Ep 71 | First Gen was Taught to Save. Not to Build Wealth.

May 21

In this episode, Priya sits down with Gigi Gonzalez, financial educator and author of Cultura and Cash, to unpack why traditional money advice consistently misses the mark for first-generation professionals. The real issue is that first-gen wealth building comes loaded with inherited scarcity mindsets, cultural expectations around communal money, and family guilt that no mainstream personal finance book addresses. Listeners walk away with a concrete framework for building their own financial foundation without abandoning the people they love.

Takeaways:

Traditional financial advice was designed for people with an existing safety net, not people building one from scratch.
Scarcity mindset is inherited, not fixed. Recognizing where it came from is the first step to building past it.
Sharing a promotion with family often means absorbing the financial consequences of their decisions.
Building your own financial floor is not a betrayal of your culture. It's what makes sustainable generosity possible.

Follow Priya Malani:

LinkedIn | Instagram | Youtube | Stash Wealth

Guest Bio:

Giovanna "Gigi" Gonzalez is a Financial Educator, Influencer, and a 3x award-winning author.

She teaches personal finance to First Gen professionals at various organizations. In 2025, she was honored as the Best Personal Finance Influencer for Racial Equity by Bankrate. Her book, Cultura & Cash, was also selected as a “must-read money book for women’s financial growth in 2026” by Forbes.

She has been featured on dozens of publications including Nasdaq, CNBC Make It, and The Wall Street Journal. She is originally from California but currently resides in Spain.

Guest Links:

Instagram: @gigithefirstgenmentor

https://www.instagram.com/gigithefirstgenmentor/

TikTok: @thefirstgenmentor

https://www.tiktok.com/@thefirstgenmentor

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giovannagonzalez/

The Stuff Our Lawyers Want Us to Say:

Stash Wealth is a Registered Investment Advisor. Content presented is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to make an offer or solicitation for any specific securities product, service, or strategy. Consult with a qualified investment adviser (that's us) before implementing any strategy. Investing involves risk, including the loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. There…we said it.

Transcription

How do you think about balancing building your own future while also supporting family and honoring where you came from?

Guilt creeps in, and the guilt comes again because we're ingrained to be those obedient daughters and to honor our family.

Who the fuck am I to tell you what to do with your money? My name is Priya Malani, currently managing millions of hard working dollars. Enough for a play. Let's talk. Welcome to the F Word smart money.

Hey guys, welcome to the F Word. You may have noticed that your parents and maybe even your culture has shaped your relationship with money, but did you know that simply being first generation can impact it as well? My guest today is Gigi Gonzalez. She's a financial educator, influencer and three time award-winning author who focuses specifically on helping first generation professionals navigate money, which, as we'll learn today, comes with a different set of pressures and expectations.

Her book Cultura and Cash was named one of the must read money books for women's financial growth by Forbes, and she was recognized by Bankrate as the best personal finance influencer for racial equity. Gigi, welcome to the show.

Hi Priya, thanks for having me on.

Yeah, I'm really excited to chat with you. So Gigi, let's just start very simple. Give us your back story. What had you choose to focus on first generation wealth builders?

Unpacking the Unique Financial Hurdles for First-Generation Professionals

Really my own experience, I think like a lot of us, my 20s were very chaotic and I was just trying to figure out life as an adult and I didn't realize how much money played into things. And what I mean is by what kind of work situations you have to put up with, what kind of roommates you have to live with, and what neighborhood. Everything was tied to money. And because I'd never been taught how money worked, I especially struggled with it. So after enough of those terror stories, I decided I need to learn how this stuff works because I can. This cannot be my life. I did not work this hard to be the first in my family to go to college, the first to be working in a corporate space, to be struggling this much.

So I self-taught myself financial literacy. And once I learned what I learned, I was able to create a financial plan for myself. But I was also ignited to share my information, the information with others because it was really upsetting that I felt this information had been gate kept. Some people were lucky and they got some teachings from their parents. For me, it was backwards. I actually had to teach my parents these things after learning them. So that's what inspired me to get into teaching personal finance, specifically for first Gen. professionals and women of color.

And you were an econ major too, right? So like when you talk about gatekeeping, you even went to school and like focused on an area that talks about money and finance and yet it was still so obscure coming out of school for you.

Yeah, absolutely. And I went to UC Santa Barbara. A lot of the UC are known for being very theoretical, right? So they didn't teach me any practicalities. They never talked about personal finance. So yes, I knew a lot of theory, but nothing I could apply to my own personal finances.

