Focus areas

WHAT WE DO

Research that examines how Latinos navigate the financial system.
LatinoProsperity conducts research on how Latino families bank, borrow, save, invest, manage debt, and use emerging financial technologies.

Our 2026 report, Unlocking Latino Wealth: How Fintech Shapes Wealth Pathways for Latinos, examines how Latino consumers use fintech products and how those tools intersect with financial stability, debt, liquidity, savings, investing, and long-term wealth-building. Drawing on nationally representative survey data and in-depth interviews with Latino fintech users, the report shows that high levels of financial engagement do not necessarily translate into wealth creation.  Using the same data from the Unlocking report, we published a brief entitled Sports Betting, the World Cup, and Latino Financial Risk that examined Latino sports betting behavior and the overall impact of Latinos on the sports economy.

Understanding the financial realities behind consumer behavior.
Our research challenges assumptions about why families use products such as buy now, pay later, earned wage access, online lending, and other financial technologies.

For many Latino consumers, these products are not primarily about convenience. They are tools for managing cash flow, covering emergencies, avoiding overdraft fees, and making household expenses fit within limited financial resources.

Unlocking Latino wealth identifies a clear “stability-first” mindset among Latino consumers: 46 percent identify emergency savings as a primary financial goal, 40 percent prioritize paying down debt, 29 percent improving credit, and 26 percent purchasing a home. Yet only 35 percent feel on track toward their long-term financial goals.

Examining whether fintech creates pathways to wealth.
Latinos are among the most active users of digital financial tools. Our research examines whether this rapid adoption is expanding economic opportunity or reproducing the inequalities of the traditional financial system.

The 2026 Unlocking Latino Wealth report found that Latino respondents use nonbank fintech products at higher rates than non-Latinos, while remaining less likely to hold traditional wealth-building products such as retirement accounts, high-yield savings accounts, money market accounts, and individual stocks.

The challenge is not simply expanding financial technology. It is ensuring that innovation helps families move from managing short-term financial pressures to saving, investing, homeownership, retirement security, and asset ownership.

Advancing consumer protection and responsible innovation.
Innovation can expand access to credit and financial services, but it can also introduce new risks.

LatinoProsperity advocates for stronger protections against predatory lending, excessive and hidden fees, fraud, discriminatory algorithms, and financial products that can trap families in cycles of debt.

Our research calls for stronger consumer protections, clearer disclosures, fraud safeguards, culturally relevant financial guidance, and financial tools designed to support long-term wealth-building.

Bringing Latino voices into the future of financial services.
Latino consumers represent a large and growing market for banks, fintech companies, lenders, and other financial institutions. Yet Latino perspectives remain underrepresented in the design of financial products and the policies governing them.

LatinoProsperity brings together community leaders, researchers, policymakers, regulators, financial institutions, and fintech companies to help build a financial system that better understands and serves Latino households.