After a thoughtful moment, Leo declines.

"Good," Rudy says, "because I wouldn't have let you spend all your money on that."

Something as small as deciding how to spend birthday money is a fleeting but valuable teaching moment for Rudy, 30, and his wife Kenia, 29, to give their three children - Leonardo, Katerina, 7, and Lucas, 3 1/2 - an education about saving that they both say Hispanics generally don't get.

As a Hispanic growing up, "you're definitely taught to work hard, but not about saving," says Kenia, a customer service supervisor for a pharmaceutical firm. "You don't learn about 401(k) plans and retirement."

Rudy, who is Nicaraguan, asserts that accumulating wealth for your own purposes isn't a top priority for Hispanics. "It's all about putting family first. When people come here to work and save money, it's to build businesses and homes to take care of family in their country - the No. 1 thing is family, no matter what."

Kenia, who is Cuban, adds that traditionally, Hispanics save "for one thing at a time. It's all in the moment. You save for a car or a house or you save to send money back, but not for the long term."

Although the Molinas plan to retire in the United States, and Kenia is enrolled in her employer's 401(k) plan, it seems some views are hard to shake. The 4% the Molinas defer into the plan - along with her employer's match up to 6% - isn't for retirement, the couple admits.

"I have an ideal amount in mind, and when we get to that, we're going to use it toward a down payment on a house," Kenia says.

She knows the disbursement will be a loan she'll have to pay back to her employer and is essentially another debt - something the couple has worked hard over the last several years to eliminate.

However, even without 401(k) savings, the Molinas have a back-up plan that is both a blessing and a curse. "Culturally, we don't believe in putting our parents in nursing homes," Kenia says. "Our parents grow old, and they move in with one of their kids. It just is - it's expected. I don't plan on living with my kids, but it's a possibility."

Benefits barriers

According to EBRI, Hispanics (29%) tend to be more likely than all workers (19%) to expect monetary support in retirement from children or other family members, and research from AARP finds that 34% of Hispanics between the ages of 45 and 55 take care of elders, compared to 22% of the general public.

The study "confirms one of the core values of the Hispanic community - the importance of and commitment to family," notes Raul Yzaguirre, president of the National Council of La Raza.

Such closely held cultural traditions are among the challenges to employers in designing retirement benefits programs and communications effective at reaching Spanish-speaking employees.

Although statistics compiled by the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C. show the number of Latino workers grew by 867,000 between the second quarters of 2005 and 2006 - more than any other group and now accounting for 40% of the entire U.S. workforce - the Latino Coalition and Americans for Secure Retirement find that 70% of Hispanics have less than $5,000 saved for retirement.

Another study from the Pew Charitable Trust Retirement Security Project and the National Council of La Raza reveals that more than half of Hispanic households with members age 55 to 59 have no savings at all, and 43% of Hispanic workers say they "know nothing" about investing or saving for old age, compared to 12% for all workers.

Access to retirement plans also is an obstacle, as research shows 60% of Hispanics are not offered a 401(k) plan. Much of the lack of access is attributed to the industries in which Hispanics tend to work - construction, retail and professional services such as housekeeping and landscaping - but Rudy, who works as an office manager for a building exterior maintenance and restoration firm, says that doesn't excuse employers for not offering comprehensive benefits.

"Employers can take advantage. Sometimes all they see is money - getting Hispanics to work harder at jobs Americans won't do for less money."

Kenia also sees immigration status and language as barriersw. "If employers offered seminars, employees might be afraid to come, thinking 'They're going to get me one way or another.' And the language barrier is a big deal, because workers can't speak up about things they need or things that are wrong because they don't know English."

Kenia suggests employers offer English classes to Hispanic workers, but Rudy says the education needs to start with employers themselves. "I think they should take the time to learn about the culture. The generation gap is one thing, but I think culturally, we just see the world differently, and they need to understand that."

Bridging the divide

When it comes to improving outreach to Hispanics and increasing Hispanics' saving rates, some experts say that with 43 million Hispanics living in the United States - the nation's largest minority group - employers simply need to change with the times and encourage them to save.

