HispanicVista Columnists

Paycheck to Paycheck

 

By Domingo Ivan  Casañas/HispanicVista.com

May 16, 2005

 

I recently read in Hispanic magazine that 78% of our Latino population is living paycheck to paycheck.  I felt that this number was quite high so I went out to research this situation.  I found out that the high percentage comes from a Met Life 2003 Employee Benefits Trend Study conducted during the third quarter of 2003.

I decided to take my own survey and ask the same question of our East Contra Costa Hispanics.  Since I am not shy it was easy to start a conversation at the local Home Depot and Wal-Mart with many Hispanics.  I was actually surprised to not only hear that so many are living paycheck to paycheck but also how many are barely just getting by.

Take for instance Roberto Morales who does labor work for cash.  Even though the one day pay is adequate to pay several bills.  Roberto has the problem that he does not hold a steady day to day job.  He gets laid off for up to one month at a time.  This does not help his financial status when it comes to providing for a wife and two children. 

I also spoke to a well to do Latino, Cesar who has a job that pays him close to $50,000 dollars annually.  Yet Cesar and his wife live paycheck to paycheck due to the

Fact of a high $3,500 monthly mortgage payment.  Out of 40 short interviews that I conducted about 80% told me that they were just making it paycheck to paycheck.

What surprised me even more is that less than 5% of them have any disability insurance or even any type of life insurance.  You may be wondering why this is so.  I too, was curious and most of the men told me that why should they leave their wife with so much money since they feel it will make it easier for their wives to go out and spend it with another man.  This ignorant mentality of the Latino men,  even though spoken with a laugh does not take into account how much it would help a woman and the children left behind due to death of her husband to continue on a comfortable life without having to get any outside assistance or maybe even having to get a man just for financial support. 

The study goes on to state that 34% of Hispanic employees living in the U.S. have parents who are financially dependent on them, compared with 5% of workers overall.  This statistic puts a heavy burden on the Latino worker.   It shows that even though they are working to provide for their immediate family a big percentage of them are also working to help take care of their parents. 

Caring for the financially dependent parent can be an extraordinarily expensive proposition.  In many cases any general savings plan is nullified, as well as any college savings plan or any funding to a retirement plan.  This is why so many are facing financial hardship, and why there is no money saved for their children that would like to go on to get a college education.  Most Latinos do not get involved in a financial plan because they are overwhelmed with their current responsibilities. 

What can be done about this statistics?  In my opinion public awareness, private interviews where Hispanics can express their concerns and their financial predicament must be addressed by organizations or companies that can help the Latino worker to

set a feasible plan that will address their concerns.   Education on the importance of life insurance, disability insurance and help in money management can definitely help those who need it.  Learning about your credit and credit score is also a valuable tool for the Hispanic population to be familiarized with.  I challenge our community to get the message out.   As the founder of the Hispanic Achievers Club I invite any Company or organization to address the above issues by letting me know what game plan they have that would get this message out. 

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 Domingo Ivan Casañas, a contributing columnist to HispanicVista.com (http://www.hispanicvista.com/), is a writer for several newspapers in his community of Northern California.  Mr. Casañas has been nominated for the Citizen of the year in his hometown.  He has also been nominated for the Cesar Chavez Award in recognition of continuing Community Service and Embodiment of the Cesar Chavez Values.  Domingo is the AUTHOR of a new book about Cuba and a journey to freedom that will debut in June 2005 titled: CUBA THE TARNISHED PEARL.  Excerpts of this book may be read at: http://www.cubanbook.com/ email:   LatinoAchievers@aol.com