Working in the Trades and investing.

I have been a Union Carpenter for 25 years and start investing in a Roth IRA a year ago at 54 after an apprentice showed me his target date fund and a couple of stocks on his phone. I was always told that investing in the markets is gambling, you wouldn't understand it or you don't have enough money to seriously invest. I always wanted to and just never did until I realized a lot of trade workers do and getting started was relatively easy after some research on goals, allocation and risk. I'm curious what motivated my Blue Collar brothers and sisters to start investing ? Was it a coworker like me ? Family member ? Are you saving for a house, college fund or looking to supplement a pension ? What do you invest in ? Do you lean towards Industrials/manufacturing/ infrastructure ?