GTA Online How To Make Money Fast

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A computer geek at heart, Arham spends his day losing games in Dota 2, switching things up to GTA Online, where he can take out his frustrations with fast cars and guns aplenty, and when he's not gaming, he's usually writing guides for fellow gaming enthusiasts.

Beginner Guide

As a beginner, making money in GTA online can be difficult at first, but once you are all set, it becomes really easy. The best way to make money in GTA Online is by doing as many individual heists as possible.

The only issue is that you need to invest a significant amount of money to be able to start a heist. So, until you can start your own heist, here are some of the best ways to make money in GTA online as a beginner.

Casino

Right after you start your game, just go into the Casino and buy a membership for 500 dollars. This will allow you to spin the wheel inside the Casino, where you can win multiple prizes, including podium vehicles.

Regardless of what you get from spinning the wheel, you need to simply go to the cashier, get the visitor bonus and convert all your chips into cash. This way, you will actually make a profit no matter what you get from spinning the wheel.

Jobs4

The next thing any new player can do to earn money quickly is to play as many jobs as possible. To access these jobs, go to the Pause menu and go online, click on Jobs, and then play Jobs. From here, select Rockstar created, and all the available jobs will be displayed on your screen.

To make the most money, Rockstar features some jobs every week, so try to do ones that pay the most first before trickling down to cheaper listings. Remember that no matter which position you choose, keep the number of rounds to the maximum number allowed, as this pays the most.

Quick jobs

Quick jobs are heists that other players or your friends have started, where you can just participate in them. Although these will not pay as much as a heist you start yourself, they are still a good way for beginners to grind some money with the help of more experienced users.

To join a heist, take out your phone and go into the Quick Jobs. Here you will see a bunch of options to participate in different heists, among other things. I recommend doing the Cayo Perico or the Diamond Casino heists, as they are the best in terms of payout.

Now, before you guys start with these heists, it is essential that you have some sort of weapon on you. So just head on to the nearest AmmuNation and get the Micro SMG. Not only is this a very cheap weapon, but you can also add extra magazines if you want to.

You will also get a bonus for doing these heists for the first time, so all the more reason to at least try it out. If you are playing on Xbox or Playstation, try finding someone doing these heists regularly, as this will boost you as a starter.

CEO Office

Once you have sufficient money on your hand, it’s time to buy a Warehouse – after getting a CEO office, of course! To set up a CEO office, navigate to the ‘Money and Services’ on your phone and access ‘dynasty8executiverealty’, which will show you the location of the four CEO offices in GTA online. Simply buy the cheapest one, as the location doesn’t matter – remember that you’re on a tight budget!

After you have a CEO office, you must set yourself as the CEO by going to ‘SecuroServ’ from the interaction menu and registering as a CEO. Although buying a CEO office will cost you about 1,000,000 dollars, you will be making this money back quickly, so there is no need to worry.

Once registered as a CEO, go into the CEO menu and select VIP work. Here you will see a bunch of different jobs you can do to earn money, but probably the best are the ‘Headhunter’, ‘Hostile Takeover’, ‘Sightseer’, and ‘Executive Search’ jobs.

Headhunter

The headhunter mission is quite straightforward- you simply have to take out certain targets highlighted on your map. To do this efficiently, it would be better to have your own personal vehicle, preferably an air vehicle, for minimized travel time – I’d recommend the economical yet trustworthy Pegassi Zentorno in that regard.

As soon as you start the job, you will have four targets to assassinate on the map and will be given a 15-minute timer. Honestly, it won’t take you more than ten minutes to assassinate all the targets if you’ve played a decent chunk of the game and know how its mechanics work. Remember that you will be getting around 20,000 dollars for completing this job once.

Hostile takeover

When choosing the hostile takeover job, you will have to choose a location for the mission out of the ‘Altruist camp’, ‘Fort Zacncudo’, ‘Merryweather Base’, and ‘LSIA’. The first two are far from the city, so it is recommended to go for the latter two.

I recommend having a personal mode of transportation for these missions, where you can either opt for the Buzzard at 1,750,000 dollars or the Hydra at 3,000,000 dollars. Either one will save you a lot of time when doing these missions, and you can quickly clear the task in two minutes once you get good at it.

For both your vehicles, do not lock onto the targets when you get to the hanger; instead, get yourself in a position to fire and then lock on. This way, they will not fire back at you when you are just getting in position – if you start to lock on after you are in position, it will take minimal effort to take down all the forces.

Once the guards have been killed, you will have a wanted level for obvious reasons, and the police will be after you. Stay calm and remain within your vehicle, as you do not need to get out of your vehicle to pick up the package. On top of that, the police will take some time to enter the hangar, so you will have plenty of time – no need to panic!

After retrieving the package, just try to avoid the police’s sight when delivering the package unless you want to bring an entire horde of cops to the drop-off point. Upon completing the mission, you will get 15,000 dollars for completing this mission, all within 2 minutes.