"The U.S. Spanish-speaking population is growing at breakneck speed, with no signs of letting up," observes Ron Rogowski, senior analyst for Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research's customer experience practice. "There's a huge market opportunity for financial services."

Since Hispanics "may not save because of family expectations, and may not be able to save because of family commitments," notes Yzaguirre, "the need for financial literacy and education efforts, as well as initiatives to increase employer-provided [retirement plans] and encourage savings" are all the more important.

To encourage savings, auto-enrollment appears to be effective, as one study finds participation jumped from 18% to 75% among Hispanic workers at companies that auto-enroll employees. Even among Hispanic workers earning less than $20,000, auto-enrollment increased participation from 4% to 55%, with few employees opting out.

In terms of retirement education, although some employers offer financial information in Spanish, Rogowski observes that in his own survey of Fortune 100 companies, only about 20 had some Spanish language content somewhere on their Web sites.

He says that employers particularly need to step up to the plate with retirement plan communications. People who are fluent in English as a second language will revert to their mother tongue when it comes to money, he says.

"When it comes to financial arrangements, things can get pretty complex, and that's when you want to have information available in a language you're most comfortable with," says Rogowski. (See below story about effectively translating benefits materials into Spanish.)

"When you talk about investing in something, you don't want to leave anything to chance," he says. "I lived in Japan, and spoke Japanese every day. But when it came to looking at investment opportunities, I wasn't comfortable with Japanese. There's legalese, there's fine print, there's jargon I didn't understand. Jargon is tough enough in your own language. Put it into a second language ,and it becomes even more challenging."

That challenge is being addressed by Genworth Financial, which has a comprehensive program to provide not only full translations and interpretations at all levels on its Web site and within documents, but also educational materials about money and insurance.

Genworth also has a working group of Spanish-speaking employees, which pores through all documents and presentations to provide appropriate translation and meaning. The company's efforts are in line with findings that show 72% of foreign-born Spanish-speakers who have lived in the United States up to 10 years want insurance information in Spanish, while only 2% prefer English.

In addition to offering materials in Spanish, "there's a lot of homework we do before translating," says Javier Ismodes, Genworth vice president of Latino marketing. "We make sure the content is relevant, that we're not offending anyone, that we're communicating our message."

Although butting against cultural beliefs is difficult, such employer efforts could help Hispanics set aside certain traditions to take charge of their own retirement saving, and start speaking up in the workplace about the need for retirement plans and education.

For their part, the Molinas admit they don't spend enough time planning for retirement, even though they see cautionary tales among their family members. "My dad retired and had to go back to work because he wasn't getting enough from Social Security," Rudy says.

Although the couple says they ideally would like to retire by age 45 or 55, have a home and spend a great deal of time traveling during retirement, they know they have to get serious about saving to make that possible.

"We don't have savings," Kenia says. "So if [a family health or financial emergency] were to happen today, I'd probably be forced to cash out my 401(k)."

Rudy adds: "I don't expect my kids to take care of me, but I know because of the way we've raised them, that they would offer."

While there is a long way to go to change the retirement attitudes and savings practices of the current Hispanic workforce, the next generation appears to be swinging the pendulum toward a culture of saving. In addition to being instilled with a strong sense of family ties, Leonardo has yet to spend his birthday money.

Next month: "Changing faces, changing benefits" focuses on domestic partners.

Demographic and retirement trends among Hispanics

*43 million Hispanics live in the United States, accounting for about 15% of the population.

* Latinos added 867,000 workers between the second quarters of 2005 and 2006 - more than any other group and accounting for 40% of the entire U.S. workforce.

* 70% of Hispanics have less than $5,000 saved for retirement.

* 69.4% of Hispanic workers over age 40 have less than $5,000 saved, and the number increases to 72.5% among those 55 and older.

* 60% are not offered a 401(k) plan.

Sources: Pew Hispanic Center and U.S. Census Bureau.