Posted on February 1, 2011 by Christi Fish

In conjunction with the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, UTSA faculty members conducted a research study to assess the financial preparedness of Hispanic business owners.

UTSA participants were Dr. Lisa Montoya , Dr. Dianna Stone , Dr. Mark Suazo and graduate students Joy Row , Teresa Svacina , Julio Canedo-Soto and Dianne Krueger .

Contrary to previous studies, their findings revealed that Hispanic business owners in San Antonio had considerable knowledge of financial planning for their businesses, but needed additional training on enacting these plans.

“The survey findings indicate that there are differences between knowledge of, interest in and use of financial planning,” said Stone, professor of management. “Only 46 percent of Hispanic Business owners use financial services. However, the data shows that one factor that may impact the use of these services is revenues. The greater the revenue, the more likely the business owner is to use financial services.”

Key findings of the study:

  • 85 percent recognize that financial planning is one of their top priorities, but only 38 percent have a documented financial strategy in place for their business.
  • 65 percent indicated they were somewhat to extremely knowledgeable about financial planning, but 47 percent agree that they worry about being able to meet long-term financial goals.
  • 57 percent wish they were more in control of their finances and 46 percent feel that they do not have time to manage all their investments.
  • More than 50 percent plan to pass their business onto a family member, but only 18 percent have a succession plan in place.

Of the 171 Hispanic business owners who responded to the poll, which was conducted in July and August of 2010, the respondents were 54 percent male, averaged 43.5 years old, married and 62 percent had undergraduate or graduate degrees. Business revenues were split evenly with 51 percent reporting less than $100,000 in revenue and 48.9 percent reporting revenues of $100,000 or more.

The study was sponsored by South Texas’ Sapient Financial Group, a general agency of Mass Mutual Financial Group.

Wendy Frost—

Please send your comments to: wendy.frost@utsa.edu

— Christi Fish