GTA V Legacy — GTA Online Money Guide for New Solo Players

Grand Theft Auto V Legacy (PC) · Reflects the game after the Kortz Center Heist update (Title Update 1.73, July 2026) · Updated Sept 2026

New to GTA Online, or starting fresh on the Legacy PC build? The game throws dozens of properties at you and most of them are traps for a new player. This guide gives you a buying order that works when you play solo, the few money methods worth grinding, what to skip, and a quick look at whether you should be on Legacy or Enhanced at all.

About the numbers: GTA Online gets rebalanced often and Rockstar runs weekly bonus events. The prices below are standard base prices as of September 2026. Payouts change more often, so this guide only quotes the few it could confirm. Treat everything as "at time of writing".

The core idea: buy things that unlock missions, not things that look nice

Almost everything worth buying early does one of two things. It unlocks a repeatable, high-paying mission you can do alone, or it earns money while you do something else. Put money into the first kind until you have a steady income. Then add the second kind. Cars, apartments, yachts and clothes come after that.

Play money content in an invite-only or friends-only session where you can. Most businesses and heists work there, and nobody can blow up your sale van on the way to the drop-off.

Recommended buying order

Only buy the upgrades a property needs to make money. Skip the cosmetic options when you check out. Pick the cheapest location unless where it sits really matters to you. On a Nightclub, for example, location changes very little.

1. Acid Lab — your first business

The Acid Lab comes from the Los Santos Drug Wars content. You unlock it by finishing Dax's six First Dose missions. You can play them solo, and they pay decent money and RP for a new character. At the end you get the Brickade 6x6 truck. Then you pay a GTA$750,000 setup fee for the lab equipment and do the "Acid Lab Equipment" setup mission.

• Get the Equipment Upgrade next. It costs GTA$250,000 at the Freakshop, from Mutt. It unlocks after you finish 10 Fooligan Jobs. It speeds up production a lot, so do those jobs early.
• Why it's good for beginners: it's cheap, it's one self-contained business, and you sell it with one vehicle. Many other drug businesses need big crews or several sale vehicles once their stock fills up.
• Buy supplies when you're rich in cash and short on time. Do resupply missions when you're poor and have time.

2. Kosatka — Cayo Perico Heist

If you only remember one thing from this guide: save for the Kosatka. It's the submarine you buy from Warstock Cache & Carry for about GTA$2.2M, and it unlocks The Cayo Perico Heist. It was built to be fully solo-able. You can play every prep and the finale alone, and once you learn a route, a run is quick.

• Cooldown: after a solo finale you wait about 144 real minutes (three in-game days) before Pavel offers it again. Fill that time with Acid Lab sales and Agency work. That loop is how most solo players make their money.
• Primary target: it's random. The Panther Statue is by far the most valuable, but it only shows up during some Rockstar events. Don't count on it.
• Secondary loot matters. Gold is worth the most, but carrying it solo is slow and fills your bag quickly. Scope the island on your first run so you know where the loot is.
• The first run takes a long time because of the setup and scoping. Later runs are much faster, and that's where the money is.

Tip: You don't need the Kosatka's extra upgrades (missiles, sonar, the Sparrow helicopter, and so on) to run the heist well. Buy the sub, run the heist, and upgrade later only if a particular approach needs something.

3. Agency — solo contracts and the Dr. Dre finale

The Agency comes from The Contract update. Everything in it can be played solo. It gives you:

• Security Contracts: short, repeatable jobs that are good filler between heists.
• Payphone Hits: these unlock after three Security Contracts. They're short assassination jobs, and completing the bonus condition pays much more than a plain kill.
• The Dr. Dre VIP Contract: a series of story missions that ends with a finale worth roughly GTA$1M. You can replay it.
• A passive safe: it fills over time. The more contracts you've done, the more it pays.

The Agency also gives your character a place to spawn, a vehicle workshop, and an armory. That's useful when you're still living out of a cheap garage.

4. Nightclub + Bunker — money while you play

Once you have steady active income, add passive income:

• Bunker (from GTA$1,165,000): it makes weapons stock from supplies, and it unlocks weaponized vehicle upgrades and research. Buy the equipment and staff upgrades before you expect it to earn much.
• Nightclub (from GTA$1,080,000): it collects goods from the other businesses you own through technicians, and it has a popularity safe. It's only as good as the businesses feeding it. With just one or two businesses behind it, it makes very little. It gets better as you add more.

