Animal Crossing: New Leaf Money Guide A FAQ by turtle4apple Date Created: 9/01/14 Version: 1.0 ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| || || || Table of Contents || || || ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| 1. Introduction 2. Ways to make money 3. Rocks and Trees 4. Re-Tail 5. Insects, Fish, and Seafood 6. The Stalk Market 7. Version History 8. Contact Information 9. Legal Information ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| || || || 1. Introduction || || || ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| In order to do many things in the game, including saving money, expanding your house, building PWPs, buying from the Nooklings etc, you just need one thing - money. Making money has always been a core feature in Animal Crossing, and New Leaf is no different to the other AC games when it comes to this feature. ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| || || || 2. Ways to make money || || || ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| In Animal Crossing, there are several ways to make money. Some methods of making money are quicker than others, but it depends on which one you use. Here is an overview of money-making methods: 1. Shaking trees - one way of making money is by shaking the trees that do not contain fruit. Please see the Rocks and Trees section of this guide to see close-up detail on this. 2. Money rocks - another way of making big Bells is by hitting rocks with a shovel or an axe. You can only get a maximum of 8 bags/coins of Bells per rock, and only one rock per day can make the money. The quicker you are (and the more empty nearby spots there are), the more money you can get from a money rock. Please see the Rocks and Trees section of this guide to see close-up detail on this. 3. Money trees - yet, another way of making money is by growing money trees yourself. If you have a golden shovel, you can bury some Bells with the golden shovel, and it will turn into a money tree. You may have hear the saying "money doesn't grow on trees". In Animal Crossing, the saying is false. 4. Selling - the most well-known way to make money is by selling items you don't want to someone else, especially the Re-Tail. Other than mannequins, the Re-Tail can accept anything, but some items have a disposal fee. The Nooklings can accept items too, but they are not the best ones to sell items to. They can only accept certain items (orderable furniture, clothes, stationary, fossils, fish, insects, seafood, fruit, flowers, and shells). Not to mention, their buying prices are lower. You only get 1/4 of the sale value of each item you sell at the Re-Tail, but only 1/5 of the sale value if sold at the Nooklings. Some animals can buy some items off of you. Sometimes, they are willingly to pay more than the Re-Tail selling value, but other times, they are willingly to pay less. Leila is the worst one to sell items to. You only get 1/20 as much as you get from the Re-Tail if you sell to her. Please see the Re-Tail section and the Insects, Fish, and Seafood section of this guide to see close-up detail on this. 5. Turnip Trade - the quickest legal way of making money in ACNL without using travel is by selling turnips at the Re-Tail. This has been a feature in previous games, and it hasn't been dropped out as it was carried on to the new game. 6. Interest - about once a month, the bank will pay you interest when you save money. For your information, they only pay you .5% interest (i.e. 200 Bells per month if you save 100,000 Bells). You also have a maximum amount that can be made by interest (99,999 Bells), so if you have more than 20 million Bells, you can make no more money than 99,999 Bells at a time. Now that's all the basic ways you can make money from. Here is a list of what you can spend your money on in ACNL: * Debts - pay off your debts to Tom Nook so he will expand your house. * House customization * Public Works Projects * Ordinance change * Island trips * Fortune reading * Town Pass Card photo * Hairstyles, makeovers, and color contacts * Campsite games * Other villagers items * Turnips * Buying from stores * Ordering from catalog ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| || || || 3. Rocks and Trees || || || ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| The slowest way of making money in Animal Crossing: New Leaf is to make money solely off of trees and rocks. It's also the least riskiest way of making money in-game. While you have to spend money to