Yeah, same. I was actually an econ major and felt the exact same way. So totally relate to that. What would be a universal experience that you and your research on this have identified as something that I guess drives why first Gen. are set up with a different set of challenges when it comes to money?

Sure. There's two that come to mind and it's because they just come up over and over and over. So one of them is mistrust of financial institutions. I've found that that typically tends to stem from our parents being immigrants from other countries, whether it's Latin America or somewhere else where maybe the financial system in their home country isn't as regulated as it may be in the US. Maybe their currency is a little bit more volatile, right? So they just kind of rather stick to cash, very much the cash is king mindset. The other thing that I've noticed is a lot of immigrants that come to this country, they typically have this scarcity mindset, which again, if you take it to context where they're coming from, right? They're not coming from opportunity and all they've known is scarcity. It makes sense why they would have that mindset. But we know as many people that you cannot build financial abundance with a scarcity mindset, right? You have to have a positive money attitude and abundance mindset.

So a lot of the thinkings or ideologies that I've come across is what's the point of trying to have more if like money's always going to be difficult, or what's the point of saving for the future if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, then I can't spend it. So we're not taught how to build wealth and how to leave a legacy and how to get out of the paycheck to paycheck cycle. So those are two big things to grapple with, right? Because one is institutional and then one is individual but dealing with people's attitudes toward money.

Yeah, so well said. And before we started recording, we were talking a little bit about how the corrupt financial services has done themselves no favors in terms of earning the trust of the public. So and then to come into it with the experience from your home country, which doesn't necessarily support trust in institutions just sort of compounds a problem and makes it worse.

Why Mainstream Financial Advice Fails First-Generation Individuals

So, speaking about traditional financial advice, what is one thing that you think traditional financial advice actually misses about the challenges of first generation professionals?

There's a lot. The first I'd say is that they don't take into account how culturally, a lot of us of the global majority do come from collectivist cultures where we see money as communal, right? So the money that we earn, it isn't just for us and our spending and our goals. It is also knitted with our family, whether that's our parents or siblings or for me, even grandparents. It isn't even a factor in these traditional personal finance books. And that's something that I felt first hand.

So I read all the money books. I learned what to do with my money. But then when my family was asking me for money to borrow for an emergency or things like that, I had no road map on how to navigate that and I had to figure it out on my own and it was really tough. I had a lot of challenges with family over things like that.

The other thing — I think we all know the book I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. Love that book, changed my life. But even his book, right, which is a very sarcastic, approachable book. I remember in the beginning of the book he's talking about, oh, my parents' financial advisor, and I'm like, what? Your parent has — your dad has a financial advisor? So that wasn't relatable to me at all. Again, as the daughter of immigrants, sure. The other notion was how to manage a windfall, something like an inheritance. And obviously I'd heard of inheritance through things like movies or TV shows, but for me, an inheritance was never something that I would really have to ever deal with.

So this notion of like how to best deal with this windfall and how to invest it for the future was very unrelatable, very relatable, because for me, the opposite was true, that instead of receiving money, I was going to have to bleed out money to help cover burial costs or things like that. So yeah, that makes people feel isolated, othered, and it doesn't foster a positive environment to learn about money.

Yeah, that's very relatable to me because I didn't have my grandparents in this country who were going to leave my parents money and then my parents were going to leave me money, that kind of thing. So you're starting from scratch, and traditional financial services doesn't necessarily cater to people who are starting from scratch. So I can see that as being definitely a huge, huge hurdle, just like even relating to a financial advisor or finding a financial advisor who gets you. I'm a big fan. You sound like a big reader. And James Clear, Atomic Habits, I'm not sure if you've read that one, but he talks a lot about how our actions and our behaviors stem from our identity. I would say identity isn't just culture. It's sort of how we were raised or what we saw growing up or like what we think is normal. It kind of makes sense. Therefore, how we handle money would be shaped by that as well. So where do you see culture showing up most and how people handle their money?

Yes, and such a great book, and to be honest, I am reading it for the first time right now via audio book in Spanish because I'm actually trying to improve my Spanish and it's a great book. I'm like, why haven't I read this before? And it always comes up on the list as a must read book and I just haven't made the time. But yes, it is a fantastic book. And where does culture show up most when we handle money? Again, going back to the concept of money being communal and for the betterment of the group. And it's something that's supposed to enrich your family's life, not just yours.

