Consultiva Internacional Expands To Mainland U.S.

Registered investment advisor Consultiva Internacional, which means Consultative International, is expanding its practice from Puerto Rico to South Florida, the firm announced Tuesday.

Headquartered in Guaynabo, which is part of the San Juan metropolitan area, Consultiva will set up shop in Coral Gables near Miami. The firm manages $1.8 billion in assets and is a member of Grupo Bancredito.

“Having a Miami presence was always part of our strategy,” says Myrna M. Rivera, the founder, chief executive officer and lead investment advisor of Consultiva. She notes that Miami—and much of South Florida—has long been a major destination for Latino professionals, most being Cuban, Puerto Rican, Mexican or South American.

Rivera says Consultiva has its sights set on other parts of the U.S. such as New York, Texas and California.

“The timing is ideal because of the emergence of communities of upwardly mobile second- and third-generation Hispanics, Puerto Rican professionals, Latino entrepreneurs, and high-net-worth Latin Americans in Florida and across the United States,” she says.

While Rivera says Consultiva is excited to enter the South Florida community and then expand, they have a serious commitment to educating second and third generations who may not have had the opportunity to learn how to manage wealth.

“Most of the Latino diaspora has been a largely impoverished immigration,” Rivera explains. “So we begin to see some wealth creation in the second generation and third generation of that diaspora. We don’t have a history in our families of how to manage these affairs because we didn’t have them.”

She adds that not having such wisdom passed down through kitchen-table conversations has lead to many people learning finances the hard way, but Rivera believes her team can help disrupt that cycle with their bilingual abilities and bicultural knowledge.

Consultiva works with public and private institutions, including those with endowment funds like nonprofits and foundations; faith-based organizations; and universities with a large Hispanic and Latino student body and faculty. It also handles matters involving U.S. and Latin American tax laws.