According to her financial disclosure report, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a checking account, brokerage account, and a 401(k) plan through the National Hispanic Institute. All three accounts reportedly have between $1,001 and $15,000 each. You can view the PFD of the disclosure report here. According to the House of Representatives, she has a salary of $174,000 a year.

For someone that lives in a swanky D.C. apartment building and drives a Tesla, how does she have so little in financial wealth? Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez serves on the House Committee on Financial Services. She should have the knowledge and understanding of the importance of investing early in life. Of course, a lot of people AOC’s age have little, or nothing invested, but the majority of them do not have access to the same people and information that the congresswoman from New York has.

AOC is a star; she has made it. Whatever glass ceiling that was above her, she broke through it. She did not succeed through just luck or happenstance. She has superstar-like qualities and traits that should not be dismissed. But someone in her stature, with nearly 13 million Twitter followers, serving on the House Committee on Financial Services, should be held to a much higher standard.

On average, Latinas in the U.S. are paid 43% less than white men and 28% less than white women. A lot of young Latinas look up to AOC and for good reason. Instead of talking about eliminating student debt or creating a public banking option, she should also be discussing the importance of investing early. In general, if more people invested early, issues like a national hourly wage, or crushing student loan debt, would not affect as many people as it does now. I am not here to discuss if AOC is right or wrong on the hot button issues. These are prominent issues that need to be addressed but given how easy it is today to open a brokerage account, and how easy it is to invest in an individual stock or an index fund, AOC should set a better example for the millions of women and girls that look up to her.

Investing is something people can do within their power right now. Due to inflation, having cash right now is very dangerous. In a recent interview, Ray Dalio said, “Cash is not a safe investment, is not a safe place because it will be taxed by inflation.” Eliminating student debt and raising the minimum hourly wage will not dramatically lift people out of poverty. Investing early and letting the magic of compounding interest do its thing are proven winning strategies that can create life-changing wealth. AOC may become extremely wealthy without investing however her situation will not be so easy to replicate for the millions of her supporters.