These pay back much more slowly than the Kosatka or Agency. That's why they come last in the starter order.

A simple solo money loop

1. Start Acid Lab production (restock supplies if needed).
2. Run the Cayo Perico finale.
3. During the ~144-minute cooldown: do Cayo preps for the next run, Agency Security Contracts or Payphone Hits, and sell the Acid Lab when it's full.
4. Pick up the Agency safe and the Nightclub safe whenever you pass by.
5. Repeat. Check the weekly bonuses first (see below).

Weekly bonuses are free money

Rockstar runs a weekly event every Thursday. It usually doubles or triples payouts for certain modes or businesses and puts some properties and vehicles on sale. Check the Rockstar Newswire before you choose what to grind that week. If a property you plan to buy is discounted, that's the week to buy it.

What not to waste money on (yet)

• Expensive cars before income. The most common new-player mistake. A supercar earns nothing. Buy a Kosatka first, and the car will pay for itself later.
• Apartments, extra garages and a yacht. They're lifestyle purchases. The Agency already gives you a good base.
• Mansions and the Art Studio. The newest heist, the Kortz Center Heist from July 2026, needs a Mansion (GTA$11,500,000) plus the Art Studio (GTA$4,700,000) to host. That's end-game money. You can still play it as a crew member in someone else's lobby without owning anything.
• Older MC drug businesses as a starter. Meth, Counterfeit Cash, Document Forgery and Weed make little on their own. Many of their full sales also need several vehicles, which is painful solo. Cocaine and the others are fine later as Nightclub feeders, but don't start with them.
• Cosmetic upgrades on business properties. Décor, murals and personal quarters don't raise income. Only the equipment, staff and security upgrades that make money are worth it early.
• Buying stock supplies you can't sell. Don't pay for supplies unless you'll be around to sell the stock. Stock sitting in a full business is just parked cash.

Tip: Shark Cards are real-money purchases. If you're tempted, the order above gets you further than any card. A Kosatka bought with grind money pays the same as one bought with a card.

Legacy vs Enhanced: which should you be on?

In March 2025 Rockstar released a free Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced upgrade on PC. The original PC version was renamed Grand Theft Auto V Legacy (Steam app 271590). Both are the same game and both are still supported. Here's how they differ:

Migrating your character

• You can move your Story Mode save and your GTA Online character from Legacy to Enhanced. You start it from the GTA Online landing page or the pause menu in Enhanced.
• It's a one-time transfer. It can't be undone, and it only works PC to PC, not to or from consoles.
• Your Legacy character isn't deleted. But after migrating, the two characters are separate, and progress doesn't sync between them.
• Some profiles can't be migrated, for example after a suspension or ban, or when the profile has illegitimate progress.

Rockstar's official details: Migrating your Online Profile from GTAV Legacy to GTAV Enhanced on PC.

Which should you pick? If your PC runs Enhanced, you get everything Legacy has plus the extras above. If you have a Legacy character you care about, migrate it once you've settled on Enhanced. Don't keep playing it on Legacy afterward, because progress made there won't carry over again. If your hardware can't run Enhanced, or your friends play Legacy, Legacy is fine for everything in this guide. Every business and heist above works on both.

What about GTA VI?

Nothing about GTA VI changes this advice. Rockstar hasn't announced an end date for GTA Online or the Legacy PC build, and Take-Two has said it plans to keep supporting GTA Online after GTA VI launches.

Quick checklist

• Play money content in an invite-only or friends-only session.
• Finish Dax's First Dose missions, then set up the Acid Lab (GTA$750k).
• Do 10 Fooligan Jobs, then buy the Acid Lab Equipment Upgrade (GTA$250k).
• Save for the Kosatka (~GTA$2.2M) and learn a solo Cayo Perico route.
• Buy an Agency (from GTA$2.01M) to fill the Cayo cooldown and play the Dr. Dre contract.
• Add a Bunker and Nightclub for passive income only once active income is steady.
• Check the Rockstar Newswire every Thursday for bonuses and discounts.
• No supercars, yachts or Mansions until your money loop is running.
• On PC: decide Legacy vs Enhanced before you invest heavily. Migration is one-way and happens once.