# Spending Habits of the Blue Collar Wealthy **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 17, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spending-habits-of-the-blue-collar-wealthy/740721 "2015-12-17T19:33:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spending-habits-of-the-blue-collar-wealthy/740721/21 "2015-12-20T17:36:48Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > granted this is a GQ thread, but I felt enough serious responses had been given to the point where I could try to inject a little levity. I don’t know where you are from, but Jeff Foxworthy and cohorts have made quite a living off of the [Blue Collar Comedy Tour.](http://www.bluecollarcomedy.net/) I appreciate the levity, but it doesn’t matter what they call the tour, redneck is largely a derogatory term for a certain type of blue collar worker. As with all the other characterizations of blue collar workers presented in this thread it is in no way really representative of blue collar workers. As stated in Wikipedia (bolding is mine) : > [@](#): > > The term redneck is chiefly used for a rural poor white person of the Southern United States. It can be a derogatory slang term[1][2] similar in meaning to cracker (especially regarding Georgia and Florida), hillbilly (especially regarding Appalachia and the Ozarks),[3] and white trash (but without the last term’s suggestions of immorality).[4][5][6] > > By 1975, say Chapman and Kipfer, the term had expanded in meaning beyond the poor Southerner to refer to “a bigoted and conventional person, a loutish ultra-conservative.”[7] It is often used to attack white Southern conservatives. **The term is also used broadly to degrade working class and rural whites that are perceived by urban progressives to be insufficiently liberal**.[8] At the same time, some white Southerners have reclaimed the word, using it with pride and defiance as a self-identifier.[9] > > > [@](#): > > Blue Collar ala Wikipedia : > [@](#): > > In English-speaking countries, a blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labour. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled manufacturing, mining, sanitation, custodian work, oil field, construction, mechanical maintenance, warehousing, firefighting, technical installation and many other types of physical work. Often something is physically being built or maintained. > > In contrast, the white-collar worker typically performs work in an office environment and may involve sitting at a computer or desk. A third type of work is a service worker (pink collar) whose labour is related to customer interaction, entertainment, sales or other service-oriented work. Many occupations blend blue, white and/or pink industry categorizations. > > Blue-collar work is often paid hourly wage-labor, although some professionals may be paid by the project or salaried. There is a wide range of payscales for such work depending upon field of specialty and experience. I focus my ignorance fighting on these class issues - it’s just my thing. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spending-habits-of-the-blue-collar-wealthy/740721/22 "2015-12-20T17:54:48Z")
> [@Vaevictis](#): > > If you were a continental European and had money saved up before the war you had a very good chance of losing it. That experience made such people not trust saving money. But the ones who had money and the foresight to remove it, convert it into gold or jewels, had the wherewithal to buy passage to America etc. Ann Frank, for example, her father was German, he had the foresight to get the family out of Germany and the money to start a business in Amsterdam. He just didn’t manage to leave Netherlands in time. It’s better to have money than not; and the alternative, too many possessions are not portable. (Hence the old joke about why Jewish musicians were great violinists, but not piano players) but it’s best to read the news regularly. * * * There was a thread a while ago about why poor people spend on stupid things when they suddenly get a windfall. The logic made perfect sense - you’ve always wanted a Coach handbag or something equally frivolous that would eat most of your income for a month or more. (I remember a news story about a welfare family where I used to live where the father actually got a job, they were given money to move, and spent a lot of it to buy a pet parrot.) The point some poster made, was that life will go on, you will continue to get the barely-enough-money-to-feed-yourself going forward; however, you will likely never get another opportunity to fulfill that silly dream of a designer purse or a pet parrot or whatever. So jump on it, instead of wasting the money on slightly better groceries, or supplementing your meager income for a year so you would hardly notice you had struck it rich. The mentality of the “rich bogun” would be similar, except they can fill a new dream every paycheque. They probably know (better than us) that this doesn’t last, so if you desperately wanted that leopard-print fake fur jacket, and that black velvet painting with the big eyes, and a giant screen TV and recliner sofa and dingle balls to put around the windshield of the big pickup truck - get them while you can. This is different from the frugal types, who were once not well paid, now are, but their skill is not white collar. The frugal types save. They look like they are poor or medium working class, but they will have a million dollars in investments and their house and car are paid off because they are afraid to let go and have some fun just in case. But as I said earlier about balance, the point of being rich is being able to enjoy it. There’s got to be a balance. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spending-habits-of-the-blue-collar-wealthy/740721/23 "2015-12-20T19:45:29Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > But the ones who had money and the foresight to remove it, convert it into gold or jewels, had the wherewithal to buy passage to America etc. Ann Frank, for example, her father was German, he had the foresight to get the family out of Germany and the money to start a business in Amsterdam. He just didn’t manage to leave Netherlands in time. It’s better to have money than not; and the alternative, too many possessions are not portable. (Hence the old joke about why Jewish musicians were great violinists, but not piano players) This is an interesting anecdote; but [Otto Van Frank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Frank) was a businessman with an economics background - about as far as you can get from blue-collar in the working world. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spending-habits-of-the-blue-collar-wealthy/740721/24 "2015-12-21T06:47:40Z")
