Remittances Are More Than a Transactions, They’re Part of a Financial Plan.

Remittances have long been an important part of the economic and social fabric connecting Latino families in the United States with loved ones across Latin America.

The scale of that connection is striking. In 2024 alone, Latin America and the Caribbean received approximately $161 billion in remittances — nearly three times the $54.7 billion recorded in 2010. The overwhelming majority of those funds originated in the United States. In countries such as Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, remittances represent between 20% and 30% of GDP. For the region as a whole, they now account for 2.5% of GDP. For millions of families, they help cover housing, healthcare, education, food, and other everyday necessities.

The importance of these flows is well documented. Researchers have studied them for decades. Governments track them closely. And the financial industry has built entire businesses around facilitating them.

But there is a gap between understanding remittances and truly understanding the people who send them.

The Industry Understands the Transaction. Not Always the Person Behind It.

To its credit, the financial industry recognizes that remittances are about more than moving money. It understands the family bonds, the sacrifice, and the obligation these transfers represent. The emotional dimension is not lost on institutions that have built products specifically for this market.

But recognizing the emotion is not the same as understanding the financial life behind it.

What the industry has been slower to see is how remittances function within a family’s broader financial system — not as a periodic act of generosity, but as a recurring, planned commitment that shapes every other financial decision a household makes.

That gap matters. And it has real consequences for how financial institutions design products, offer advice, and build relationships with Latino customers.

What the Data Actually Shows

At Finhabits, one of the advantages of the work we do is the perspective we have on the financial lives of the people we serve. And what we hear from our members is consistent with what the broader data suggests: remittances are not an occasional financial behavior. They are a regular, structured commitment.

When our members talk to us about how they manage their money, remittances come up again and again — not as something occasional, but as a monthly commitment as fixed as rent. Hundreds of thousands of transactions. Millions of dollars. Sent consistently, month after month. This isn’t a footnote in their financial lives. It’s a cornerstone.

The broader data tells the same story. Globally, about 800 million people — roughly one in nine — receive remittances. Migrants send an average of $200 to $300 every one to two months, representing approximately 15% of what they earn. Not a trivial amount. A meaningful, ongoing allocation of income that most financial plans simply do not account for.

A Different Financial Reality Requires a Different Approach

Many of us at Finhabits, myself included, are part of the same community. We know firsthand what it means to support parents, siblings, children, or extended family members living in another country. These transfers are rarely experienced as separate financial activities. They are commitments that families plan around — month after month, year after year.

When a family commits a meaningful portion of its monthly income to this obligation, that decision shapes everything else in their financial life. How much they can save. How much they can invest. What insurance they can afford. How much goes toward retirement. It is not a line item at the margins. It is a structural part of the budget — and any financial plan that ignores it is built on an incomplete picture.

This is where traditional financial planning frameworks often fall short.

Most financial plans are built around a single-household model: income, expenses, savings, retirement, insurance. Categories designed for a financial life that begins and ends within one address, one country, one family unit.

For many Latino families, that picture is incomplete.

For many Latino families, financial responsibilities regularly extend across households and across borders. That cross-border commitment is not separate from the financial plan — it is one of the primary forces that shapes it, determining what is possible everywhere else. At Finhabits, this shapes how we communicate with our members. A retirement article reads differently when your reader has dependents on two countries. Getting that context right is the difference between earning trust or being ignored.

Seeing the Full Picture

The Latino population in the United States is not a niche audience. It is the fastest-growing demographic in the country, with significant and growing economic power. Institutions that understand this community — genuinely understand it, not just at the level of language or marketing — are better positioned to build lasting relationships and relevant products.

Understanding it means recognizing that a Latino household’s financial obligations may include a parent in Guadalajara, a sibling in San Salvador, or a family home being maintained in Oaxaca. It means building planning tools and advice frameworks that treat these commitments as what they are: real, recurring, and financially significant.

It also means asking different questions. Not just “How much do you save each month?” but “What financial responsibilities do you carry for family members outside your household?” The answer changes the entire plan.

The data points in one direction. For millions of Latino households in the U.S., remittances are not a side behavior — they are a recurring financial commitment that shapes everything else. Institutions that recognize this will see their customers more clearly. Those that don’t will continue working from an incomplete picture.