From Venezuela to Miami: Anabella Murillo’s Immigration & Wealth Story

Good morning, buenos dias. Welcome back to another episode of Cafecito y Croqueta is brought to you by Stay Tranquilo and H&Co. Today we are joined by Anabella Murillo and I don't know exactly your full story so I want to definitely use today to be able to tell your story, talk about your experience in the space. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you Kat for making the introduction as always and thank you to our partners over at H&Co. So Anabella, please, the mic is yours. Tell us where you're from, a little bit about yourself. Absolutely. Thank you so much and thank you Kat also for connecting me with Andre and stay tranquilo here at the podcast. Well, so I was born and raised in Venezuela. So I grew up there like normal tropical Caribbean girl and I moved to the States about 18 years ago. So when I went, I graduated high school, then I went to law school there, and I just started working in the tax industry down in Venezuela. But in 2007, the situation got a little bit complicated, as we know, and my family decided to move to the States. So by 2008, I was already here in Miami, starting probably like a new career, like something I had no clue what I was going to do. But it turned out that I started in this, you know, tax trust industry, financial industry, and I've been there for the past 18 years. That's amazing. And I definitely want to touch on that, right? Kind of your experience in that space. I feel like there's a lot of moving parts when it comes to that. But before that, I do want to kind of touch on that transition from Venezuela to the States. In 2007, 2008, obviously, like you mentioned, things already were transitioning, right? And now, obviously, a lot has happened in the last month or so, specifically here between us and Venezuela and just globally the impact that that occurred. But tell me a little bit about that time, right? What was Venezuela like in early, mid-2000s? And how was that process of being able to even make it into the United States? Because now it's that much more difficult to get here. Yes, it was difficult, to be honest. My family had moved to the States back in 1999. So my dad decided he was coming back to the U.S. He was trained here in the U.S. My brothers were born here in the U.S. in the 70s. So they basically went back to Venezuela, and I was born in Venezuela. So my dad had the opportunity to come back. And by 1999, when Chavez got elected, he's like, I'm not staying. So everyone's like, what? Like, I'm staying. And I stayed. You know, I thought that I was going to, like, you know, fight for my country, go to law school and all these dreams you have when you're a student and everything. Right. So my dad moved to Miami in 1999. And my mom also moved to first to Washington, D.C., also in 1999. One of my brothers moved to L.A. and then I stayed with my oldest brother in Caracas. Wow. Two years passed and he moved to the U.S. as well. So I stayed by myself in Caracas while I was still going to law school and working. And that's it. I mean, I just stayed there. So for me, it was pretty, it was actually, it was the opposite of everyone there. First of all, my family was here, not there, which is not, you know, it's not common in Venezuela like to live alone by yourself and have your family not being there for you, right? So that was difficult and it was different. Right. My entire family was here. So I used to come a lot like on, you know, holidays and whatever. Right. Even weekends if I could. But it was difficult because I was all alone by myself. I had a couple of, you know, family members, like some uncles and aunts. But that's it. In the end, everybody came to Miami during that process. So my aunt came, my cousins came, my uncle came. So I was literally the only one in Venezuela. Insane. I know it's crazy. I just think about it. I'm like, yeah. So it was it was a process because things were getting a little bit. bit more complicated by every day. So, you know, lack of food and milk and things that you were not able to found. And then kidnapping was, you know, something. And then I was living by myself, which made me more vulnerable. So it was a little bit complicated. So by 2007, my dad called me. He's like, hey, you're going to have a green card soon. Because because I was under 21, he did all the process while I was living in Venezuela. He was living in Miami. And because He was a U.S. green card holder at the moment because of my brothers that were born in the U.S. He's like, I already did this process for you, whether you like it or not. I'm like, OK, cool, let's do it. So he called me one day. He's like, hey, I'm becoming a U.S. citizen. Now your situation is going to change because you're not the daughter of a U.S. green card. You're the daughter of a U.S. citizen. So that changed all my process. And that actually that went really fast. Back in the days, you know, the situation was not like today, of course. And I think it worked. I mean, we still had an embassy in Caracas by that time. Afterwards, it closed, right? But so my dad's like, hey, you're going to have a green card anytime soon. So you have to sit down and think. What are you going to do? I'm like, OK. So I did all my process. You have to do lab work, a lot of things you have to do to become a green card holder. And they gave me my package in the embassy. And I just did my first entrance in 2007 as a U.S. green card holder to Miami. They take you to a little room. You have to sign some documents. It's like your first official stamp in Miami as a U.S. person. Wow. That's incredible. And I think something interesting, obviously, one, it's difficult that your whole family leaves. And obviously, you made a personal choice to stay in that process. But I think that's the interesting part, right? Yeah. That's your home, right? It's not that easy to just say, I want to leave, right? Obviously, you understand maybe the political climate and things are changing, right? Like you mentioned limited resources. those are obviously telltale signs to say you know maybe i should get out but it's not that easy because that is your home right your your friends are there obviously at that point for you your family is already out but you still have that element of like being home like we were just talking offline you belong there right you know that's where you were born that's what you breathe that's what you smell it's like that's where you're from absolutely difficult just to i literally pack my two bags and just left yeah and i left my apartment everything there and i just like two bags and that's it i remember my all my friends from law school like took me to the airport like at 6 a.m in the morning we literally party all night and we just went straight to the airport and i remember myself with my carry-on like my you know that's it i'm like wow like this is my life in just two suitcases and just like that and just like that it's like from one moment to the next yeah it's not easy i think it's not easy for who lives the country but i don't i also think it's not easy for who stays in the country oh absolutely it's i mean both are tough decisions choose yes you know what you want very tough decisions and i think it helped that your father was willing to i know absolutely that's like probably the only reason i just came because