Encouraging more Hispanic advisors: Insights from a $1B firm founder

investmentnews.com:

Less than 10% of financial advisors in the U.S. are from Hispanic backgrounds, according to estimates, but what can the industry do to change the stats?

It’s Hispanic Heritage Month and InvestmentNews asked Lorenzo Esparza, co-founder of Manhattan West in Los Angeles, to share his insights into the challenges and cultural barriers to greater diversity in the industry from his perspective as a child of Mexican immigrants.

Along with his co-founding partner Angie Spielman, who also has a Hispanic background, Esparza has grown the wealth management and alternative investment advisory firm to a recent milestone of $1 billion AUM in its first seven years in business.

As a kid, Esparza was fascinated by the capital markets and would watch CNBC to learn as much as he could, although he admits to not understanding much at the time.

“Growing up in a modest income family, the idea of learning about finance and business – topics outside of my reality – was fun and intriguing to me. I imagined a different life for myself, and the financial markets spoke to me in that way,” he said.

His parents were laborers with limited education, so there was no role model to encourage his interest in financial services, so he went to Loyola Law School at Loyola Marymount and graduated. But the call of the capital markets ensured.

“I knew right away I didn’t want to practice law. I pivoted quickly into financial services and joined Bernstein here in Los Angeles, then moved to JP Morgan. I grew up in finance through the financial crisis and the failure of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and Countrywide Mortgage Lenders,” he explained.

But a new step in Esparza’s career was ahead as he co-founded Manhattan West and developed a firm that serves