As the price of regular gas soars to $6 a gallon across California, Latino families are feeling the financial burden more than other households in the state, researchers at UCLA said Thursday.

According to a study by the UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute, the spiking gas prices are disproportionately affecting the financial health of Latino households largely because they tend to have fewer financial resources and depend on cars for their livelihoods.

Based on a number of data sources, including the 2023 Consumer Expenditure Survey and 2017 National Household Travel Survey, the researchers calculated the average amount of Latino families’ year budget compared to non-Latino households. They also measured households’ dependency on vehicles and the distance.

When Latino households spend more on gas, it’ll eat up more of their budgets, even when they don’t have other means to make up for the difference.

“Latino households spend $1,300 more per year on gasoline than non-Latino households,” the study said. “These higher housing costs leave Latino households with less room in their budget to absorb rising gasoline costs.”

The reason for higher gas expenditure is Latino families tend to commute more than other ethnic groups. They are also less likely to work from home, the researchers said.

“Even before the gas prices increased Latinos households were already spending more money on gas than non-Latinos and always experiencing higher costs of house burden,” Rosario Majano with the UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute told NBCLA.

Also because Latino households are less likely to have newer, more fuel-efficient cars, they are spending more on fuel without alternative options, the study found.

Abel Martinez, who is juggling multiple jobs while scaling back on going out, said he understands why Latinos are spending more on gas.

“If you think about it many electric cars are on the pricier side,” Majano said. “Many Latinos are on the lower income so many don’t have the opportunity to buy things like that. “

Researchers said they hope the data can be a tool for policy makers to find ways to support all communities, especially Latinos who are struggling financially but contribute to the state.

As of Thursday, the average price of a gallon of regular gas in Los Angeles County rose was $5.95 per gallon, $5.08 in Orange County.

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Red squirrel characters have a history in the public information game. Older UK readers may recall Tufty, who taught children about road safety in the 1970s. His chum, Willy Weasel, regularly got knocked down by passing cars but clever Tufty always remembered to look both ways.

Now comes Savvy Squirrel, who, with backing from the chancellor and a multi-year lump of advertising spend from the financial services industry, will try “to drive a step-change in how investing is understood, discussed and adopted”, as the blurb puts it. In translation: don’t squirrel everything away in a boring cash Isa but try taking an investment risk or two if you value your long-term financial health.

As with preventing road traffic accidents, the cause is noble. Every study on long-term financial returns reaches the same conclusion: inflation is the investor’s enemy and there is a cost to holding cash for long periods.

One statistical bible is the Equity Gilt Study published by Barclays, and a few numbers demonstrate the point. From 2004 to 2024, cash generated a return of minus 40.5% in real terms (meaning after inflation and including interest paid). By contrast, a conventional diversified portfolio comprising 60% UK equities and 40% gilts increased by 21.6% in real terms. A missed opportunity of 62.1 percentage points is enormous

Rachel Reeves’s interest in promoting the virtues of investment lies not only in helping savers but in greasing the wheels of the capital markets. Fair enough: a healthy economy needs a healthy stock market, including one that makes it easy for retail investors to participate. It is slightly ridiculous that the colossal sum of £610bn is estimated to be sitting in cash savings in the UK; it can’t all be rainy-day money or cash parked awaiting a house purchase.

Many Americans famously follow the stock markets closely and discuss their 401(k) pensions savings plans but, even by European standards, the UK’s retail investment culture lags. Sweden has popularised investment with tax-breaks and other changes. Even supposedly cautious Germans are less inhibited. So, yes, one can applaud the ambition behind the campaign.

But here’s the doubt: it all feels terribly tame.

One can imagine an alternative launch in which Reeves tried to create a buzz by cutting stamp duty on share purchases. There are good reasons to adopt that policy anyway, as argued here many times, but a cut now would grab attention. True, rules for banks and investment firms on giving “targeted guidance” are being loosened to allow more useful advice alongside the “capital at risk” warnings. Yet the current news flow in Isa-land is about HMRC’s pernickety interpretation of the tax treatment of cash held within stocks and shares account. That just creates bad vibes in the wings.

Meanwhile, the campaign’s goals read as wishy-washy. It’s all about “helping people build confidence over time”, apparently. Well, OK, that’s what the market research suggests, but “creating more opportunities for everyday conversations” is limp when, in the outside world, teenagers are trading crypto on their phones and the world is awash with smart apps. The intended audience can surely handle more directness.

As for the squirrel, it may get lost in the forest of meerkats and other CGI creatures deployed by financial services firms. For a campaign that is supposed to be doing something distinctly different, why go with a character which, on first glance, looks generic?

Back in the pre-smartphone 1970s, there was a certain shock value for the average five-year-old in seeing Willie Weasel lying injured in the road. At least the message about bad consequences was clear and memorable. One wishes the Savvy campaign well, but one fears a conversational squirrel may struggle to be heard.