Sightseer

This is one of the missions for which you don’t even need to be registered as a CEO; you can even just be a VIP to start the mission. The most efficient way to complete this mission is to have your own transportation, preferably an aerial vehicle.

Remember that there will be a ten-minute cooldown timer on the mission, so the best way is to just get the most you can in one go. The easiest way to do that is by completing the job in the last 5 minutes. This will give you the maximum payout of 25,000 dollars.

So once you start the job, just pull out your phone and go to the sightseer app on your phone. This will lead you to some random games that are quite easy to do, revealing the package’s location. Remember, no matter how quickly you get the first two packages, wait until the timer goes to five minutes to get the maximum payout.

Executive search

For the executive search job, you will be given an area within which an executive needs to be executed. Now, to do this job in the least amount of time, get on top of the highest building you can find and just try finding the executive from this vantage point.

If you cannot find the executive, try finding one of their bodyguards instead and just shoot the bodyguard. Once shot, open up your map and look for where the bodyguard responds on the map, and pin this location.

Although not exactly on your pin, the executive will usually be close to this location, where you can easily spot and kill them. You will get about 6,500 dollars to complete this job, and it should not take more than a couple of minutes.

Special cargo

To start getting on Special Cargo, access your laptop in your CEO’s office and choose Special Cargo. From here, you will be led to a screen with different warehouses. You can filter the warehouses based on their size, with the main difference being the amount of cargo they can hold.

Small warehouses can hold 16 crates
Medium warehouses can store 42 crates
Large warehouses can store a massive number of 111 crates at once.

Of course, they are priced accordingly, which is why I recommend getting a small warehouse for starters. It’s better to start making money as soon as possible and then work your way up.

Once you have acquired a crate warehouse, the mission plays out in a simple fashion. When you are on the laptop, you will see the option to buy one, two, or three crates. Since the location of these crates will also be marked, you can also go steal them if you’re feeling confident.

But if we stick to the legalities, the price for one crate is 2,000 dollars, two crates are 8,000 dollars, and three crates are 18,000 dollars. Now, basic math would suggest that getting the location of one crate at a time will give you the most profit. However, if we talk about profit per unit time, getting three crates at once and then selling them will provide you with the most profit in the least amount of time.

Bonus: You will get an extra one percent on the crates you sell for every player in the lobby. So, for example, if there were 20 players in your lobby, that means a 20% bonus on whatever crate you sell.

Vehicle warehouse

The vehicle warehouse method is a very efficient way of making money and, if done smartly, can generate as much as 80,000 dollars an hour.

If you’re interested in making that much money, then head over to the Vehicle Cargo menu on your laptop and set up your vehicle warehouse to get started. As the location of the vehicle warehouse does not matter from a profit-making standpoint in this regard, feel free to go after the cheapest one.

Once you’ve set up your warehouse, it’s time to start sourcing vehicles from your laptop. Once sourced, the idea is to steal the vehicle marked on your map, modify it to increase its value, and ultimately sell it off for a deal. It’s important to note that even though you can’t directly specify what vehicle you want to source due to the game’s random selection of standard, mid-range, and top-range automobiles, there is an interesting caveat.

The caveat is that you will never be able to source a vehicle that’s already in your warehouse, waiting to be sold. So, if you were to start sourcing and selling after stocking up on all the standard and mid-range vehicles (without selling them), then you’d always get a top-range vehicle! Although this requires patience, it does pay off as you’ll be making at least 80,000 dollars off each high-end automobile.

Time Trials

The time trials are, as the name implies, races against time, where you have to get from one location to another within the given time. One reason why you should definitely try these out is that you can get 300,000 dollars from these time trials if you complete them as a beginner.

Since we’re talking on a beginner’s level, I recommend buying the Pegassi Bati 801 for just 15,000 dollars. Furthermore, before you attempt your time trial, upgrading your bike in Los Santos customs would be best. I recommend getting the engine upgrades, race upgrades, brake upgrades, transmission upgrades, and, lastly, the turbo upgrade.

All these upgrades will play a crucial part in helping you complete the time trial within the limit and will come at the cost of a rounding error compared to what you will be earning. From here, just open up your map and go to one of the time trials – good luck out there!

Experienced Player Guide

A lot of the things mentioned for beginners will stay the same for experienced players as they are the best ways to make money in GTA Online. However, assuming you have a lot more money on your hand compared to new players, there are a few things you can do to double your money quickly.

I will not be mentioning vehicle warehouses as they are the same as that for a new player but are still one of the best ways to make money in the game.

Heists

While it is a good idea for new players to join in on heists, doing your own heist will earn you a lot more money. For the sake of earning money, we will discuss the highest-paying heists in the game, the Cayo Perico and the Diamond Casino heist.

You will need to have a substantial amount of money to start your own heist because these heists can only be started by buying properties.

Diamond Casino heist

To start the Diamond Casino heist, you will need to purchase an Arcade. When looking for an Arcade to buy, avoid the ones up north as they are too far from the city, and you will have to drive to the city in almost every setup mission.

