The Best Ways to Make Money (and Keep Money) in GTA Online

If you’re not interested in spending real money for online currency in Grand Theft Auto Online, then you’re going to have to grind your way to riches like I plan to do.

This list represents the best ways to make money (and keep money), so you get the most buck for your bang (see what I did there?)

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First of All.. Don’t Die!

I’m putting this first because it’s important to understand the ramifications of death in GTA Online.

Dying will cost you 5% of your current savings up to a max of $5k per death (including money in your bank account) so you should really try not to hoard a bunch of money at once if possible.

You no longer lose money when you die during a mission, which is good, but you still lose money any time you die during freemode though, so be careful.

The point is, don’t be careless. You could die in story mode without much consequence, but this isn’t true in multiplayer. Dying costs you your hard earned money, and lots of it, so don’t go to the bathroom with your character sitting on a street corner.. be cautious and logout first.

When in doubt.. LOGOUT!!

Farming Missions

They took away the Replay button, but there is still a glitch to replay missions repeatedly.

On the voting screen after you finish a high payout mission, have everyone vote (the vote you make is irrelevant) and then have everyone mash on the RT button on Xbox 360, or R2 on the PS3. This should trigger the “restart” function on the mission allowing you to replay the mission again and again.

This will likely be patched in the future, so do it while you can.

Stealing Cars for Cash

You can steal most of the cars in the game and take them to Los Santos Customs to sell and receive a percentage of what they’re worth.

A car in mint condition will net you about 10% of their sale price, which is kinda crap but you don’t have any other options here.

The big catch is that you won’t get paid for the high dollar sports cars or super cars. You are also restricted to one car per game day, so roughly one car every 48 real minutes.

Since you can only steal a car for money once per game day, you want to get the most out of every vehicle you steal, so here is a list of some of the best cars to steal and their worth so you get the most out of your thieving.

Remember not to bang up the car on the way there because they’ll take the repair costs out of your finders fee.

Lampadati Felon GT – $9,500
Lampadati Felon – $9,000
Gallivanter Baller – $9,000
Obey Rocoto – $8,500
Ocelot F620 – $8,000
Ubermacht Oracle – $8,000
Albany Cavalcade (Modern) – $7,000
Benefactor Dubsta – $7,000
Ubermacht Zion – $6,500
Ubermacht Zion Cabrio – $6,500
Benefactor Schafter – $6,500
Ocelot Jackal – $6,000
Benefactor Serrano – $6,000
Dundreary Landstalker – $5 800
Fathom FQ 2 – $5,000
Mammoth Patriot – $5,000

Robbing Stores

One of the easiest ways to get some quick cash is to rob a store. Stores are marked on your map is kind of a pentagon shape.

Go in, equip a gun, and point it in the clerk’s face. He’ll either crap his pants and start unloading money out of the register, or he’ll pull a gun of his own. You can yell at him through your mic to speed up the process.

If you decide to kill him, or if he pulled a gun and you had no choice, you can still go around to the register and pull money out yourself, though this will inch the cops closer and closer to your location before you can leave.

Purchasing a mask for your robberies will help as well. Equip a mask for your robbery, and then take it off quickly when you start your getaway to reduce your wanted level by one star. This won’t help if they are already on your tail however.

Be careful when robbing stores back to back. I have noticed that when robbing stores back to back (I’m unsure on the exact time-frame here) that my wanted level seems to stack up. For example, robbing a store gives two stars. Elude the cops, go to another store, and now I have three stars when I rob this one, and four on the next, etc.

Invest It Before You Lose It

Spend it or lose it is the name of the game here. Once you have enough money to buy something big, buy it quickly before you die.

Look at it this way.. anything you spend your money on, whether it’s guns, vehicles, or apartments, the system can’t take a cut of this money when you die, so spend it or lose it!

Always Bank Your Money

Always, always, ALWAYS bank your money!

When you die, your medical bills can be pulled from your bank account, but other people can’t take money that’s in your bank.

Anything on your body over $5k can be lost if someone kills you, so I’ll say it again.. ALWAYS BANK YOUR MONEY!

Go to your phone’s Internet and go up to Money and Services. Go down to maze-bank.com and click on the Main Menu button. From here go to Deposit, select the amount you want to deposit, then click Yes.

Now your money is safe in your bank, without having to drive around to find an ATM.

Watch Your Back Yo!

After playing GTA Online for a bit, you’ll start to become cautious of other players, almost overly cautious at times.

I suggest starting off this way. You never know if that other player is going to stop by you walking down the street and gun you down, or mow you over with his car. Start looking for it, and expecting it.

Hell, the other day I got a bounty on my head right as I logged in, for no apparent reason, so three guys came after me in seconds.

Luckily I had all of my money in the bank!!

Watch your back, be cautious, be suspicious.. it will pay off in the end.

Have Money Making Tips?

Have tips of your own for making money in GTA Online? Leave me comments below to share them and I’ll ad them to the list and give you credit for it!