my entire family was here and i was you know very alone yeah like i i had a lot of things happen and i couldn't call anyone yeah it's like you know things happen and then okay who am i gonna call so i was i realized like no i have to go i have to go where my family is i have to follow them in a way and then i'll figure it out through the process because you don't have everything figured out at 25, 36 years old, right? No, absolutely not. So, yeah, I mean, we're still very important things up, right? Exactly. So it's like at 24, you're like, oh, whatever, you know, what am I going to do? But yeah, I mean, I thought it was like the best thing to do. I had an opportunity to be here. Of course, when I got here, financial crisis. Yeah, that's true. As we know. And then, well, yes. Everything went down there. But yeah, so it was a tough decision, but I think it was the best one for sure. Definitely. I think now when you look back, I'm sure it's easier to sit with yourself. And now it's funny because now I'm probably the lucky one because I have my entire family here. And then the rest of the people that came, they don't necessarily have their entire family here. Right. So when I was back in Venezuela, I was not the lucky one. I had no family members. Now I'm here and I have my entire family members. So it's like, wow, it's weird. You know, it's an immigration story that it's not common. At all. As we know. My girlfriend's family is from Colombia. Pretty much her whole mom's side of the family is still in Colombia. Exactly. abuela primas aunts everybody everybody's still over there and you know they've thought about what does that transition but it's it's not that easy it's like what are they going to come to do right because then it's like they're already older right they have established a life over there and colombia is a little bit different obviously than the political climate than the venezuela you know what what happens there but the the reality is when you've built your life somewhere you could see the vision of maybe it being the right decision to leave to a place like america but it's not it's easier said than done right and you don't really know because some people come here and then unfortunately for whatever reason they may struggle right and then they want to go back home because it's what's comfortable and it's it's what they know so it's like almost like picking and choosing what do you really want to to deal with and you never know what's going to happen yeah i mean you can have something in your mind like okay i'm gonna do this or do that and guess what everything will change absolutely and i and i think that is the story of like latinos right and immigrants they don't ever know really what they're going to do when they come here but they just know that they have to leave i mean i come from a similar situation with my grandparents from cuba right and understanding like we don't have a life here anymore as much as they didn't want to leave i remember to the day my grandmother passed away it was all about how much she loved Cuba and how Cuba was her home. She must be proud of you doing this. Oh, of course. I hope so. But, you know, I know how good their life was over there until eventually it wasn't. And you hear people to this day, right? Obviously, there's a ton of Cubans. There's a ton of Venezuelans here in Miami, Puerto Ricans, Colombians, right? You got a little bit of everything. But there's that common denominator that they left for a better life here in America. And we've seen the success of so many influential people now here, not only in Miami, but in the States that are immigrants, right? That came here, leaving their whole life behind, probably had a very good life where they were, right? Yes, yes. And then basically had to start a brand new life over here, right? Some people came with different situations, right? Because they may be prepped ahead of time and were able to kind of almost soften the blow of that type of transition. but reality is and my grandfather was one of those people he had to basically start a whole new life yes but he figured it out yeah he did yeah because that's what immigrants do exactly they figure it out absolutely absolutely yeah so you come into the states around 24 25 right um yeah around and what was the what was that thought process of like what you were going to do you were studying to become a lawyer yeah so i graduated from law school down in Venezuela okay and i started a master in tax and in the it was it's two years that master right so in the middle of the master i moved to the states that was another wow yeah i'm like okay i have to do this whatever because you have a specific timing when you get the green card that you have to come into the states so i had to do it anyway when you come here you stay here for a while because they send you like your social security numbers and you have to be here to receive it blah blah blah so first shock is coming to the u.s and moving into my father's house being living by myself for the past i don't know eight years I'm like oh okay so I have to here we go so I had nothing literally like just my you know my brain like that's it and my two miles of maletas so anyway I came here and I'm like okay what is it that I'm gonna do so I'm like I'll just move with my dad and that's what I did so I moved with my dad he's married and I have an older younger sister and brother so they were kids at the moment they were going to school here in Miami so um I felt so weird because I'm like okay I've been living by myself I've been doing all my life by myself for the past 10 you know seven or eight years and here I am back to zero at my dad's house with nothing and okay how I'm going to start this because I I was very grateful to be there of course because I had the opportunity to also connect with him and with the family that was the great part of it right but on the other side it's like okay I need to figure it out like I can't stay here forever like they're helping me that's fine but I'm not going to stay here for years I need to know what I'm going to do exactly It's like a temporary solution, right? But you have to start thinking, okay, now what? Now what? Now what? Thank God my two brothers were here, and they were very good at, like, advising me on what to do. Like, you should do this or you should do that. Like, you know, look for a job. Or anyway, they were, like, my financial counselors at the moment, which I appreciate a lot. And I had, like, a good – I knew what I was standing at, right? But I didn't know what to do. Right. So that was shocking for me, coming back from Venezuela to a house with kids. a dog and my dad completely different and my dad and then my dad's wife it's not my mom so it's like it was difficult everything was all the process was very difficult yeah and then from there you said that your brothers gave you a lot of advice yes what they did so yes yes did you end up getting a master here in in the states or that was one of the things i started as soon as i came so i like okay you know what i gonna start the I have a very good friend He advised me and he said you know what You can do an LLM in UF up in Gainesville And then we figure it out from there And you can if you want to go to law school again, you can do a transfer from your LLM to your WAD, whatever. That can take like three