perform some money-making methods, this is where you don't have to spend. However, you do have to spend 500 Bells to get a shovel, but that's just for once (unless if you want to get another shovel). ----------------------------------------| Shaking Trees | ----------------------------------------| Like what I said earlier, you can shake fruitless trees to get Bells. If you have a lot of fruitless trees in your town, you can make more money that way. However, not all fruitless trees will give you money. Everyday, some trees have other things in them. - You have five chances to catch a bee per day. Therefore, five fruitless trees have bees in them per day (not just per character, but per town). - You can shake these trees to get furniture off of them, but you can only get 2 pieces of furniture per day by shaking trees. - During Bunny Day, fruitless trees may contain tree eggs. You can collect them to get pieces of furniture for the Egg Series, as well as the Egg Basket if you have all 6 eggs. All the other fruitless trees (either oak trees or pine trees) will give you a chance to make money. On a typical day, you can only get 100 Bells per tree. If you don't get any money from the trees (or the other things mentioned above), then you don't get anything at all. In addition, you can only get money once per day per tree. If you don't get any money from the tree, then the tree doesn't give you money at all. Other items that come from the fruitless trees are worth money too. You can sell furniture to the Re-Tail. Bees have the same story too. However, you have to be quick when catching bees. If a beehive falls, you have a certain amount of time to get out your net and catch them. A bee is worth 2,500 Bells. Even if you fail to catch them, you can sell their beehives for 500 Bells per hive. But if you fail, you get stung. You can get some medicine at the Nooklings to get rid of the sting, but it's best if you wait until all five trees with bees are shuck. If a hive falls, and you don't have your net with you, hit START or SELECT, and choose "Save and Continue". If you do it before you get stung, you will never get stung, but you won't get to catch the bees. If you want to prevent beehives from falling out of trees, you may open your town gates. Bees can't spawn with your gates open, so opening your town gates will increase safety of shaking fruitless trees. If the trees have fruits on them, then you cannot get money off of them, but you can get something you can sell to the Re-Tail off of them. ----------------------------------------| Fruit Trees | ----------------------------------------| The other trees in your town are the fruit trees. To make money off of fruit trees, you just simply gather the fruits and sell them to the Re-Tail. You can make more money per tree that way, and you won't get any bees, furniture, or 100 Bell coins. To grow a fruit tree, you need to get a piece of fruit, and bury it in the ground. A sapling will plant. Here are a few ASCII diagrams to tell you how to plant a tree without letting the saplings die: O = sapling x = empty Space T = tree R = rock P = house, building, or project Here are some acceptable ASCII diagrams of tree growing: TxxxxxT OxxOxxO OxOxOxO TxxTxxT TxxxxxT xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxPPPxx xxxxxxx xPPPPPx OxOxOxO PxxRxOx xxPPPxx xxxOxxx xPPPPPx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxPPPxx xxxxxxx xPPPPPx OxOxOxO Txxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xPPPPPx xxxxxxx xxRxxOx xxxxxxx TxxxxxT xxxxxxx OxOxOxO xxxxxxx OxxOxxO But these are not acceptable. If you do this, the saplings will die: TxTxTxT xxxOxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx OOOOOOO xxxxxxx xPPPPPx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx OOOOOOO TxTxTxT xPPPPPx xxxOxxx xxTOTxx OOOOOOO xxxOxxx xPPPPPx xxxRxxx xxOxOxx OOOOOOO TxTxTxT xxxxxOx xxxxxxx xxTOTxx OOOOOOO xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx OOOOOOO TxTxTxT xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx OOOOOOO Basically, you cannot grow saplings next to buildings, rocks, other trees, and boundaries of the landscape (cliffs and water bodies), but you can grow them near buried objects, bushes, and flowers. Also, you can't grow palm trees on the mainland or regular trees on the beaches. Plus, there are possible "dead spots" in your town, where trees can't grow in. Please keep in mind that it takes 4 days to fully grow a tree to the point where you can get stuff