What good is life if you haven’t got a tennis court in your back garden and a fleet of sports cars stored in your garage? Money is what makes the world go around, and while it’s not exactly easy to earn stacks of it in real life, there are no pesky laws in Los Santos – well, none that you need to abide by anyway. While it’s best known for its gratuitous violence and bad language, willing participants can get an education in economics in Grand Theft Auto V – and we’re here to tell you how to play the stock market to boost your bank balance in Rockstar Games’ hotly anticipated PlayStation 4 re-release.
Lester Crest may be one of the creepier characters in Los Santos, but should be underrated at your peril. The chubby character will send you on a series of missions throughout the campaign which will allow you to fiddle the stock market – and, when done properly, will earn you a lot of lovely lolly. The first of these missions is mandatory, and is named Hotel Assassination. The crux of the objective sees you damaging Bilkin in order to raise the shares of Betta Pharmaceuticals, so invest all of your money into the latter prior to carrying out the mission, and then sell your stocks once they’ve surged. Here’s what we recommend.
The Hotel Assassination
You can repeat this same process with all of the Lester missions (we’ve included a guide below), but it’s best to wait until you’ve completed the campaign, as all of these objectives are optional. That way, you’ll have much more money to play with, making the rewards even greater. Of course, if you’re happy to settle for the short gains, you can follow these steps at any time – just remember to create a separate save file before investing your cash, just in case something goes wrong.
The Multi-Target Assassination
The Vice Assassination
The Bus Assassination
Note: do not buy stocks in Vapid prior to completing this mission, as it’s all about driving prices down. You’ll need to buy when the numbers crash after finishing the task, and then wait a few in-game days for things to rebound.
The Construction Assassination
One other thing worth mentioning is that investing and selling as above with all three characters will ensure that you maximise the income of all of the protagonists, so remember to keep a close eye on the stocks and act as a trio if you want to make the most mullah.
If all of the above is a little too complex for your tastes, then it’s possible to leave your mark on the stock market with a bit of good old destruction. Pick one of the many automobile manufacturers that you encounter in Los Santos, and start wrecking as many of their cars as you can see. Eventually, the bad publicity will cause stocks in that company to plunge, making it the ideal time to invest. Once you’ve done this, start focusing on rival manufacturers instead, which will prompt the shares in your chosen organisation to eventually soar. Cash back.
There are also dozens of rival businesses in the game, which you can play off each other for your own financial gains. Clucking Bell and Taco Bomb, for example, are rivals, so causing a ruckus at one of them will cause stocks in its competitor to skyrocket. Granted, it’s all a bit ‘gamey’ – but who said you had to work 9-to-5 to get by, huh?
Are you aware of any other get rich quick schemes in Grand Theft Auto V on the PS4? Which of these tips have worked best for you? Show us your money in the comments section below.
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