years. Right. And again, financial crisis, 2007, no credit, no nothing. Like I had no clue, right I'm new so I do all the process to go to UF in Gainesville and I got admitted to UF for an LLM and that same week somebody introduced me to someone in Miami in the community of the trust and state community and I ended up having like three interviews and they offered me a job wow so I'm like okay I'm like with my dad sitting down like what should I do like I have a job offer in the financial crisis for having nothing to all of a sudden having options exactly so and then I have the option to go back to school right do an llm which i had to request student loans and everything of course because i had no money right and um my dad and i were like so i asked my brother like what should i do we were like you know what we're in the financial crisis you should take the job because that was i mean if someone has money now through you know a job it's like you're lucky yeah so that's what i did so i took the job offer and i started working in a trust company which is a global trust company they offer different you know services in the financial industry and that's what I did. So I started from zero there, giving support to a lot of Latin American clients. They needed someone like with legal background and that could support them on Latin American clients mainly. So that's how it started, right? Like being the support of those directors there that were dealing with clients in Latin America, all Latin America, all the countries in Latin America, including Venezuela. Yeah, wow, that's incredible. Considering, I guess like, do I go back to school? Do I get a job? You talk about financial crisis, all these things, right? And it's like you didn't even like you mentioned before, you didn't even know where this was going to end up. And all of a sudden, you're using something that you learned with your law, you know, with your law degree over in Venezuela. The logic. Yeah. The international component, right. Which you're very familiar with considering that you just did that and already being able to apply a lot of what you've done. And I think also knowing, I guess, the right people, the right connections at the right time. For sure. Because when I moved here, I was like, you know, I was coming from a big audit firm, Erson Young. And I just came with some reference, you know, under my arm. Like, well, I mean, this can give me some idea of where to go. So I went and had different interviews. And some of my, you know, former bosses, anyway, connected me to people here in Miami. And that was, I think, the good, you know, thing. Because they connect me to people here who are also Latinos. And they're always, you know, doing the same thing as us, whatever. And that's how I got this interview. So I'm like, okay, I'll go. And then, yeah, that's how it happened. Amazing. And then when you worked there, how long were you with that company? For that company, I worked for about almost eight years. So the first year, year and a half, I was supporting, again, all the directors on the Latin American market. And then offering them the products the company had and meeting with them and traveling, too. By a year and a half, I got transferred to New York for a six-month assignment. And I stayed for six months more. And I ended up a year and a little bit more in New York. So dealing with the office there and mainly just doing all the business development for the company from New York. Amazing. That was tough for a Latina coming from the Caribbean. Oh, yeah. How was the cold? That was horrible. The cold was horrible. Like, horrible. Like, no, I literally had to come back to Miami todos los meses. I was dying. All my friends had ever moved to New York. I got sick. I'm like, I cannot do this. I know it sounds bad, but I mean, I suffered. They couldn't do it either. I mean, a lot of them lasted a year. They're like, I want to move to New York. I want to move to New York. They do one winter in New York, and they're like, I need to come back. Yeah, no, one winter. That's it. Yeah, that's it. Not more than that. I got sick. I had to come back to Miami. I don't know how many times. I couldn't understand, like, how do people actually do this? Like, so many different type of clothes. Like, so many, you know, temperatures and weather. I'm like, no, this is too much. I can't. On the professional side, it was great. It is, yes. Amazing. You grew up, you know, I grew up a lot as a professional, meeting a lot of people. Also understanding the industry I work with. Right. Like, it was a blessing to be there, right? At the same time, I was like, oh, I hate this city. Yeah. But again, it's a love and hate relationship. Exactly. Like people, either you love New York or hate New York. It is a love-hate. Yeah. By the end of like probably the end of the year, I was like, I like it here. That's what I feel about New York too. And then I came back to my, I'm like, okay, game over. I'm not a person that could do the cold very well. Like I like it to experience it because obviously we don't get it here. So it's nice to put the coat on and, you know, experience that. But to have to do that every day, like, I mean, right now, I think they're dealing with like two feet of snow. Can you imagine? No. Yeah. No, no, no, no, I can't. We're here, windows down, cruising. Yeah, so nice and the sunshine. Like, hello, the sun, everything. Yeah. Absolutely. So that was, so I came back from New York and I did Miami for another bit. And then I moved to California. So I lived in San Francisco for a couple of years. That was great. One of the best experiences. Yes, in San Francisco. Doing the same thing, just business development for the company. I also traveled once a week to San Diego. We had an office in San Diego, which was perfect because it was a perfect mix. Oh, my God. You know, being in San Francisco and then in the East Bay And then going down to San Diego for, you know, a week, a month was perfect, honestly. So it was great. It was a really good time. And then I came back to Miami. So for the past 10 years, I've been in Miami. Wow. That's amazing. And when you came back from Miami, what was that transition? Did you start a new job? I transitioned for a new job, yes. So I did a transition from this company that I spent years. I'm very grateful to because, you know, I met a lot of people there, a lot of mentors, great bosses. I mean, it was great. And I transitioned. I switched jobs and the new job was here in Miami so we were ready to come back to Miami and like just you know define Miami as our new I guess headquarters like home place like my family was here so it just made sense to come back you know and that's what we did like in 2015 yes I came back and I started a new job with a financial institution and that's it I had to travel a lot because I was doing Mexico, Colombia, Peru I was doing like a lot of markets in America I had to travel a lot so I was exhausted but it was a pretty good you know pretty good job and and I learned a lot of things in the trust and state industry and it was it was fun too you know like traveling and doing all these things it's fun but you get tired so it's like where's the balance here yeah exactly it's like you love going to see all these new places and the thrill of getting on the airplane but there's something about coming back and being home