So that means that when we earn money, we also have to factor in how to help family or people that we love with emergencies like, oh, the roof caved in, or oh, I need a new refrigerator. Things that come up that they aren't financially prepared for. Helping them take on debt — a lot of them don't have good credit or credit at all. So because we're the ones that have, quote unquote, made it, we are looked to as, oh, you have good credit, right? Can I borrow your credit to buy XYZ? Paying a monthly allowance so that those that we love that don't have the financial means can pay their rent, can pay their mortgage. Or a lot of my readers and followers, I say, grapple with the responsibility of being their parents' retirement plan, which — that's tough, right? Like you mentioned, we as first Gen. are building from nothing. We're building from scratch. And on top of that, we have to then provide for others and something as large as retirement. It's scary. It's scary and it can be a lot of pressure.

Totally, totally. I know so many people feel that. And in your book, you actually follow these three characters.

Privilege Patty, Average Amy, and 1st Gen. Gina. Yes.

They come from such different backgrounds and different mindsets and different identities that are all created through generations. But yeah, as we both know from working with clients, money decisions are rarely about money. And helping clients become aware of, I guess their identity — that like their identity might need to be like considered or acknowledged is a really tough job. What are some of the most common pressures that you see with first generation professionals?

Yeah, so as first Gen. professionals, you're likely the first in your family to go to college, likely the first in your family to work in a white collar corporate space with benefits like health insurance and a 401K plan. So now that you have access to this world that your immigrant family didn't, you're very much seen as the one who made it. And even though you are saddled with debt, even though you don't have any generation of wealth and even though you don't have really the financial literacy tools to make the most out of the money that you are earning. So it can be hard because even though, yes, we will have better opportunities in the future, that takes time, right?

But what our family sees is again, oh, she graduated from college. Oh, she works at a nice office with air conditioning. So she's killing it. She's making great money and she can help us, right? Because we supported her in her journey. And it's just part of the culture, right? To support one another. So a lot of us are ingrained into that's just what you do. That's how you show respect and gratitude and how you honor those that you love whose shoulders you stood on to get to where you are. But it can be very stressful, like I said, when you're just a young professional making an entry level salary, trying to do all the things — it's not feasible in the beginning. It's easier, like right now, at 36, 37. It's much easier to provide financial support to family at this age than I was at 21, 22 when I just graduated from college and had my first big girl job.

Yeah, you're truly figuring it out in real time. And another thing I love that you talk about in your book is that you really give a lot of credit to first Gen., rightly so, to remember that even though you are figuring out in real time and have all these pressures, you figured out a lot starting from a really young age, helping your parents navigate this world. For many, you know, you're the sort of front lines or the translator between. You know, the — you're the bridge.

Yeah. And that's tough for a kid, right? Because that's called parentification. So you're putting adult responsibilities on kids. And now I am ruthless when I see a little kid doing the translating and I'm like, you need to get a translator in here. You need to get a paid professional in here. This kid should not be doing the labor, but yeah, back then that's what we had to do.

Gigi's Framework for Balancing Family Support and Personal Finances

Totally. Well, you've alluded to it, but let's actually talk a little bit about guilt because I think even if we don't necessarily realize it, it does hold a lot of us back. So how do you think about balancing building your own future while also supporting family and honoring where you came from?

That is such a heavy topic because yes, the feeling that automatically comes to mind when you have that pressure of wanting to provide for family, but you don't have the financial means yet, or maybe you don't want to because you just want to focus on your own finances first. Guilt creeps in and the guilt comes again because we're ingrained to be those obedient daughters and to honour our family. It can be tough for that. I mean, I always recommend people to seek the support of what they're — because those are real feelings, are valid feelings and a therapist is the best person to help you with that.

But for me, I had to kind of be comfortable being the black sheep in my family and doing things differently because I was very criticized by my family for like, how dare you say no to your mom when she needs money for this? She's your mother and she raised you. So I had a lot of that backlash and at first it was very hurtful because I thought, well, I'm doing things according to how I learned in these money books. I'm trying to be smarter with money but here I am just getting dragged for doing the quote unquote right thing with money.

So through enough lived experience, I learned that I could continue to help my family because I had a lot of, let's say, white friends that were like, why are you giving money to your grandma? Like they should be giving you money for your birthday. And I'm like, oh, that doesn't happen. My grandma doesn't send me a card with money every year for my birthday. It's the opposite. And they just didn't understand. It's a cultural difference. So now I've embraced the fact that I'm bicultural. I'm Mexican American and I'm equally both. So I have had to blend my own set of values that allows me to still make progress in my finances today while also supporting family in the way that I want to.

