Time to Copy the Copycats: 3 “Rich White People Tricks” We Need to Steal Right Now

My grandparents did not grow up with degrees. They were born, raised, and died down in South Carolina, true products of the Depression era, and though the school system never gave them fancy college degrees, they carried a PhD in reading white folks. They had a particular understanding of the peculiarities of rich white people, and they spent a lifetime studying how their tricks and hacks could be useful to us. Only they weren’t doing it because they wanted to be like them, or because they wanted us to be like them.

In Greenville, South Carolina, my grandfather, Jay Bird, ran a pool hall, and my grandmother, Miss Bill— we called her Miss Bill, though her name was Wilma—ran a local cafe. These Black business spaces were the great equalizers, sort of like the subway in New York City. They were the places where rich white people would rub shoulders with regular Black folks every single day, leaving state senators, wealthy lawyers, and working men standing on the same level ground. 

Like so many African-Americans of that era, my grandparents used their front-row seats to quietly watch, parse, and analyze the exact patterns of the wealthy, passing that information straight down to us from the living room couch while we watched HBO. Back then it just sounded like family talk, but today the world is finally catching up.

Related: These Black Families Are Worth Billions

Everything my grandparents shared with us is heavily documented by sociologists, economists, and psychologists. In an economic climate where the Black middle class is constantly under siege, we need every piece of armor we can find. While the rest of the world is busy copying Black culture, our music, and our style, it is time for us to flip the script and look back at what the old folks saw from the living room couch, the cafe, and the pool hall, and steal those institutional hacks to help us.

Here are a few lessons passed down from our grandparents that you can use right now to level up your life and your bank account.

The “Buy Good Stuff” Rule (The Cobbler Cheat Code)

Miss Bill always told me to buy the best your “little” money can buy on important stuff like shoes or sweaters, because in the long run, it’s going to save you money. She used to point out that the wealthy white folks she saw—the ones she used to work for—would pay a lot of money for these wardrobe staples that were built to last. I’ve taken this advice completely. Right after college, when I didn’t have much money, I would buy the best pair of shoes I could afford and go to a cobbler, pay $5 to get them fixed, and keep rolling. Those black coach boots lasted me ten years.

Miss Bill’s lesson: stop buying disposable fast-fashion items that fall apart in six months; invest in high-quality, timeless shoes and bags that you can wear for a long time.

The Documentation: This concept is famously known as the Sam Vimes “Boots” Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness, an economic model demonstrating how buying low-quality goods repeatedly is exponentially more expensive than investing in durable, repairable items. Furthermore, consumer data from the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA) outlines the long-term cost benefits of shoe repair and resoling over fast-fashion consumption.

The Modest House Strategy

Jay Bird noticed at the pool hall that the wealthiest men in town often lived in totally ordinary, modest homes. You wouldn’t think twice about them if you drove past. But if you walk inside, they are absolutely stunning. They saved an immense amount of money by staying less showy on the outside, and you never truly know exactly how much they have tucked away.

The Documentation: This is the core thesis of the foundational wealth study, The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko. Their research proved that the vast majority of true millionaires deliberately live in unassuming neighborhoods and modest homes to avoid the “consumption wheel” of high property taxes, massive insurance rates, and neighborhood status-matching.

Jay Bird’s Lesson: Don’t stretch your budget to buy a giant house just to impress the neighbors. Live in a smaller, affordable home to keep your fixed costs low.

Using Your 401(k) Like a Tool, Not a Vault

In our community, we are often taught to treat a retirement fund like a holy relic—you put money in, and you never touch it under penalty of law. But people with money view cash as fluid. They don’t raid their retirement for vacations, but they will borrow against it to fund high-return investments.

The Documentation: According to empirical data published by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), higher-income demographics utilize 401(k) loans at strategic times to acquire appreciating assets like real estate. Under IRS rules, the interest on a 401(k) loan is paid directly back into the borrower’s own account, making them their own bank.

The Lesson: Don’t be terrified of your portfolio. Learn the rules of your account.