yeah exactly And when you come back home, you're like, ah, this is where I want to be. Yeah, 100%. I totally get that. So I think that's amazing, right? It's that path, right, where you don't really know, but everything just kind of takes care of itself, right? You obviously did your part doing what you can control, right? Yes, correct. Making all the right connections, networking, putting in the time, the energy into learning and bettering yourself. It's exactly like you said. Right? But it led you to the path of who you became today. Absolutely. Absolutely. incredible i think a lot about that yeah wow how you know all those years unfolded up to here right like i did a lot of things it's hard to put it's hard to put put it into perspective when you're always going through the motions right but now you know when you kind of look back at things you look back and you're like wow look look how much i've done look how much i've accomplished i didn't even think i would maybe even be doing this right and i think that happens to a lot of people right where kind of just go through the motion of life and then when you look back and reflect, you realize like, wow, look what I did. Yeah. I mean, hard work pays off. That's what they say. It's true. It's true. It definitely does. So talk to me a little bit about what you're doing today. Yes, absolutely. So I still work for a global company. So there's two things we do at this big company. We're in 26-year sections in the U.S. We cover mainly the world in terms of countries and cities where we are. But we do two main things. One, we have like a private client line or a private wealth line that we call. So we're reserve ultra high net worth families and their family offices and advisors. And we set up trust structures for them. So we act as corporate trustees. We can act also as corporate service provider, depending on what the family needs. And we basically, you know, create those trusts where the family puts their assets and they're protected. Now there's different reasons why someone would need to do something like this. It could be tax reasons. It could be asset protection reasons. It could be legacy. It could be like a lot of things right so we work with um in partnership with you know tax attorneys trust and estate attorneys from the industry they are the ones drafting the documents we are the ones being appointed as trustees and then we deal with the family on a daily basis so that's the that's one of the business lines that we do in this company then on the other business line is more like the institutional corporate business side where we offer services to corporate entities or financial firms or RIAs or those type of firms where we do fund administration. So we're not managers. We're not managing the fund. We're doing the administration of the fund since it's launched until it's liquidation or termination. And then because that connects to regulatory and compliance, we can also support those institutions and clients on the regulatory and compliance part. So for example, if you're launching an RIA, then you need to know about compliance. You need to have a compliance officer. You need to know you're going to be registered before the SEC. Like there's a lot of things you need to know so we offer that services to our clients too and then we also do a lot of outsource cfo which is it's it's now pretty you know it's getting pretty hot there yeah so lots of you know outsource services to those firms that need basically everything right and then middle office which is you know helping all those clients putting all those capital calls and trade scenes and everything and that's like the other business line so i'm like i work on both business lines like I work a lot with the private wealth team. That's my team. And I'm now also shifting a little bit on the CFO middle office services. I could see kind of like that fractional CFO, right? Correct. They call it that way. Yeah. It has evolved. Correct. I think a lot of businesses are taking that approach across every kind of like executive role. There's fractional CMOs now, CFOs, even COOs, right? Kind of these people that, hey, we need you for 15, 20 hours a week to really kind of sit in the business, understand and operate. And it's valuable as a business to have someone like that, right? Because when you're, you know, the CEO or founder or whatever that may be as your title within the company, you have so many different hats that you're wearing, right? Yes. You got your hands a little bit of everywhere. But in that weird growth period as a company, you're going to need someone like, you know, that CFO to really be understanding the dynamics of the business, understanding, hey, these are growth opportunities, tax benefits that you might be missing, which I think a lot of people, not their fault, right? Because they're just so stuck in every other aspect of the business, don't realize that. Well, that's interesting because that's what we say to clients. It's like, hey, you are the investment mind. We don't do investments, right? We're not in that part of the job. So you focus on your investments. We'll take care of the rest. We'll take care of everything. Everything that's, you know, back office, we'll take care of it. You just figure out your investment part. That's it. So for them, and it's actually a good model because they outsource a lot of work. So instead of like hiring sometimes people, they basically outsource it. So for them, tax-wise, it's even better, right? So that's how it works. And then you have a lot of things to do and a lot of things to pay attention to. If you have a big fund, you're launching a, you know, 300, 400, I don't know, 500 million dollar fund. and guess what you need to wear a lot of hats like you say and it's like okay what do you do what i do now yeah so we kind of support them on every single process since they won oh that's interesting and i and a ton of value i guess yeah for for for the audience right and anyone that's kind of in similar situations right i i think for the younger generation right we're maybe not at that stage yet, right? But how do we plan ahead to start thinking that way, right? We may not have assets for a trust yet, right? But we're looking to build that long-term future and be able to kind of set ourselves up for those levels of success down the line. What would kind of be your advice for someone? Yeah, I would say that it's never too early, but it's always too late. Right. So just, it doesn't matter if you feel you're 21 or 22, right? It's like, oh, I'm too young, I don't have money, whatever. So first of all, educate yourself. Educate yourself on the financial matters, right? If you are buying a life insurance policy, what does that mean? If you are putting money away on a, you know, I don't know, cash account or some sort of saving account, is it better to put it on a different type of account with a little bit of more, you know, you're going to get a little gain there. It doesn't matter. It's like 5% or whatever it is, right? Like, first of all, educate yourself because it's never too late. That's like to educate yourself, right? Two, be more proactive than reactive. Like you have to know what's happening out there. You need to go out there You need to do the work You need to meet people in the industry whatever industry you are in right and you just need to