In Los Santos, you will find fancy cars, nice weather, and plenty of mayhem. Your first time playing is great, but you will soon realize that most of the fun toys and activities the game has to offer cost a big stack of cash. You begin the game with a basic pistol and a car that you stole from the street. Then you look up and see other players who have big, expensive, flying cars with guns on them.
Becoming the victim of random people who are trying to kill you multiple times for fun is even more painful when you have no money and no weapons. When Rockstar releases a new update, you can expect to see new expensive cars, new businesses, and new weapons for you to buy. If you don't have a plan, you can expect to spend your time doing the same old, boring missions just to make money for some basic body armor and bullets.
If you want to have fun and enjoy the game, you need to run your criminal empire like a real business. Earning and managing GTA Online in-game currency is all about balancing active grinding, smart property purchases, and resisting impulse buys for supercar promotions on your phone's browser. Self-control is really put to the test in GTA Online, but building serious in-game wealth is achievable.
The Supercar Trap
Once you start, the fastest way to go broke is throwing away your money on cars. In-game, the browser is showing the latest vehicles, teasing you to spend cash.
I fell for this trap extremely hard. After grinding for a couple of million dollars, I bought the sickest Italian sports car. Little did I know, I was broke. I spent all my money, couldn't upgrade my car, and I couldn't buy a business that would've generated in-game profit. The most important thing is to invest in money-generating businesses before getting toys.
Mixing Active and Passive Income
There really is a difference between active and passive income in the context of GTA. Active income is money that you constantly have to be doing something to earn. This includes making money through heists, doing VIP work, and daily stash house runs. If you have to put the controller down, you aren’t making active money.
Maximizing your GTA Online money is all about focusing on the passive businesses that create product while you are running active heists. The Nightclub and the Gunrunning Bunker are examples of this. After you set them up, assign technicians, or purchase supplies, you leave them alone. Stock builds while you play the rest of the game, and after some time, you visit the business and get a huge payout from the stock you sold.
Top Earning Businesses
For those of you struggling to decide what to purchase first, here are my top recommendations, in terms of modern payout, broken down by business.
Business Name | Income Type | Why You Should Own It |
|---|---|---|
Kosatka Submarine | Active | Unlocks the Cayo Perico Heist in Grand Theft Auto Online, one of the best solo money makers in the game. |
Acid Lab | Passive | Extremely cheap to fully upgrade and produces a product very quickly, making it one of the best low-cost passive incomes. |
Nightclub | Passive | Generates income automatically from your other businesses with no resupply missions required, making it highly efficient long-term. |
Auto Shop | Active | Unlocks mini-heists and simple vehicle delivery missions that are fun and consistent for active grinding. |
Taking Advantage of Weekly Bonuses
If you want to move up the money-making ladder, then you should check the Rockstar Newswire. Every Thursday, the developers do an update bringing new bonuses for the week. Usually, there are certain game modes and businesses that are updated to offer double money & XP.
Updates for Thursday are vital because one can become a multi-millionaire in just a weekend from doing literally no extra work than the usual business deliveries and earning double the GTA Online in-game currency. If Bunker sales are paying double money that week, you should not do any sales for other businesses and focus on sales of weapons. The weekly events are the best way to rapidly increase your cash.
Defending Your Cargo
The other players in the lobby are your biggest concern. The game has a sadistic sense of humor and encourages other players in the lobby to destroy your cargo while you are making deliveries. Nothing can be more frustrating than having a griefer in a jet, having him blow up your post-office delivery van, and losing a million dollars' worth of product. This is the reason many players quit the game.
Selling products in a crowded public lobby opens the opportunity for a nice “High Demand” bonus payout, which is usually around twenty percent extra cash. But, if you're a solo player using a slow delivery truck, the bonus is hardly worth the frustration of getting blown up.
Thanks to a recent wave of updates, Rockstar has finally given players the option to sell all of their businesses in private, Invite-Only lobbies. If you want an uninterrupted grinding experience, all you need to do is switch to a private lobby. Sure, you miss out on the measly public player bonus, but the payout is guaranteed, and you can complete the mission without worrying about enemy jets.
Los Santos is built for long-term money-making, not quick cash. They will try to sell you a shortcut by buying fake money for a real price, but don't buy that flashy sports car. Instead, spend cash on the Kosatka and the Acid Lab. From there, a balanced Active/Passive income from the game is what you need to start collecting money like crazy. Then, just watch the game updates and keep grinding. Soon enough, money won't be a problem, and you'll be able to buy whatever you want.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What is the absolute best solo heist for making money?
Complete the Cayo Perico heist, and you can make tons of cash by submitting stealthily. Your time for setup to finish can be around one hour.
2. Are Shark Cards actually worth buying to skip the grind?
No. The game has added ways to earn money, like the Acid Lab and solo heists, that make playing the game worthwhile.
Shark Cards have horrible value for your money.
3. Do I still need to be in a public lobby to sell my businesses?
No, dealing with griefers is a thing of the past. You can completely source supplies, sell your business products, and do everything else in a public lobby.
4. What is the very first business a brand-new player should buy?
Start with the Acid Lab. Just do the First Dose story missions, and you can get it for free. Also, upgrading it is much cheaper than upgrading the typical business.
5. Do my passive businesses continue to produce goods when I am offline?
No. As long as you're offline, your businesses are paused. Even when you switch to single-player story mode.