You've come up with a two-prong framework that I really enjoyed reading about. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Yeah, it's my baby. And you know, it's funny because when I wrote it, I had a beta reader, a very close friend of mine read the early draft of the manuscript. And she said, you need to call this — like this is the a method, right? And so I'm glad that she saw that. And yes, it's called the Quiero y Puedo approach. So what it is, is a method that I use to decide when to help family with financial support that they may need or when to set a financial boundary. And the reason that it's helpful is because again, a lot of us can't just say, no, I don't have the money. You deal with it, right? Because again, that's not the culture that we were raised in.

But for a lot of us, we want to break these cycles of generational poverty. We want to be able to be the first in our family to be millionaires and to be able to leave a legacy and uplift the generation after us. But we can't do that while we're building from scratch, like you said. So the Quiero y Puedo approach factors that in. So let me walk you through an example of how the Quiero y Puedo approach works. For anybody who doesn't speak Spanish: quiero means I want to, and puedo is I can.

So you ask yourself those two questions. Do I want to, in this situation, provide the financial support? And can I actually do it? So I'll give you an example of when I hit the do I want to, and I said, actually no, I don't want to. So this happened last fall with my uncle. He texted me and he asked me to pay for my mom's tires. She needed a full set of tires. For context, my mom and I are not close and you'll find that as you keep reading the book in chapter 6, there's been a lot of drama. But we're not close. We've had a lot of challenges.

And I told my uncle, absolutely not. Number one, she has two sons that she can ask for money that she has a great relationship with. Number two, didn't she just come back from a three-week vacation in the UK? I'm like, instead of spending money on vacation, she should spend money on tires like a responsible adult. So I'm like, no, I'm not enabling that behavior. So that's a situation where I was very firm and I said, no, I do not want to offer the support to this person. Because what I found is, when you do it out of pressure or guilt, it leads to resentment. If you do it enough, you're just like, wait, I'm giving, giving, giving. But this person isn't changing their financial behaviors. Yet here I am clipping coupons, right? So I found that it was important to ask yourself honestly, is it something you truly are doing, or are you doing it because you're scared of facing backlash and getting crap from your family?

And the second part of the method is the puedo. So do you want to and can you? So I'll give you another example of how this works. So my grandma raised me. I love her dearly. We are very close and she needed help with a home health aide. She is an elderly woman. She doesn't get around too easily, so she needs support around the home with cooking, cleaning, taking her meds, that sort of thing. And I was asked by family, can you help pitch in for this cause? And I asked that first question, do I want to, right? Am I doing this out of guilt or because I'm being pressured, or do I genuinely want to? Again, for me, that was important to help my grandmother because I feel so grateful for how she raised me as a young kid that I said, yes, I want to do this.

But then that's great that you have the willingness to do it. The second part of the method is asking yourself, can you actually financially afford it? Right? Because it's great that you want to, but are you going to dig yourself into a financial hole to help people? No, you're just going to make your situation worse. So here I asked my readers to be honest with themselves whether they can actually financially afford it. So do you have a grip on your debt? Are you managing a spending plan like a budget? How is your credit score, right? Are you in the dumps? Do you have long term investment that you're doing for your retirement? So all these just basics, it's like, how are you doing before you help other people, right?

The very notion of putting on your oxygen mask before you help others — because again, in our culture we're taught to, like, burn yourself alive so you can keep other people warm. And I reject that. Again, as a bicultural Latina, I'm like, it doesn't have to be this way. It doesn't have to be the quote unquote white people way where it's like, no, I'm never going to help you because I'm not a bank and you have to figure it out. And we're all responsible for our own money situations. But it's not going to also be, I'm going to deplete my retirement plans so that you can have whatever you need today. I'm like, there has to be something in the middle.

And that's what I created. So in this example with the home aide, I looked at my finances. Could I afford to give my family 300 bucks a month to help cover this additional cost of the home health aide? Yes, luckily I'm in a spot where my debt's paid off. I have savings and I have the flexibility to pay for that. So I'm very grateful to be in a place to do that where, let's say when I was a recent college graduate at 21, I could barely scrape 50 bucks to help my grandma. So I tell my people to be honest. And if they find after this exercise that they actually don't have the financial means but they still want to help, I offer solutions to still provide support to family without being the one that pays those 300 bucks.