be proactive like think and then act you know ask the questions look for help all those things it doesn't matter I mean I know that people are like no I'm too young I don't have money I don't know like it doesn't matter you can start with one dollar investing if you want to start investing today right there's lots of places out there online that you can start investing just start do something and just get well informed before doing it so that's something that i would say to the younger generation and always make sure that it doesn't matter what you do financially there's always going to be a consequence legally so make sure that whatever decision you take financially doesn't matter what it is there's always going to be a consequence legally speaking so always make that connection so for me financial and legal industries must be connected hand by hand. Absolutely. Because everything happens together. And can you elaborate a little bit on that? Obviously, I understand the connection, right, where there's always going to be some sort of legal component, especially financially. But what exactly legally should people be prepared for? Yeah, let me say a very simple example. Let's say you open tomorrow an investment account, I don't know, in Fidelity, and this is not paid advertising. But I don't know, you go and you open an account and you start investing and you're like, you know buying stocks shares whatever right etfs whatever it is and you're the sole owner of the account right something happens to you it translates to the legal side right right if you don't have like a specific pair of authority if you don't have like uh for example uh will or testament like what happens legally is that whoever is your family you know your heirs are going to be going through processes legally in the u.s or in miami let's say right so those are the things you always need to think right same thing when your parents or someone in your family buys real estate um if that person is a u.s person then some rules apply if that person is a foreign person let's say a colombian from your girlfriend's family come here they buy a beautiful apartment in brickel under their own names guess what they have tax consequence right if they pass away even though they're not u.s people interesting okay yeah so all those things you need to know that when you're making an investment there's something legal connected to it something's going to happen eventually so make sure you connect the dots on that and make sure that when you are doing the investment make sure that there's you know you know exactly what's going to happen if you i don't know falling sick if you fall in any incapacity that happens too physical mental incapacities right what happens then if someone passes away like the owner of the assets passes away right well the florida state has a you know solution for you but maybe you don't want what the florida state says right so you're like okay i'll do a will or do a trust or what do i do and then if you don't have a will then your family has to go to probate so that's court that's hiring a lawyer and it's a lot of money and it's legal so everything you do there's a legal consequence there and then let's say you let's say that exact scenario where do you all come into the fold in that process i'm in the middle all right which is the funny thing because i'm not the tax attorney or the trust and estate attorney drafting documents but i am not doing the investments because i'm not telling the client hey buy apple as opposed to amazon i'm not doing that right but i work with all of those parties and i'm in the middle making sure that whatever assets are in trust they're well kept as trustees you have a future duty right so first of all we're regulated right by the division of banking and then you have a future duty to make sure that whatever you keep there you're keeping it safe and you're doing everything from the admin side so you take care of that trust assets as a with your fee-to-day duty, right? So even though I'm not telling that guy, the advisor, we're doing best, and I'm not telling the attorney what to draft, I work with them. So I see their work. Understood. And I work with the families, and I bring the families, and I say, okay, let's talk to your tax attorney. Let's talk to someone, I don't know, your financial advisor, and let's tell him this is the way we're going to do it. And I kind of put together everything so we're all on the same page. So you need to work with a very holistic team. Absolutely, yeah. Which is good, which is great. A person here, a person here, a person here, right? Where everybody's assisting you, right? It's a team effort at the end of the day. And it should be that way because whether you're operating a business, you know, your life is a business as well, right? And it needs to be operated in the correct manner. And there's no such thing as you can do at all. Right. That's not true. No, you have to, you know, find the right people. And that's why everyone's specializing in something. And that's a reason. You just go to a specialist, ask for help, pay for it, and have your solution. Absolutely. Absolutely. That's amazing. And yeah, I think that's something that I think the next generation is becoming more aware of and more conscious of, right? Is understanding, you know, I can only do so much and what are the, what are the resources that I need to be able to elevate my life to the next level, right? Financially, it's the same thing. Like if someone hires a personal trainer, right? For their wellness, right? You need that coach for your finances and the future of your, of your, of your wellbeing, right? Across every single facet of your life. So I think it's interesting that this new generation is starting to become a little bit more conscious of that. Yeah. Right. I look at my mom and my grandparents, those were not discussions. No, no. And it's actually studied like those conversations were not held on a table. No, absolutely. And that's why there's a lot of stats out there that shows like why men are more confident than women in financial decisions and why women do not feel as confident as men on financial decisions now that's changing though of course but if you see back in the days those were not conversations you had on the table and i think i mean it makes sense in a way because imagine immigration families coming to a country where they had nothing and they had to start from zero like what conversations are you gonna have on a table where you're exhausted probably doing two three jobs a day and trying to get a little bit of money to survive basically it's right that's what happened that's the story of miami right people coming from cuba or other countries so that's the story so how are you know how are we doing that conversation if it's it's difficult right but that's evolved thank god right so now i mean it's that's the other thing i think we need to be very proactive again parents have to have conversation with their children about money this is not a taboo thing you need to explain to them this is what it is this is something you need this is you be you need to be aware and this is how it happened the wealth i mean people you know we work with families that we work with generation four, generation five, sometimes even generation six. And it's just spectacular to see how that wealth has been, you