Once you buy an Arcade, you will see the letter ‘L’ on the right side of the city, which will lead to a cutscene with Lester. Once done, you can start setting up for the heist, which will take you just over an hour and can be done with just one person.

However, the finale for this heist needs to be done with at least two people, so you will need to get a friend to help you. Overall, you will get 2,000,000 dollars for completing the finale, and you can set the cut-off for your friend beforehand.

Cayo Perico heist

To start the Cayo Perico heist, probably the best in the game right now, you will need to purchase the Kosatka submarine. To buy the Kosatka submarine, you must go to the music locker at East Vinewood in Los Santos. It will cost you about 2,200,000 dollars, but you will make this money back quickly.

You need to buy nothing much in the Kosatka submarine because you will have almost all those things in the game if you have been playing for a while. However, don’t skip on the ‘Moon Pool Vehicles’ option, which will unlock the ‘Sparrow’, making the setup mission much easier.

After that, just play the heists, and you will be able to grind out 1,500,000 dollars an hour once you get efficient at the heist.

Passive Income

Passive income will cover anything in the game for which you will not be actively working but will fetch you money. This is considered a great way of making money on the side while you actively focus on the aforementioned gigs.

Nightclub

The nightclub is one of the businesses for pumping out large sums of money, particularly when you own an arsenal of businesses. As such, this is something new players should try to achieve later in the game – not now.

While the nightclub can be used in multiple ways to earn money, we will be talking about the one in which you will not have to make any effort: Warehouse Management. When setting up your nightclub, look for the warehouse locations towards the northern part of the city as this will decrease your time for sell missions.

Warehouse Management

Warehouse Management supplements businesses that you will have already owned by assigning technicians that fetch and sell goods. Each business will correspond to the following business you may already be familiar with:

Cargo and shipments require a hangar or crate warehouse
Sporting goods need a bunker
South American imports require a cocaine lockup
Pharmaceutical research requires a meth lab
Organic produce requires a weed farm
Printing and copying require document forgery business
Cash creation requires counterfeit cash business

Now, if you have ownership of all or most of these businesses, you can start to grind out some serious money without having to really do much. All you need to do is assign a technician to each business, who will be responsible for getting the goods. Once the technician has the goods, they will let you know, and you can sell the goods to earn some quick cash.

Profit Per Business

The cash earned will vary from business to business, but here’s a rough estimate of the hourly salary:

Cargo and shipments earn 8,570 dollars
Sporting goods will make 7,500 dollars
South American imports will fetch 10,000 dollars
Pharmaceutical research comes with 8,500 dollars
Organic products will get you 4,500 dollars
Printing and copying bring 4,000 dollars
Cash creation will allow you to pocket 7,000 dollars

Bunker

The bunker is probably one of the best ways to make money in GTA Online, given that it does not require you to have any pre-owned businesses, just a lot of money.

Setting Up

When looking for a bunker on your phone, try getting one as close to the city as possible as all your setup missions will end there. Once you have purchased and entered your bunker, you will have to go through a small setup mission and will see three bars at the bottom left once done.

These bars will represent the stock, resources, and supplies you have in the bunker. The basic gist is that as long as you are logged into the game, your supplies bar will keep depleting to make more stock you can sell.

Upgrades

But remember, you will need to buy all your staff and equipment upgrades for the bunker to start making some real profit. This is why I suggest having the money for the upgrades before you purchase a bunker. These upgrades will cost you about 1,600,000 dollars more, so be ready.

Once your bunker is all set up and you have all your upgrades done, you will not need to waste time stealing supplies again. From here, you can buy supplies and still end up with huge profits every 24 hours.

The bunker will initially make you 40,000 dollars an hour, but with the staff and equipment upgrades, this will be almost doubled to 79,000 dollars an hour. However, be careful when you decide to sell your product, as if you are playing solo, it can get a bit difficult to deliver more than one vehicle’s worth of goods at a time.

The best way to have only one vehicle spawn all the time is to sell as soon your stock bar gets to about 20 percent. Anything more will spawn another delivery vehicle which will make things harder for you as players might try to steal your goods when you deliver them.

Conclusion

Depending on whether you are a beginner or have been playing for a while, you will need to choose the things you invest in carefully to earn money in GTA Online. If you are a beginner, time trials, quick jobs, and participating in other heists are probably among the first things you should be doing.

However, for an experienced player, it would be much more beneficial to set up a passive source of income as soon as possible. This will almost double your hourly income without much effort, and you will be able to make your invested money back within no time.

FAQs

Question: Is buying a nightclub worth it?

Answer: For a new player, probably not the best choice as there are a bunch of other things you can do. However, experienced players probably know the nightclub as one of the best properties in the game to date.

Question: Is counterfeit cash worth investing in?

Answer: If you have bought all the other recommended businesses, counterfeit cash can be a viable option to invest in. However, make sure you have all the money required for any initial upgrades.

Question: Is moving the money you earn to your bank account a good idea?

Answer: If you intend on doing a mission that has a high probability of getting you killed, moving all your money to your bank is the safest bet. This way, you will not lose any money when you respawn.