So for example, maybe instead of paying 300 bucks, you pay 100 bucks. So that's still something that's helping towards that cost. Maybe you offer your time and you go and actually help take care of your grandma, right? Maybe you offer your time by doing research on different aids that can help and getting a good deal on the lowest cost nurses for your grandmother. So there's different ways to offer support. It's not immediately just doing that first ask. And I think that's given my readers their power back of just like, oh, it has to be 300 or nothing? No, there's still other ways to show your family that you care and offer financial support.

I love that so much and it's such a strong nod towards getting your financial shit together because the second half of it — you want to build a strong foundation. So the second half, "can I, am I able to?" — once you have your foundation in place, it gives you that optionality. So people are, you know, in their late 20s, early 30s — it's like, oh, I don't need to get my financial shit together. I can YOLO and I can really just not focus on that until later. I'll worry about it later. If you'd like to put yourself in a position of power to be able to offer support to family, friends, whoever, just to give yourself the opportunity to be able to say yes, I can. And then it's really just down to do I want to or not?

Yeah, it's a nice place to be in.

Yeah, yeah. It's a really strong reason to get your financial shit together real quick.

How First-Gen Professionals Can Define and Achieve Their Own Success

So traditional financial advice tends to define success, as we know, in a very narrow way. How do you think first generation professionals who are starting from scratch should define financial success for themselves?

I think a lot of people miss the reflective exercise of sitting down and looking inward and asking yourself, what do you value in life? What they do instead is go through the motions and do whatever society tells them to do. So buy the house, buy the big cars, go on these fancy vacations, get the newest iPhone every year. All these things that they're told are markers of success. But internally it may not be their version of success. And a lot of people are disappointed in that. I was very intentional, probably my mid 20s, of looking inward and thinking, do I want kids? I'm like, actually no, I don't want kids. And I've been child free since and I'm child free for good. Do I want to buy a home tomorrow? Is that my biggest goal? For people, that's like the number one micro success. And for me, I knew that I like to experience different cities. I move a lot, probably every three years. So I wanted to have the flexibility to do that and have intentionally been a renter. So I would encourage anybody listening to this episode to take the time to truly think about what your version of success is. What brings you happiness and not just doing things because it's what you're supposed to do or what your parents expect of you. Because when you're living in the goals that drive you, that's really the sweet spot.

Totally. And you're currently living your version of success. Can you — before we started recording, you were talking about how you started in 2019, saving up for this moment. Can you walk us through that?

Yeah. So what Priya is referring to is I am living my best life right now because I am living abroad in Spain. It's something that I've dreamt of doing. Not specifically Spain — I just knew I wanted to live abroad and have that experience of immersing myself in a different culture. I first came up with the notion of doing that in 2019, and the reason it came up — and I actually shared in the book too, but I'll share it here — is that I went back to my old high school to do career day. And at career day, I shared with the students what my path was: going to college, picking econ as my major and what career fields I could get into.

And one of the things that I mentioned to the kids when talking about the college component was I said I missed the boat on studying abroad. I didn't do it because I was already living off student loans and I didn't want to have to take out another 10K to study abroad. I just figured, oh, and I'm older and I'm in corporate now, I'll have the money and time to travel — only to find that you may be making money now, because you're gainfully employed, but you don't get the time off. Because especially in the US, you just don't get that much time off to be able to enjoy the money that you're making. So I said there will never be another time like in college where you can be with people your age, you know, live that wild life abroad and party, make connections, not have any responsibilities.

And I said it's one of my biggest regrets — even if you have to take out debt. And that could be a controversial take — even if you have to take on debt. I said I know a lot of friends that have had to take on debt, and they haven't regretted it once because that's how rich the experience was. So I had a reflective moment after that where I'm like, oh wow, is that it for me? And like, I just really missed the boat. But at least I warned these kids of that. And I thought, wait, I can do a version of this by living abroad. So I first came up with that idea in 2019 before it was trendy, because I know it's all the rage now on Instagram and TikTok to move abroad. And yeah, it's been a long time in the making. It took 6 years and then it finally happened. So yeah, I live in Valencia, Spain right now and I am here as a digital nomad. So I work for myself, for my U.S. company, and get to live here in Spain and travel to different parts of Europe.

That is so cool and goes back to showing the power of pausing, going internally, deciding what you value rather than just following the societal or familial narratives. Given that your parents came to America and maybe their opinion was not relevant in your decision. But then for you to then — oh, we came to America for this better life and you're like, I'm not living here.

