If you’re still grabbing cash from convenience stores, you’re choosing the slow lane. Story mode practically hands you a money printer if you use Lester’s hits the right way, and a lot of players miss it because they rush. I keep it simple: treat the market like a setup, not a mini-game, and use GTA 5 Money routes as your baseline for when to invest, not as a rigid script you follow blindly.
1) Don’t burn the missions too early
Here’s the part people hate hearing: hold off. You must do “The Hotel Assassination” to keep the story moving, so do it, take the profit, and then stop doing Lester’s other assassination missions. Park them. Finish the main story first, especially once you’re staring down the huge heist payouts. The reason’s obvious when you feel it in-game: investing a few thousand is cute, investing tens of millions is life-changing. That patience is what turns “nice profit” into “I can buy whatever I want.”
2) Buy before, sell with discipline
Before you start an assassination, swap to each character and put basically everything into the stock tied to the target. Every last dollar you’re willing to risk. After the mission, don’t mash “sell” instantly unless you’re watching the price jump in real time. Check your portfolio return and give it some time to breathe. For LCN stocks, sleeping to push time forward usually helps the spike show up. For BAWSAQ, it can pop faster, but it’s not magic—still watch the percentage like you’re watching a kettle. If the gain starts sliding, don’t “hope.” Cash out.
3) The rebound trade most folks forget
Once you’ve sold the winner, don’t wander off to buy cars yet. The better play is the second move: dump that fresh cash into the rival company that got hammered by the hit. It’ll look ugly, like you’ve just thrown money into a hole. That’s normal. Give it a few in-game days and keep checking. When it crawls back toward its usual level, sell again. This is where it starts to feel unfair, because you’re getting paid twice for one mission.
4) Save smart, not obsessive
Make a clean save slot right before each assassination. Not because you’re “cheesing,” but because timing mistakes happen. You’ll sleep too long, you’ll sell too early, you’ll miss the peak while you’re swapping characters. Reloading is faster than trying to “fix” a bad run. Do that a handful of times, stack the heist money behind it, and you’ll be brushing up against the cash cap with less stress than people think, especially if you keep your timing notes alongside GTA 5 Money buy in RSVSR planning so you’re not guessing every step.