> [@Mr.Nylock](#): > > This is an interesting anecdote; but [Otto Van Frank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Frank) was a businessman with an economics background - about as far as you can get from blue-collar in the working world. Yes, the reply was to the comment that Europeans possibly had learned not to trust banks. Otto made money, did not bury it in his mattress - even so, he could afford to relocate. He just failed to do so in time, second time around. In that case, he could afford to hide for several years and probably could have afforded to keep hiding. Money is better than no money, even if there is a risk the bank or government may steal it. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spending-habits-of-the-blue-collar-wealthy/740721/25 "2015-12-21T07:18:13Z")
The Kotler marketing text book has a table of spending habits by income segmentation. Blue collars will prioritize immediate needs and even wants. It’s only when they think they have sufficient money will they spend for security, and perhaps invest to move up the social ladder (though it will likely be their children up there, not them.) My own experience is that money is like Tolkien’s one ring. “Power according to one’s stature.” To illustrate, a small time hoodlum comes by a huge sum of money, thereby becoming wealthy in an instant. But he will remain a small time hoodlum. So anything he does with his wealth will be in keeping with his status. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spending-habits-of-the-blue-collar-wealthy/740721/26 "2015-12-21T09:24:29Z")
The term “Life Style” was originally a market-segmentation term. It literally referred to the way you lived your life, not (as it is often used now) to the items and services you bought as a result. The idea was that there are different ways of living your life, as a result of which there are market segments with different interests. One of the life decisions you will make as the result of your life-style will be the kind of job you get, and on my observation, there does seem to be an association between job and life-style. But… Back in the day, when I was learning about marketing and reading marketing surveys, they didn’t ask what job you had. The went straight to the style questions and asked if you would rather spend your money on travel or goods or investment. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spending-habits-of-the-blue-collar-wealthy/740721/27 "2015-12-21T11:16:58Z")
An obvious observation. If we assume that the newly moneyed “blue collar worker” does indeed spend a reasonable portion of his new found income on goods, people in general tend to spend the money on goods that they are familiar with, and that fit in with their existing desires. If you were a kid, and the family down the street got a shiny new pickup truck, you probably thought that was way cool. If you grew up near water, friends that had a boat would probably take you out fishing/water-skiing and you would grow up loving the idea of a boat. Your down the street’s big brother buys a Harley? The chromed monster will probably live in your dreams. It isn’t a surprise that when grown up, free money gets spent on items that are emblematic of desires foundered in childhood. Cuts across all classes anyway. It isn’t as if white collar workers in the modern age have an income that is, in general, vastly better than the blue. They just end up sitting in front of a computer screen all day instead of getting their hands dirty. Gibson and Fender discovered this phenomenon. Middle aged guys who finally had the money to buy the Les Paul or Stratocaster of their childhood dreams. Even better, willing to spend big money on the “Custom Shop” version. Whether your notional blue collar worker blows his first big pay-cheque on the down payment on a Harley, or waits until he has paid off the house and the kids have left home is a different question. But the objects of desire will always be found in childhood dreams and desires. And it is odd. Even here in Oz, huge TVs, Harley’s, Jet Ski’s, fishing boats, ski-boats, insane outdoor BBQ outfits, and muscle cars seems to dominate. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spending-habits-of-the-blue-collar-wealthy/740721/28 "2015-12-21T19:42:50Z")
When the General Motors Assembly Plant employed thousands of union workers in my hometown (Dayton, OH), a lot of them bought bass boats. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spending-habits-of-the-blue-collar-wealthy/740721/29 "2015-12-21T20:15:09Z")
I grew up poor but made a good living as a blue collar worker. I owned a nice but not extravagant home, owned one nice car for the family and an old pick up for me. We had a used but decent boat and bought a used but clean camping trailer. I never paid any attention to what anyone else had. Not too many in my neighborhood were big on keeping up with the Jones and you could call the neighborhood blue collar with money. ---
**Author:** ![lalaith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@lalaith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lalaith)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spending-habits-of-the-blue-collar-wealthy/740721/30 "2015-12-21T21:28:48Z")
The wealthy, blue collar people I’ve met are rednecks. I use that term with affection as I’ve lived my life among rednecks. They tend to buy large pieces of land in the country. (Not a house in the city or even a place on the beach.) On this land they put large, ranch-style homes. There’s likely to be a barn or a large shed - shed will have a very nice riding lawnmower or a tractor. A large pick-up truck is practically mandatory. There’s likely to be a “fun” off-road vehicle. There’s a good chance there will be a boat or RV/camper. Other things it had would depend on what the person liked before. It’s just they’re now spending more money on it. If they loved NASCAR before, now there will be a bunch more NASCAR stuff. If they loved fishing, then they’re likely to have a stocked, man-made lake. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spending-habits-of-the-blue-collar-wealthy/740721.md?page=1)