Nobody asked me about that and I'm so glad you did. So my dad was very supportive. My dad and I are very close. He's just like, do your thing. I've been doing my thing for a while in the sense of I chose to be child free. I chose to not buy a home as soon as I could. So I haven't had a car — it's been six years. So for a while he's been kind of like, why haven't you bought a car? Why haven't you bought a home? He kind of gave up. Why haven't you had kids? So now he just knows that I do what I want. So he gave up. My mom actually did give me some pushback. Again, we don't have the closest relationship. So I found it odd that she thought she could have any sort of impact on my decision.

And you know, I've learned to be gentle with her. And I said, mom — we joke, we say "Los United," this phrase for the USA in Spanish — the same way you came to Los United for a better life, I said, I'm going to Europe for a better life. And that's when she kind of understood it. I was like, this is your version of upgrading your life. And I said, and thank you for having me in the US and allowing me those opportunities. I'm able to live the life that I'm living now. Who else had a hard time with it? My grandma, just because again, we're close and I'm further away now. But because I'm further away, we're very intentional with keeping in touch via FaceTime. But yeah, so it was accepting, not accepting, and then missing me. So that's the reaction from my family.

Sounds like a grandma. And with your mom, hard to argue. You know, like, I'm basically following the same rationale that you did. Yeah. All right, so we've talked about this one a little bit, but do you ever see people hesitate to build wealth because of what it might mean? Like, you know, if I have more, I'll be expected to give more. How do you help people navigate that?

Yes, it's not something I have personally experienced, but it's definitely something I've heard from my students in in-person workshops or even in the comments section on some of my posts. And at first it seems so counterintuitive, right? Of like, wow, you're sabotaging your own finances so that you don't have to cave into that pressure or be that go-to person. But again, that shows how deep the guilt is. How deep those cultural expectations are. And I have heard of people that didn't go for that promotion because they're like, oh no, then I'm definitely going to be the one that people are going to seek out. And I'd rather just kind of lay low and fly under the radar.

And what I encourage people with that question is again, embrace being the black sheep, doing things differently. Oftentimes when you are the one in your family to do things differently, you are going to be seen as, oh, you think you're better than us. It's hurtful. It is. It's not easy. But for me, that's how I was able to still be ambitious and chase what I wanted. Or the other advice would be, don't tell your family about that new bonus. Don't tell your family about that new pay raise with their promotion. It is sad because I think what I've noticed is a lot of us share these wins with family because we're proud of them and family had a big part in raising us. But if it's going to come down to, oh great, now you can pay for this for me because you're making $10,000 more at work, right? It just is very deflating of like, wow, I was trying to share this win with you. And instead of being applauded and celebrated, now you're asking me for more?

I'm taking advantage of.

Yeah, yeah. So and some people lovingly do that, right? They do get to a place where — I'm getting a 20K raise and now I can pay for my mom's rent, or whatever it is, right? But if you weren't in that mindset and now people are just like, well, what can I get out of this instead of celebrating you and giving you a pat on the back — it just doesn't feel good.

So you get full permission to just keep it to yourself.

Keep it to yourself. Yeah. I love it. I know.

And people still think I'm broke. I love people thinking that I am broke because when they think I'm broke, they don't ask me for anything. Yeah. So when I offer support, it's again, on my terms, not because people — yeah. Giovanna is rolling in the dough. Yeah.

Well, you're definitely alluding to boundaries and like setting very clear boundaries. You also talk in the book about people pleasing, and I guess that just goes back to being aware. And then if you need a therapist to help you get through some of that, because like you said, you don't want to self-sabotage, because you know that you might feel that guilt and that pressure and won't know how to handle it. Instead, reach out and get help.

The support you need — be in community with people who are facing similar challenges. Get a mentor that can help you navigate that. I remember when I was in college doing an internship, I was really stressed out about my mom recently becoming a single mother because my dad and her had divorced and I was graduating in a year and I felt the sense of pressure of like, wow, I really have to make a decent salary because my mom's going to need help. I'm the oldest and she's a single mom now, even though she had never explicitly asked at that time. She's asked me for tons of help after that, but for that specific thing, she hadn't asked for support. I just felt it, again, ingrained in me.