know, from generation to generation. Those are families that have done it well. Exactly. And then, OK, what do you do? Right. Right. And then trust are always involved, most likely. Right. So you're like, OK, this is this is a good thing. So the good thing is that you have to be transparent, too. Yeah. With the families, too. And with your kids. If you want to have a nice, you know, conversation, you have to be transparent. you have to tell your kids about money you need to understand that they are learning too yeah and if you're not giving them the tools it's the same thing with a new generation yeah like how are they supposed to know you don't know what you don't know no exactly so i mean i i look back and i'm like wow i wish i knew a lot more of this you know back then right i i did well for myself in college i you know i i was also forced to grow up very early right i mean i got i was already working at 15 16 years old you know making me too i started at 15 like having to make money and you obviously my parents helped where you know where they could but come 18 it was like I was not getting anything it was like yeah if I if I don't make money I don't have anything right um so I had I had to figure that out and I did well of making the money right especially for an 18 year old still in college but finding ways to be creative and find ways to make money that I did well right and I think that's like the the Latino yeah yeah I think it's a survival mode you're like I need to survive but one thing i didn't know how to do was save money because no one told me it's like great no one told me that you got to make it and then save it as well it's not only making it saving it too for rainy days you're only setting yourself up for that much more success right i mean imagine even just putting you know 20 of my college income into a high yield savings account exactly or even investing it a little bit more aggressively like in an apple or an amazon right and saying back in of days imagine can you imagine imagine like like those are but no one's even having that and then you look at a lot of these you know what they call old money right especially here in miami because miami is kind of one of these cities that has has boomed but those are families that just did things right and well they didn't at the moment they took advantage of the systems that were in place right they followed protocol i said what you should be doing with your money and they may have not been wealthy at the time but now here they are they are you know they've Maybe owned their home since the, you know, since 60s, 70s, right? They took advantage of the interest rates back in the days. Then bought more property, right? Bought lands, invested their money, started businesses, and now they're the ones reaping the benefits of it. And those are the baby boomers that nowadays is the wealthiest generation in history in the U.S. Exactly. Because they started back in the days, like in the 60s, I guess. Yeah, pretty much. And they started making money. And now they're the wealthiest generation. Absolutely. And it's impressive. it's really impressive because i think they they start they were the ones who started like the movement i don't think they were ready enough to have conversation with their children right but they started the movement and then probably a younger generation was like okay let's have this conversation with my kids i think part of it too is they don't really understand yet what the benefits of it is right now they're looking at what they did 20 years later and they're like ah okay yeah you need to do this too you know totally i think for us like it's it's being able to now educate the next generation and and preparing them obviously things change right you know from generation to generation so there's always a willing to adapt but at the end of the day a lot of the same systems are yes and something to like younger generations now they have more resources than we did true which is something they need to take advantage of and i think they do yes right um also i think they need to surround themselves with you know good circle of people or community you know surround yourself with a circle or of people that you can go and have nice conversations right like deep conversations like you can have conversations about money you can have conversations about wealth you can have conversations about everything and you're not gonna feel like oh i'm left out exactly you know like look for those circles for sure there's so many communities out there so many you would be surprised just google and go and you know you'll find people that are going to be on your same page that are also trying to learn that are also looking to see like how am I going to be investing even you know this guy should be educating us on bitcoin and stuff you know like we are like we're like the viejo so it's like you come here and tell me how I invest in btc now it's true yeah and I think that you know that whole cryptocurrency was one of those things that everyone was like what is it but and who were the first to understand it the younger generation yeah because they was more because they're completely digital too exactly they're like oh i could do everything right here exacto and that was it for them and they're digital since they were born yes our generations went in the transition from analog to digital yep so we're we're like in the middle and we get the digital things and we get the but we're not like pros like that i see my brother i'm like like they're so i mean crazy yeah like he was born in the digital era yeah it's true and it's different the internet what it's like the internet wasn't even around that long ago like there was a point where dial-up was a thing and all these things skypey and yeah and and it's and it's crazy to think about how much has evolved over the course of you know the last 15 years or so and how rapid it's changed and how continuously rapid it's going to change obviously like ai is now like the hottest conversation right now and we've just like touch the surface of what that's gonna look like we don't even know what's down there we try we're trying in the corporate world you try a little bit more because you need to understand but again they are the ones exactly the next generation and and that's that's that you know when you talk about that hiring people and bringing in people of what they're good at right yes the young generation will be the ones to come in yes kind of lead this ai boom yet you need kind of more of that what's the word kind of the you know original ways of thinking right and the more practical ways of applying some of this right because you need to find that that balance and have that perspective too like not be you know square minded like be open-minded try to be like i would love to have a 26 year old guy giving me a class on bitcoin right like why not you know like tell me tell me i invest in bitcoin i do yeah but i mean i need more information like what else should i be doing maybe i'm not doing the right thing maybe i'm not buying the right stable coin you know what i mean like exactly i think i do i mean i mean maybe i'm missing something i'm sure i'm missing something so okay bring me that 25 year old guy and you know tell me what i have to do absolutely so they need to also be aware that they are very knowledgeable