The #1 Easiest Way to Make Money in GTA 5 Story Mode

If you‘re looking to get rich quick and easy in GTA 5‘s epic single-player campaign, rob armored security trucks. Appearing randomly around Los Santos as you explore, these formidable trucks typically contain between $2k-$10k in cash just waiting to get seized.

By parking in front of them with your vehicle and quickly dispatching the drivers and guards, you‘ll be able to blow open the rear doors and score an easy payday over and over again with minimal effort or risk. Their loot also conveniently respawns after a while for repeated hits.

Now let‘s dive deeper into foolproof ways for scoring major cash…

Methodically Plan Out Armored Truck Heists

When an armored truck appears on your minimap, here are some pro tips to efficiently execute the heist:

• Stalk from behind: First, stealthily follow it through the streets until you‘re out of traffic. This allows you to keep tabs on it without alerting the guards prematurely.
• Immobilize the vehicle: Drive ahead of it, then stop abruptly or veer perpendicular to block its path. Also ram it or shoot out the tires to halt all movement.
• Take out the guards quickly: Use a silenced weapon for a covert attack or go in guns blazing. Aim for the visible drivers first.
• Blow the doors: Back away to safety then launch explosives at the rear doors while taking cover beside buildings or vehicles.

If done right, these hit-and-run scores will earn you upwards of $100k per game hour with barely any effort – making armored trucks the definitive easiest money source in story mode.

Exploit Stock Market Assassinations

Once Lester offers his series of assassination missions in the main story, investing wisely beforehand allows you to easily net over a billion dollars in profits per character!

• Before launching each hit, heavily invest all or most of your cash in the rival company of the target‘s according to Lester‘s instructions. For example, invest everything into Debonaire before eliminating Redwood Cigarettes‘ CEO.
• After successfully completing the assassination, wait for several in-game days for your target company‘s shares to plummet and the rival to skyrocket enormously thanks to the ensuing stock reshuffle.
• Finally, offload your shares in the rival company to net ridiculous profits. For the Redwood/Debonaire play, I earned $300 million off my couple hundred thousand dollar initial investment!

Rinse and repeat to become a billionaire with all three characters after the half dozen missions. This exploit takes some planning and patience but leads to almost unparalleled money for barely any actual effort.

Master Playing the Stock Market Outside Missions

Aside from the assassination synergy, you can still make boatloads by investing smartly in GTA 5‘s dynamic stock exchange. Observe trends among the exchange‘s 59 companies and buy low, sell high to quickly compound profits.

• Regularly monitor price fluctuations by bringing up stocks on your in-game phone. Prices change constantly based on stories, events, and missions.
• Invest heavily after certain story events tank prices and wait for recovery. For example, LifeInvader shares take a major hit after your assassination mission but eventually bounce back higher over time.
• Certain side activities like destroying competing businesses can reward you with a sly insider trading tip via text on a competitor‘s impending stock boost – so invest pronto!
• Purchase lots of one cheap stock then drive it up yourself by completing activities for or against target companies.

If you play your cards right, GTA 5‘s stock market mechanics present some fantastic low effort money farming opportunities.

Uncover Respawnable Hidden Packages

Did you know GTA 5‘s oceans and waterways contain 12 scuba gear-clad corpses each clutching a briefcase filled with $25k in cold hard cash? Even better, the $300k total sum respawns after you‘ve collected it all – providing a limitless source of easy loot.

• 11 out of 12 cases are submerged off the coasts and accessible via scuba diving, submarine, or blasting them to the surface via explosion then collecting floating.
• The final case is actually found half-buried on land – in a ditch beside the highway in the Grand Senora Desert area.
• Once nabbing all 12 across the map, the loot cycle resets soon after allowing repeat collection ad infinitum.
• For max efficiency, use a submarine and plot an optimized circular route hitting all underwater cases without reaching land to force them to respawn quicker after a full circuit.

Utilizing GTA 5‘s hidden respawning money cases offers infinite easy money only limited by your motivation to keep plucking funds from the depths!

Identify And Sell The Hottest Wheels

Carjacking any reasonably nice vehicle off the streets then selling it to Los Santos Customs can earn you quick thousands with barely any effort.

• While you can‘t sell personal vehicles stored in garages, any stolen transport is fair game to flip for cash.
• High-end luxury vehicles and sportier coupes fetch far bigger bucks – up to $9.5k for mint condition supercars!
• Even mundane vehicles still typically sell for low thousands, so snatching any ignored car can earn easy money.
• Check sale prices by accessing the sell menu at LSC before snatching a car to identify the hottest prospects.
• Try targeting the street parked vehicle models flagged on your map or cruising past as their sale prices will be extra favorable.

With so many nicely appointed vehicles left unlocked or running around Los Santos, selling stolen cars offers steady money for barely any work.

Exploit Replayable Heists

GTA 5‘s exceptional chain of six core heist missions represent utterly gripping gameplay – but also some supremely easy money!

• Replay each elaborate heist after initially completing them to keep netting their huge six-figure payouts with minimal effort.
• The final big score mission alone pays $20-40 million split between the three characters!
• Streamline re-running heists by keeping the same plans and crew to quickly blaze through just the action.
• Experiment with maximizing the most valuable approach and optimal crew per heist to boost your income.
• Heists provide fun challenge yet such epic baseline rewards that they qualify as a premiere way to lazily farm unlimited cash after already doing the legwork.

Supplement With Quick Odd Jobs

Along your money-making travels in San Andreas, be sure to also keep an eye out for minor activities that offer fast incremental cash:

• Rob unlocked convenience stores by aiming a gun at the clerk then looting the registers for a few hundred bucks before losing the heat.
• Mug pedestrians at ATMs to snatch whatever cash they‘ve withdrawn up to about $1000.
• Quickly stop and snatch dropped money bags after threatening panicked folks.
• Help tow truck drivers repossess vehicles then damage or steal the cars yourselves to both earn the repo fee AND sell the car afterward!

While small fries compared to big scores, supplementing your income with these tiny opportunistic jobs adds up over time to your misbegotten gains!

In Conclusion…

If quick and easy money with minimal effort is the name of the game, focus on ambushing armored security trucks, manipulating assassinations, understanding stocks, farming respawning cases, selling stolen vehicles, re-running epic heists, and opportunistically mugging.

Master these methods in Grand Theft Auto V‘s sprawling single-player campaign to get rich faster than a Wall Street investment banker! Just don‘t forget to enjoy all the insane things to splurge on after rocketing your bank accounts to utterly obscene levels. Because the easiest way to money might be making it…but the best way is spending that mountain of moolah on living your absolute wildest criminal dreams across Los Santos and Blaine County!