Assassinations Missions Offer Great Compensation
The best way to make a lot of money in the story mode of GTA 5 is to complete Lester‘s stock market assassination missions. Our Assassination Investor page details the steps required for developing your finances beyond the Billion dollar mark
Try Your Luck at Investing in Stocks
The old trick of buying low and selling high still applies to GTA V. Keep an eye on the news as well to see which stocks are doing good or bad.
To make a quick return, save your game and then shut off autosave. Invest all of your money into a stock that you think is on the rise. Go to your safehouse and rest without saving (or wait roughly 45 seconds) and check your portfolio to see your profit. Keep checking the stock until it peaks out and then sell. The more money you invest, the better the return, and if the stock does poorly, just load up your previous save and you will have all the money you invested without any repercussions.
Rob ATMs for Some Quick Cash
People who have just visited an ATMgenerally have a bit of cash in their pockets. Just wait around ATM for people to withdraw money and rob them with bare fists or Suppressed Weapon.
Escape the area before cops arrive!
Small Time Shenanigans for Big Bucks
Money is very hard to come by in the first few hours of GTA 5. When you need money quick, consider one of 20 GTA 5 Robberies.
Convenience stores and corner markets are prime, soft targets for a stick-up. Walk-in, aim a gun at the cashier, shoot around him to impress him and make him faster, grab the money, and escape before the cops arrive.
Stake out a few favorite stores and look for handy hiding places nearby. Park your Vehicle facing toward the street just outside the store. Grab the cash, hop into your ride, and scoot away to your alcove. By rotating between a few familiar stores you can pick up a decent bankroll.
Some stores have two registers. By firing your gun into the second register you can force more money to pop out. Be sure to wait until you’ve got all the money from the first register before shooting to avoid alerting bystanders with the sound of the gunshot.
You can also rob gun and clothing stores by pulling out your gun and aiming it before entering the stores. Although the store’s employee won’t empty the cash registers for you, simply shooting them open yourself will provide you with the money inside.
Caution when robbing the same store multiple times as the clerk may get a gun, and is not afraid to use it.
Be aware that robbing stores within a short period of one another (less than 48 minutes) will increase the stars you earn from robbing. Ex. after robbing 2 stores, you will earn a 3 star wanted level and so on.
Compete in Street Races for Quick and Easy Income
Street races are an excellent source of income whenever Franklin is low on money. I would recommend getting a Coil Volticelectric sports car and customizing that up as far as possible. Using Franklin’s unique special talent it is rather easy to win any of the races. Just trigger the special talent before each sharp turn or in each critical situation (e.g. dense traffic) by simultaneously pressing L3 and R3 and going around corners at full speed becomes real easy. Don’t forget to switch off the talent again as soon as possible to keep your yellow talent power bar filled. And always make sure to have the yellow bar maxed out before starting a race.
Not enough money to customize your race car? Just trade it over to another character by parking it at a convenient location (e.g. Trevors place), switch characters, go to the location and the car will still be there. Then customize it and trade it back.
There’s real money in the first Heist, enough to give you a hefty Stock Market bankroll. If a Heist is something you’re interested in trying, our Jewel Store Job walkthrough will guide you through everything you need to know about completing the heist successfully, as well as collecting all the best and most valuable Jewels that are hidden in the center cabinets on the island near the register.
Be sure to hire the best available Crew on any Heist. They end up saving more than you spend on most occasions. Even after completing the jewelry store heist, there are still several more heists available through the story missions, most of which provide you with a greater reward.
Rob Armored Trucks for Easy Money
In the beginning hours of the game, one of the easiest ways to make money is to rob an armored vehicle. They appear randomly as blips on the minimap while you are driving around. Take out the drivers, then blow the back doors open with a gun or C4. Collect the money, which is often worth over $5000, then escape the cops.
You might even be lucky enough to catch the security guards bringing the money to the armored truck beforehand, in which case the job is that much easier. Take out the guard carrying the cash, take the money, and run.