on things we are not yeah you know so just go out there and tell us what to do oh yeah very true it is a phenomenon that i think we all live in yeah it it interesting to see how everybody plays a role in it But something that you brought up that I thought was interesting that I wanted to ask you right You talked about kind of like how back in the day females were not involved in a lot of these conversations. So for you, like now being one a Latina, but also Latina, female in the space, like what does that mean to you? Like how impactful is that to you? and how would you recommend someone that's in your space, Latina, that wants to get into something like this? It means a lot. It means a lot to me. I'm very proud of what I've done, to be honest, and of who I am here in this country. I had a lot of good, again, advice and family and friends around me that kind of guided me in the process. And I grew up with two brothers, three brothers, so that was good for me because they gave me perspective. And they were like sitting down to me and saying, okay, you need to do this. This is the way you have to buy a car, not lease a car the first years. Just buy it. Cheap, cheap car. So I drove a cheap car for years. But guess what? My insurance was 40 bucks. Right. And everyone was going into crazy, you know, very expensive leases. Which is the Miami. Which is the Miami. It's fine. I mean, that's fine. But my brother was like, don't do it. And I follow his advice. You know, so in a way, I am who I am because I had those, you know, people guiding me through the process. So I feel proud that I heard them because you have to listen to. You also have to listen. If you need, if you want to, you know, do something or create something, look for help. If you want to be better at something, ask for help. So that's what I did. So I'm proud. I'm happy with what I've done, to be honest. And I want to be someone who also pays back to whoever is coming into this country and not understanding the process. Because it's not easy. It's difficult. If you're coming from a Latin American country, completely different. If you're coming from Europe, it could be in some ways similar, right? In some ways, no. But it's just like I'm proud to be, you know, that person, and I'm happy to sit down with whoever is lost in the process and just tell them, hey, this is a way you can do things. Just have perspective, be patient, work hard, because something good is going to happen to you. Like always keep pushing, keep pushing, always, because if you stop, it's like game over. And it is what it is, and that's a U.S. grind, you know? that's what people do right which yeah i i think there's there's something interesting in all of that right where it's like what america has been built off of right is is this work ethic and you know being a capitalist country obviously provides a massive level of opportunity but it's like it's this never-ending yes and then you think when is it too much exactly right yeah because you hear about these countries like europe right and you know where it's a maybe a more relaxed way of living right but here we are we have you know some of the most wealth in the world yes right and that's because of the systems that are in place and i and i think you at the end of the here in america you could pick and choose how you want to live i agree you know you live your life there is essentially no untapped opportunity here the sky is the limit not even the limit yeah exactly you know there is no limit there is now it doesn't there's no limit we'll be in mars next year exactly you know and i think that's the way that's what makes america so special is the is the amount of opportunity and the uncapped opportunity that is here but you also have that opportunity to say hey like i am fine just making my salary taking advantage of the 401ks and the benefits and the insurance policies that are in place for me and living a nice modest lifestyle because that exists too yeah i where i think the disconnect is is everybody thinks they have to go and be jeff bezos or they have to be elon musk right and they because that's what's uh i guess sexified i don't know if that's a word right right but that's what you know that's what america is all about it's like you go be jeff bezos which it is right you can yeah but you also can go be the respectable guy that owns the car shop across the street absolutely you know making jobs to a lot of people out there yeah absolutely you know and i and i don't think that that is spoken enough or highlighted or celebrated that's a good point right i think that's where maybe the disconnect is it's like america's great for the untapped untapped opportunity yes but you don't need to go for it if you want to right i think that that ambition is is always going to take you further and further and keep you motivated but also realize hey you can make a great modest salary yeah run a small family-owned business like you said employee maybe two three people and all of a sudden you're taking advantage of what the systems are in place here i mean good good thing or good news is that you can choose exactly because you have the options and you have alternatives and you have opportunities and like you said on top opportunities out there maybe someone looks at something at you and you know you're good for this and they come and say hey why not do this you know you don't have to be the next jeffes you don't have to be the next you know yeah elon musk or right i don't facebook guy whatever you don't have to just be yourself and that's something too as a latina and as an immigrant sometimes you don't know how to you know act or react or like okay should i do this should i do that and then a couple of you know not long ago i realized i have to be myself right like that's where your magic is you have to be you because everyone else like they say is taken right but i mean it's like everyone else is taken so just be yourself and that's like that hit me like not long ago i'm like yes i have to be me because guess what somebody else it's somebody else. That's it. That's what makes you unique. Exactly. So just take advantage of it. Trust yourself, do the process, do the work. But I mean, you know that you can choose and there's different opportunities for everyone. Absolutely. And there's on top opportunities, like you said. So I agree 100%. Yeah, no, absolutely. I have one last question for you. And it's kind of piggybacking off kind of both, right? We talked about the opportunities here in America. And then, you know, kind of like this estate planning and kind of planning for, you know, the next generation. But in this process, right, cost of living has also gone up in the United States. Yes. Right? So how have you seen it kind of evolve when it comes into like estate planning and kind of like the next generation, knowing that cost of living is more expensive in the States? That's a good question because it depends on who do you ask, right? Yeah. You know, people like us, mortals, I guess, we feel it more. Yeah. because you know first time ever we filed inflation in Miami for the past you know four or five years after COVID and then if you ask wealthy families I mean they might tell you they feel it too and and that means they have to be a little bit more creative or maybe more proactive on investments because they want more money and they