WEALTH
STREAM NEWS

Stay up to date with the latest news from the Hispanic Wealth Project

Wealth Stream News sat down with Erika Baez-Grimes, CM&AP, a Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional and Founder of The Silver Tsunami Group, Silver Tsunami Transitions & Powerhouse Ventures, to talk about the historic wave of baby boomer business owners heading for retirement, why buying an existing business can beat starting one from scratch, and what it will take for more Latino buyers to step off the sidelines and into ownership.

Baez-Grimes has spent 15 + years in high-stakes negotiations, and—more than seven years helping family-held companies exit the marketplace and now teaches entrepreneurship through acquisition around the country. In May, she addressed Hispanic Wealth Project Session on Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition and Scale Through Acquisition.

Erika: I help owners of family-held businesses preserve what they’ve built through a successful exit, and I teach entrepreneurs how to buy and grow established companies. What excites me most is connecting one generation’s legacy to the next generation’s opportunity. That next generation of owners may look different from those who came before them. Helping them access business ownership and build generational wealth is what makes this work so meaningful to me.

Erika: I come from a family of entrepreneurs. Our story reflects the dream shared by so many Latino families: come to this country, work hard, and build something of your own. When I was in 4th grade, my grandfather would wake me early to help stock the cash drawers with the petty cash. before he made the rounds of his stores in downtown Orlando. Business ownership wasn’t an abstract ambition. It was something I grew up watching my family build, one day at a time.

Erika: There are 10,000 boomers retiring every single day, and that will keep happening for the next 10-plus years. About 40% of those boomers own businesses, so we're in what we call the Silver Tsunami. Roughly $12 trillion is set to change hands as that ownership transfers, and it's an opportunity for Latino buyers who've historically been left out of the room to generate real wealth.

Erika: Honestly, it's a mix of both. Sometimes you don't know what you don't know — people don't realize they can buy an existing business that already has customers, cash flow, and employees. It's also confidence. We were raised on "get a great education, get a good job, and stay." So, it's lack of knowledge, lack of confidence, and capital that isn't deployed to Latinos the way it should be.

Erika: It's about creating generational wealth. You can start with the first investment no matter how small. That's how private equity is built. They buy something, see it perform, and buy 50 more. As a Latino cohort with so much buying and potential investing power in America, we can duplicate that. If you already run a great business, what's a good complementary bolt-on to build out that portfolio? Big companies just buy what works, and we can do the same.

Erika: I grew up watching my family build businesses, so I understand how personal it is to hand over the keys. You’re trusting someone else with something you poured your life into. That’s why the transfer of ownership means so much to me. I want the seller to feel proud of what they’re passing on and the buyer to be prepared for the responsibility they’re taking on. When a seller stays to share their knowledge and help the new owner succeed, that connection becomes real. Seeing more people who look like us become owners makes it even more personal. What one family built can become the foundation for another family’s future. I get to help make that happen.

Right now, my team has a buyer without a construction background acquiring a landscaping business, and the seller agreed to stay six months to teach him the trade. Watching that collaboration has been beautiful.

Erika: Number one: you can. We've grown up with a "you can't" mentality, and you absolutely can. Talk to someone who's already bought a business, not people who've never been where you want to go. As for wealth, I define it by freedom: how much free time you have, and how much capital you can deploy to causes that matter to you. Someone opened the door for me to walk into rooms that people who look and sound like me don't normally enter, so I feel responsible for making it easier for the next Latina. I want to be remembered especially for changing what people think Latinas are. I believe I belong in every room God puts me in.

As the Silver Tsunami accelerates, Baez-Grimes's message to the Hispanic Wealth Project community is clear: the $12 trillion transfer of ownership already underway is one of the biggest wealth-building opportunities of this generation, and it doesn't require starting from zero. It’s a matter of just showing up, asking the right questions, and believing you belong at the table.

Disclosure: The information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice.

Hispanic Wealth Project Pillars