Page 11 - aruba-today-20221212

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local Monday 12 deceMber 2022
Richard Griffin educating Aruban community about investing and

the stock market

ORANJESTAD – Last week, good job, with a nice in-
Richard Griffin, financial come, you still cannot get This, combined with the
advisor and CEO of Rickstar a mortgage. Or the mort- heavy hit from the Covid
Financial gave a few semi- gage is super low, and with pandemic, made Wessel-
nars for the local communi- that little bit of money, with ing and Griffin realize that
ty to learn about investing, the market this high, you Arubans need another way
the stock market, and dif- just cannot buy a home. So of creating personal wealth
ferent ways to build wealth where do starters go?” she for individuals. Wesseling
in Aruba. explained. says that Griffin started
researching reasons why
The free seminars, hosted Wesseling says that the way there are no other financial
by realtor Vicky Wesseling Aruba used to be, back in advisors that can manage
from Vickstar Realty, were the day, people lived with accounts for locals to invest
intended to empower the their parents to save mon- in the stock market from
local community with the ey, got your plot of land Aruba itself. And here they
knowledge they need to from the government, and realize that the local com-
not be left out of opportuni- then slowly started building munity lacks the necessary
ties in the financial market. their house. information to know how to
Richard Griffin is the presi- “By the time you finish, you create and managing their
dent and CEO of Rickstar finally say bye to your mom wealth. “You don’t know
Financial, a stock trading and dad, and you move what you don’t know”, she
and wealth planning com- into your own house. But says. The lack of access to
pany based in Michigan, that’s not happening any- the stock market means
USA. Rickstar Financial LLC more,” she says. To start, that Arubans need to find
has a variety of clients, land is becoming scarce. ways to cope with inflation
ranging from the beginning Initially, Arubans could ap- and lower salaries after Co-
investor to celebrities and ply to get a plot of land vid. “I have friends who are
professional sports stars. from the government on teachers and still are not re-
The idea behind the semi- which to build their house, ceiving their full salary from
nars was to teach the local and a mortgage from before the pandemic”,
community on how to find FCCA – Houses for the Wesseling says. “They had
an alternative to bank sav- Aruban Community foun- to find a second job.” This
ings and real estate as the dation. However, as the also puts pressure on retire-
only way to legally and suc- population continues to ment plans for Arubans,
cessfully grow their money. grow and more land is also leaving them with little op-
dedicated to commercial tions. “First thing you need is
“Ever since Covid, Richard development and a small to invest in real estate, but
has been talking about portion to nature conser- to do that, you need cash
starting a Rickstar Finan- vation, this is no longer an or a mortgage.”
cial branch here in Aruba,” option for most of the next Griffin first came to Aruba
Wesseling told our reporter. generations. “And prices as a sponsor for the Soul regulations and hurdles their hard-earned money.”
“Because I’m from the real have just been going up so Beach Music Festival. “It we have to go over, but
estate side, he can also see high, even on long-lease was six years ago, and I fell all in all, it’s still the same”, Griffin explained that the
the story of how difficult it is land, the market value in love. I fell in love with an Griffin says. “You have to Central Bank of Aruba
for locals. At this moment, makes it impossible for lo- Aruban woman, we bought be clean-cut, you have to doesn’t have the regula-
when you have a really cals to buy.” a home, we have a family play by the rules, and the tions and permission for Aru-
and we’re here now,” he powers that be have to un- bans to invest in the stock
said. “So I love the island, derstand why and how.” market. The reason he de-
I’m part of the community. cided to open a branch
I even got the Aruban hair- He said he decided to do of his American company
cut!” he joked. the seminars to start help- instead of opening a local
Our reporter asked when ing people so they be- company, he said, is that
and how he noticed that come more aware on how the American market has
there was a need in Aruba to create their own wealth. stricter rules and regula-
for this kind of financial liter- “That’s the real reason we tions, and is therefore more
acy. “People started won- do it. We don’t charge, controlled and safer. He is
dering what I did. They got they’re free, we pay for currently working with the
word of what I do.” He said the venue, we pay for the Central Bank of Aruba to
that he brings his celebrity food. But we’re doing this to open the door for the local
clients to Aruba for a fun- teach people the basics of community to be able to
filled trip, and this made investing. Before they even invest in the stock market.
the locals realize that he begin to invest, we want to
helps them with investment teach them, want to get Griffin is planning more
advice, and were asking if them aware of what’s out seminars for the general
he could do the same for there.” population for next year.
them. So he had the idea He added: “And I think The idea is to empower
to open an office here. that’s the right way to do people with knowledge
it, instead of opening an of- so they can begin plan-
“We’ve opened an office fice, have people come in, ning to take control of their
before. We have different and make a mistake with wealth.q