And I remember my boss saying, oh, Giovanna. And he was probably 15 years older than me. He was also Latino. And he said, Giovanna, you're thinking about this wrong. You are the child and she is the adult, and she has to figure this out. She's gone through life this whole time. She can figure it out. And I was actually very insulted by the advice he'd given me because basically he was telling me, like, screw your mom, just focus on you. And now I see it was a delivery, right? The delivery was off, but his message was right. So yeah, back then, I was very insulted by his advice. But now it's the same advice I share with my reader. So it's like, I know you care, but you have to care about yourself more at this moment to be more generous in the future.

Yeah, building that foundation like we talked about. It's a fine line because you talk in the book a little bit too about like the American individualistic way and that isn't seen very favorably coming from most first Gen. mindsets.

Absolutely not. It seemed like a betrayal of family, of you being whitewashed, forgetting your roots. It is like the devil, so it's hard to balance.

Totally, totally. So if someone listening is like, holy cow, I didn't know this whole first Gen. money mindset was a thing. Like I feel so seen. What's one shift you would say that they could make starting today to put them in the driver's seat?

Global Money Lessons and Inspiring First-Gen Wealth Building

Yes. So what I would say would be: immerse yourself in books that are written by first Gen. authors. A few years ago when I started learning about money, this didn't exist. So I'm thankful that now readers have access to those kinds of books, and I do have some recommendations. So one would be The Rich Hermana, and that is by a Colombian first Gen. author. Her name is Ixamar Palumbo. The other one would be First Gen., a memoir by Alejandra Campoverdi, our mutual friend. And of course my book, which is called Cultura and Cash, which will soon be available in Spanish.

That's so exciting. So you're currently living in Spain, and I'm genuinely very curious if there's anything that you've seen or learned or heard or opinions that have been shared with you that have impacted what we could learn from Americans, first generation or otherwise. As you've been living abroad, what are some insights that you've gained around money or how others outside of America handle money that are maybe shaping you today?

So credit cards are available here, but they're not as widespread as they are in the US. So when people pay for their expenses, it's always with their debit card. So if you think about it — if you're always using your debit card and not using a credit card, that helps you avoid debt. So that was an interesting observation. Where I come from, the culture of the US, you use credit cards, it's better protection and you get, you know, perks like travel reward points, things like that. And here again, they're not as widespread. The other thing is I don't see a lot of, quote unquote, nice luxury cars here. You know, I've lived in Chicago, LA, different places and I'm used to seeing nice cars or big trucks. Definitely big trucks are not a thing here. The cars are smaller and they're very much seen as just something to get you from point A to point B, which resonates with me. I used to drive a Toyota Corolla that I drove for 10 years and it was working fine. And a lot of people, whether it was at work or my family, didn't get it. They're like, why don't you treat yourself to a nice car? And here again, it's just seen as a means to an end. I don't see a lot of brand names in clothing or sunglasses or anything like that. If I do, it's very obvious that it's a tourist and not a local living here.

The biggest one probably is — money is not #1 here. A lot of places close on Sunday. So I know as an American capitalist, you're like, what? People are out and shopping on Sunday and you're closed? You're missing out on that. They don't care. They want to be with their families. They want to be out at restaurants enjoying their time. So they really value their time and their experiences over making a couple more bucks by opening on a Sunday or on a holiday.

Those are incredible insights, so fascinating. And it probably goes back to culture and what they value, prioritizing — for some, capitalism being one finger to point. That's really interesting, thanks for sharing that.

OK, if someone reads your book — which I hope everyone listening does, Cultura and Cash — what's one idea or feeling you hope they walk away with?

I hope that the reader feels seen and heard and understands that even though our financial journey is a little scrappier, because we are starting not just from scratch, but starting from the negative, I'd argue financial freedom is still achievable for us too. I look at my life as an example. I'm from a small agricultural border town in California. I'm not supposed to be living the life that I'm living here in Spain. I'm looking out the window because my view is literally a postcard. It's one of the most beautiful parts of Valencia, the City of Arts and Sciences. And I'm here because of my hard work and my intention with financial literacy, right? I learned how money worked. I used it to my advantage, and now I get to live a life of my design. So I love having these conversations, as you can tell, because I've seen in my own life and other people's lives what it can do for you.

So well said and inspiring.

So Gigi, I always end the show with the segment that I called Best Bite. But I'm a huge foodie. Spain or anywhere — I need to know what is the best thing you've eaten recently. So give me your can't-miss recommendation for where I need to go, what I need to try. I love to travel, so make it anywhere and make it delicious.

