today, I want to talk about the tools because I know it’s difficult to follow rules without tools. I always say it, but motivation alone isn’t enough and neither is knowledge. You need the tools to turn that knowledge into action.
I’ve spent years working with Latino immigrants and U.S.-born Latinos from modest backgrounds, and I’ve learned something important about our community: we are survivors, business owners, and hard workers. We adapt to new systems, we overcome obstacles, and we build lives for our families with determination and resilience.
But I’ve also learned that many people simply don’t know what tools exist to help them succeed financially in this country. So in this article, I want to share nine practical tools every Latino family can start using right now to take control of their money, build wealth, and create a better future.
These are simple, accessible, and most of them are completely free.
No. 1: Know Your Credit
One of the first steps toward financial empowerment is understanding your credit. But still, about 30 percent of people do not know their credit score and about 27 percent of people don’t check their score every year. And I highly recommend you join the ranks of the people who check their score at least every year.
Your credit report tells the story of how you’ve handled your debt and financial obligations. Keep in mind that errors might happen more often than people realize, so reviewing your report regularly is important, so you need to be vigilant about finding names and accounts on your report that don’t belong to you so you can dispute them early and minimize any impact to your credit score.
There are a few options to keep up to date with your credit score. First, you can go to annualcreditreport.com and download your credit reports for free from the three major credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax.
If you want to see a free credit score, you can also visit creditkarma.com. It may not be the exact score a lender uses, but it gives you a good idea of where you stand. Also, some banks and credit cards offer you access to your FICO score throughout the year so you can see if it changes. So login to your banking or credit card app and check to see if your FICO score is available to you.
For many people, simply seeing their credit report is the first step toward taking control of their financial life.
No. 2: Create Your Social Security Account
Another powerful tool many people overlook is creating an account at ssa.gov.
When you create an account with the Social Security Administration, you can see what your future Social Security benefits may look like based on your earnings history.
For many people, this becomes a wake-up call because they realize that Social Security alone will not be enough for retirement, and that realization often motivates them to start saving and investing more consistently.
You can also check to make sure the government has recorded your income correctly every year. As with your credit score, if there are errors, you want to catch them early so you can get them fixed.
No. 3: Track Your Money
One of the most common things I tell clients is this: You can’t control money if you don’t know where it’s going.
Tracking your spending doesn’t have to be complicated. Today there are several free apps that can help you see where your money is going every month.
Some options include:
- Rocket Money
- EveryDollar (free version)
- Goodbudget
- Honeydue
Once people begin tracking their spending, they often discover habits they didn’t even realize they had. One client who did this exercise found her Amazon habit was becoming unsustainable and she needed to stop impulse buying things online. Awareness gives you the ability to make better decisions.
No. 4: Build an Emergency Fund
Life is unpredictable. Jobs change, cars break down, and unexpected expenses show up when we least expect them. That’s why building an emergency fund is so important.
Say you get a new job in the office after you’ve been working remotely for six years and you lost 35 pounds. You’re probably going to need a capsule wardrobe because your office clothes are too large and too dated for 2026. Another example is your refrigerator just breaks one day and you need to replace it. An emergency fund would come in very handy in both of those situations.
Bankrate reports that about 30% of Americans have no emergency savings at all and only 46% of Americans have enough emergency savings to cover three months of their expenses. And Empower reports that 37% of people can’t afford an unexpected expense over $400.
One simple strategy is opening a high-yield online savings account separate from your everyday checking account. Keeping the money separate makes it easier to leave it untouched unless there’s a real emergency.
Some popular options include:
- ally.com
- marcus.com
- capitalone.com/360
- synchronybank.com
Your emergency fund becomes your financial safety net when life inevitably throws surprises your way. When you have that safety net, you make financial decisions from a place of confidence.
No. 5: Invest Your Spare Change
One of the biggest myths people believe is that you need a lot of money to start investing. That simply isn’t true.
Apps like Acorns and Stash allow you to invest your spare change automatically, otherwise known as micro-investing. These apps round up your purchases and invest the difference. But FINRA cautions that you need to vet your apps and make sure you see if the firm running the app is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are members of FINRA. You can do this through FINRA’s BrokerCheck tool. And make sure you review the fee structures. Some of the apps charge monthly fees or commissions and others do not.
It may not seem like much at first, but small amounts invested consistently can grow into something powerful over time. Voya reports that it’s not about how much you start with, it’s about getting started and staying consistent.
No. 6: Open an Investment Account
At some point, every family that wants to build long-term wealth needs to begin investing. You can open investment accounts with companies like:
- Schwab
- Fidelity
- Vanguard
- Betterment
These platforms make investing more accessible than ever before. I always remind people that ownership is one of the most powerful ways to build wealth in America. When you invest, you are becoming an owner in companies and participating in the growth of the economy.
Over time, that ownership can create opportunities for your family that simply saving alone cannot.
No. 7: File Your Taxes for Free
Taxes can feel intimidating, but the truth is that many families who have an adjusted gross income of $89,000 qualify to file their taxes for free. You can visit irs.gov and look for the Free File program to electronically file your tax return.
If you prefer doing your taxes in Spanish, the IRS has a full website available at irs.gov/espanol.
The information is there. Sometimes we just need someone to show us where to find it.
No. 8: Protect Yourself from Financial Abuse
Financial empowerment also means knowing where to turn when something goes wrong.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau provides resources and protections for consumers through their website. If a bank, lender, or financial company treats you unfairly, this is where you can file a complaint and seek help.
Many people don’t realize that these protections exist, but they were created specifically to protect consumers from abusive financial practices.
No. 9: Learn About Life Insurance
Another important tool for protecting your family’s future is understanding life insurance. In our community only around 41% of us own life insurance, according to LIMRA. LIMRA reported this is the lowest ownership rate of any racial or ethnic group. And our rates of ownership have dropped in the past year.
But let me tell you something—about half of our community members would face financial hardship within six months if the breadwinner died, according to LIMRA.
We have a lot of excuses for not having life insurance—from it being too expensive to not knowing how it works to not trusting insurance agents. But it’s a necessary protection.
If you want to learn about life insurance before purchasing a policy, you can visit lifehappens.org. This nonprofit organization provides educational resources to help families understand how life insurance works and how it can protect loved ones financially.
For many families, life insurance is one of the simplest ways to make sure their children and spouses are protected if something unexpected happens.
Building the Latino Economic Revolution
Mi gente, this is how we build the Latino Economic Revolution. We have to equip ourselves with knowledge, discipline, and the tools that already exist for us to succeed.
Our community works incredibly hard. We sacrifice for our families, we build businesses, and we create opportunities for the next generation. Now it’s time for our money to work hard for us too.
If this article helped you, please consider supporting my work by sharing it with someone who needs to see it.
And I’d love to hear from you: what financial tools do you use that have helped you build wealth? Let’s keep learning from each other—and keep moving our community forward.
