Not-so-Hostile Takeovers: Becoming a Business Partner in The Sims 3

Not-so-Hostile Takeovers: Becoming a Business Partner in The Sims 3
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The Sims 3 certainly has no shortage of ways for Sims to make money and work their way up the luxury ladder. Life as a working stiff offers a reliable stream of revenue, and hobbies such as painting and book writing are an excellent way for more creative Sims to earn a few bucks on the side. For players looking to give their Sims a solid long-term nest egg, though, business partnerships are an excellent way to boost income and are a sure means of supporting entire generations of Sims.

FIRST you Give the Money, THEN You Get the Money

Business partnerships are rather simple in their basic format, and the difficulty of a business partnership comes from acquiring the initial capital to start a partnership. When your Sims have acquired a sizable reserve of cash - $20,000 is the average amount for most partnerships – the option to become a partner in a business appears in the menu that appears when you click on a business. Your Sims can buy partnerships in many businesses and facilities in town, such as the Science Lab, Corner Store, Book Store, Warehouse, and Restaurant. Once your Sims have purchased a share of a business, adult Sims of that family can collect a share of the profits from the business once a week.

There Can Be Only One

While a business partnership can provide your Sim’s family with a steady weekly stipend, being a partner means they get only a fraction of the profits from a business they’re a partner in. Sims with a share in a business can buy out the other partners of a business once they’ve acquired additional capital, and do so in the same manner as when they bought the business partnership in the first place. Being sole proprietor of a business means they’re sole beneficiary, and also means they are the sole manager of a business, and can change the name of an owned business to one of their choosing.

Trickle-Down Economics

Business partnerships aren’t all golden parachutes and sipping drinks poolside. The initial investment in a single business can run from $5,000 to $40,000, but the returns from investment are a fifth of the invested value, and it’ll take Sims at least five weeks to recover their initial investment. The profits from each investment must also be collected manually, and a mogul who’s bought out every business in town can spend an entire day just collecting profits. Once a large net of partnerships and ownerships is in place, however, a Sim’s family will have to do little in the way of work, and the money from all their investments will cover almost any purchase, save for top-end vehicles like sports cars.

Money, Money Everywhere, Yet Not a Bit to Buy

…and you’ll be bringing in enough money to support your 80s throwback life style in no time.

Be aware that business partnerships aren’t for everybody, and the payoff may not be worth the large investment costs if your play style isn’t burning through large chunks of your Sim’s savings. Outside of high-end sports cars and art, very few items exceed the $5,000 mark, and your Sim’s combination of traits and lifetime rewards may cut down on additional expenditures, such as food and book purchases and bill payments. Furthermore, your Sim’s income may already be sufficient enough to outstrip all but the largest of business partnerships: a Sim with level ten painting skills and the Artistic and Perfectionist traits can regularly produce large-sized paintings worth $3,000 or more, and can paint up to two paintings a day depending on their needs decay rate. Certain opportunities can also produce tremendous amounts of money: film and play cameos in the Late Night expansion can pay as much as $10,000 a shot at max celebrity status, and the aforementioned Artistic Perfectionist painter can earn in excess of $100,000 with bulk painting commission orders.

References

All images are from The Sims 3.

All information is from the author’s own experience.