Yeah. So because I'm in Valencia, I would say horchata in Valencia. Which if you've had horchata in the States, it's probably the Mexican version of horchata, probably at a Mexican restaurant. I've had horchata since I was a kid. I can't remember life before horchata. It's my favorite drink. I get it at a taco shop or something. So when I heard that they had horchata here, I figured, oh, it's the same horchata I'm used to, but it's different. And I kept seeing YouTubers be like, oh, it's very refreshing, and I couldn't — I'm like, refreshing horchata? It's like a sweet drink. How is it refreshing?

When I had it here, I understood, and I'll describe it. It's the same word, horchata, the same flavor, I'd say, but it's kind of served as a slushy. So it's kind of like with ice, very, very thin crushed ice. So that's the refreshing part. And if you're having a hot day — which it is hot here in the summer, very hot, like 90, 95° — having a horchata. Not just that, they serve it with what's called a fartón. So think of a fartón. It's a piece of bread, probably this big, and six inches, let's say, and think of it as a small doughnut. So it's very fluffy.

Like a churro?

No, not a churro. They do have churros here too that you dip in chocolate. But no, a fartón. It wasn't anything I knew until I came here. So yeah, they serve the horchata again with crushed ice. Delicious. Very tall. And you kind of take your time sipping it. And then they also can serve it with the fartón, which again, it's a big pastry. It tastes like a very fluffy doughnut with the glazing on top and you're supposed to dip it. And I'm like, what? Because again, I've never dipped my horchata in anything, but that's how you do it. So I tried it. Life changing.

Okay, I'm so excited because this is something I've never had — horchata. And what is the actual flavor?

So have you had a Mexican horchata? You can describe that.

I have not.

I know you're in New York, so it's kind of tough to get good Mexican food in New York.

I got — tough. Tell me about it. It's really gotten tricky lately.

So horchata, it's the same flavor either in Mexico or here. The flavor is it's kind of like rice milk with cinnamon and like condensed milk and a bunch of sugar. It's not the healthiest drink, but it's so delicious.

Then you dip a pastry in it.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh my God, that sounds amazing. So horchata, and give me a place that you've gone so we can highlight a spot in Spain.

Yes, so it's called Horchatería Santa Catalina — that's the famous one here in Valencia. You walk in and you feel like you're stepping back in time because they've preserved everything. So again, that's Horchatería Santa Catalina.

I'm not going to be able to say that, but if anyone's in Valencia, go there — and I'm going to go there. That sounds delicious and refreshing. I need to try it before I can say, but I'm so excited too. So thank you for that recommendation. That's a great one, and it sounds yummy. Yeah.

OK, and then you also teased a little bit of exciting news regarding your book — there is a new launch happening.

Yeah, so my English book, Cultura and Cash, came out January of 2024. I hybrid publish, which means I fronted the cost of publication. Most traditionally published books, the Spanish version comes out within a year because a publisher is paying for the cost — because it's just a little old me and the author, it's taking me a little longer. So now, almost 2 and a half years later, I am coming out with the Spanish version. And yeah, that should be coming out either in late May or early June of this year.

That's awesome. OK, we'll definitely link to your book as well in the show notes. And then Gigi, where can we find you, follow you? How do we stay in touch with all the amazing work you're doing for first generation professionals who are looking to master their money?

Thanks Priya, I appreciate that. I am probably most active on Instagram these days. The handle is Gigi the First Gen. Mentor. I'm also on TikTok and LinkedIn. I also have a podcast by the same name, Cultura and Cash, where I just share my ramblings about money and culture. And you can find the links to all that on my website, which is thefirstgenmentor.com.

Amazing. Gigi, thank you so much for being here today.

Thank you for having me Priya, it was so much fun.

Of course. I think this conversation is really going to resonate with a lot of people. And to everyone listening, if this episode made you feel seen, or you know of someone who would really benefit from hearing it, I really, really hope you share it with them. These conversations really should be happening more. Also, if you're not subscribed, just so you don't miss upcoming episodes and all our amazing financial advice, we'd really, really appreciate it. If you would like, follow, subscribe wherever you're listening, leave a review — that really does help more people find the show. All right, that's it for today. Thank you for listening and we'll see you next time.

THE STUFF OUR LAWYERS WANT US TO SAY: Stash Wealth is a Registered Investment Advisor. Content presented is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to make an offer or solicitation for any specific securities product, service, or strategy. Consult with a qualified investment adviser (that's us) before implementing any strategy. Investing involves risk, including the loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. There…we said it.

Priya Malani https://stashwealth.com