want you know more gains and return of investments so they're like maybe looking for more opportunities on investing and maybe going into AI, you know, we've been going into all those new projects. So you kind of see that they diversify a lot, which is good, right? So they go, it's not only the financial world in terms of like public market, you know, stock exchange. It's also like the private equity world, right? Like I want to invest in private equity. Like everybody knows it's different. Everybody knows it takes time. It's different type of investment, but guess what? They're maybe doing it for their kids or maybe they're thinking of the legacy, exactly long-term opportunities and then diversify in real estate and stuff. So I think it's an opportunity for wealthy people, to be honest, like they, they, they start looking for new options, right? Because they know they have the money, but they also know that it's less money, like their mindset is different, right? So they're like, okay, I have the money, that's fine. But why am I losing money because of the inflation or because of this or because of that? So you have to take the money and invest it. Because if you don't do it, then you're losing money, just just not doing anything, you're losing the money anyway, because you got inflation, you know? So that's one point. And then I feel that for us, I mean, mortals again, we have to be more aware of savings. You know, we have to find, we have to do our health checks in terms of financial health checks. You know, we have to sit down, do the work, maybe do like a nice, I don't know, night date with your spouses and whatever, and sit down and say, where can we save? what can we do where can be best like those type of exercises you know they call it admin nights nowadays it's like you sit down with a glass of wine or whatever but you're having those conversations and you're having those conversations should be had exactly exactly things are going great things are not going so great yeah finding it a way to make sure that you're holding yourself accountable because it's very easy to yeah i don't know you know and then absolutely you said you got to be proactive not reactive proactive all the way and something i see about this you you know, well, millionaires or billers, we know they see opportunities where we don't see them. Right. Which is amazing. So we are thinking about inflation. We are thinking about, I don't know, horrible things, whatever, right? Financially speaking, these guys, these guys are like, you know, thinking about, okay, this is what I can do. Right. This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to bring someone, I'm going to do this, I'm going to mix it out. So that's how we have to think too. We have to like, you know, shift, shift the perspective, shift the way, you know, where there's a problem, there's an opportunity. Exactly. Exactly. And instead of like being like, oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God. Like freaking out. I'm like, this is too expensive. Right. Yes, it is. It is. But guess what? There's still something about it. It's not just, you know, whine about it. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, you can choose. Absolutely. You choose. Absolutely. No, amazing. That's incredible advice and insight into it. And then my last more fun question. Okay. You've been San Fran, New York, obviously Venezuela. But what is it that makes Miami so special? Wow. the melting pot of Latin. I mean, for me, it reminds me a lot of Venezuela in a way. It's very tropical, which I love. I love the beach. I have to be close to La Playa because I love to go to the beach. I think Miami is unique because it's a city that is still growing. If you go to other cities in the U.S., they're already there. They've been there for 250 years, right? Miami is a really new city. There's so many things to do in here. so many opportunities that we haven't even seen, right? And we're not even there yet. No, not even close yet. I love the tropical vibes about it. I love that we have the melting pot of Latinos, which is great. Sometimes I don't like it when I'm driving a 95, right? But, you know, when I'm here, I get it, right? Like, we're cool, we're all the same, I love it, right? Even though we come from different backgrounds, but we have that thing that- This is a connection, yeah. That other cultures don't have. And I love that, you know, Americans come here, gringos come here, they're like, what is this? Like this is not even the U.S. You know, they don't even feel they're in the U.S., which is funny. It is true. Everybody speaks Spanish. It's just like a different, you know, thing. I like that, too. It's so unique. It's like the U.S. Caribbean in Miami. It is unique. I think it has its own like magic city, like they call it. Right. And I think we haven't seen it all yet. No, no, I agree. I think COVID, I think, expedited the inevitable of what Miami was going ahead to. And to your point, we're just touching the surface of what Miami can be and will be. obviously you have the international component to it from latin america europe the caribbean all that investment all that opportunity that's there and then just all the influx of opportunity from the united states right being able to tap into the opportunities that but you know what's cool seeing the evolution of a city where you live like you know try to think 20 years ago right how was it oh my god you wouldn't even recognize the city let's say brickle avenue yeah oh my god I'm always astonished when I'm going down to 836 and I look towards downtown and I'm like exactly I don't remember that many buildings being there the skyline right yeah it's so I love that I love the fact that I saw it 26 years ago especially like coming from like New York and then you go to Miami you're like oh okay I see what's happening I love it because you see the city growing yeah like you are actually seeing whatever what's happening yeah and I love that you go to New York and everything's already there which is cool though right but it's already there I mean, the Brooklyn Bridge is already there. You never saw someone building the bridge, right? You are seeing here people building the bridge. That is true. Right? That is very true. And I think that's cool. That is cool. Yeah. I think we could say that now, but when you're sitting on the traffic at 95, you're going to be like, I hate that bridge. Why the hell are they building that thing? Why are they doing construction every single day? And a knife. Why have they been building the Palmetto since the year 2000? Exactly. No, you'll say it, but when it takes, it takes that too. Exactly. It takes that too. It's the growing pains of a city. See, it's the growing pains. And I think once we get through it, we'll be like, holy cow, look what Miami's become. I love that. That's what I love about it. That's awesome. Well, Anavela, thank you so much for taking the time. I really enjoyed this conversation. Me too. Thank you so much. And I know we were talking offline. Maybe we have a nighttime segment. Yes, we should do it with Tequeños. Café, ron y tequeños. Tequeños y ron. Sí, pero ron venezolano. Chao. Chao. Well, thank you guys for tuning in. Thank you. Gracias a ti. Gracias, Anavela, for being here. And as always, enjoy your cafecito, enjoy your croquetas, and we'll see you on the next one.