from them. You can shake the fruit trees to gather fruits to sell. Like always, you can only get three fruits per tree (two per palm tree), and it takes three days for fruit to regenerate. Unlike previous games, you can stack fruit upon each other. This will save more pocket space, which will allow you to sell more fruits at once. You can only have fruits per basket, and it has to be the same fruit. The perfect version of a fruit is not the same as the regular fruit itself. Therefore, perfect fruits can only be stacked upon perfect fruits, as regular fruits can be stacked upon regular fruits. Here are the selling prices of each fruit: Town fruit - 100 Bells Foreign fruit - 500 Bells Town fruit (perfect) - 600 Bells Foreign fruit (perfect) - 3,000 Bells Coconuts and Bananas - 250 Bells Other tropical fruits (from Island Tours) - 250 Bells Persimmons - 500 Bells The only fruits that can be your native fruit are apples, oranges, pears, peaches, and cherries. Other fruits cannot be your town fruit. ----------------------------------------| Perfect Fruits | ----------------------------------------| Another new feature in New Leaf is the perfect fruits. You can grow perfect fruit trees by burying perfect fruits. However, there are many restrictions of growing perfect fruits: 1. You can only grow perfect fruit trees of your native fruit. If you attempt to grow another perfect fruit in your town, it will come out as a regular tree. This can prevent cheating. 2. Each perfect fruit tree has a limited number of harvests. After 4 to 7 times you shake a perfect fruit tree, it will die. One of the three fruits on its last harvest will be a rotten one. You will have to pay a disposal fee if you give Reese a rotten fruit. 3. There are only such things at perfect apples, perfect oranges, perfect pears, perfect peaches, and perfect cherries. Other fruits cannot have perfect versions. If you have 9 perfect fruits stacked up in one spot with 16 stacks of the same kind, you could make a ton of money if sold in towns that don't have the fruit as their native fruit, especially on premium price day. One 9-fruit stack of your perfect fruit is worth 27,000 Bells in towns where the fruit isn't the native fruit. ----------------------------------------| Money Rocks | ----------------------------------------| Another classic way of making money is by hitting money rocks. Each town has 6 to 8 permanent rocks. Each day, one of them will have money coming out of them. To do this, you need a shovel or an axe. It is best to use a golden axe if you're using an axe. Any shovel will work as fine. Try hitting every permanent rock in your town to see if money comes out of them. The quicker you hit the rock, the more money you can get out the rock. Restrictions: 1. Only one rock can spew out money per day. 2. It's once per player, not once per town. 3. After the first hit, you have a limited time to keep hitting it. Once it's up, you can't make anymore money. 4. Along with the limited time, all surrounding spaces have to be empty. If one of them has a hole, a buried item, or some other item nearby, it will count as a used space. Even if you hit fast enough, the maximum amount of bags and coins you can get is the number of nearby spaces that are empty. 5. If you are too slow, you won't make much money per day. 6. If you time traveled backwards, no rock can emit money for the day. How to get 8 bags/coins of Bells easier: You need to create a buffer to keep your character from moving out of place. Cliffs, rivers, train tracks, and buildings are good barriers near the rocks, but the best barrier you can create is by digging holes nearby, but not adjacent to the rock vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. The ASCII diagrams will show you where to dig. x = empty space O = hole R = rock T = tree P = house, building, or project xxxxxxx xOxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxOOOxx OxxxxxT xTOOOTx xOxRxOx xOxxxOx xxRxxxx xxxxxxx xOxxxOx xOxRxOx xxxxxxT xxxRxxx xxPPPxx xOxxxOx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxPPPxx xxOOOxx TxxTxxT xxxxxxx xxPPPxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx If you hit the rock with the buffer behind you, then you won't be backed up too far after each hit. Hit rapidly to get more Bells. Here are the amount of Bells per hit: 1st hit - 100 Bells 2nd hit - 200 Bells 3rd hit - 300 Bells 4th hit - 500 Bells 5th hit - 1,000 Bells 6th hit - 2,000 Bells 7th hit - 4,000 Bells 8th hit - 8,000 Bells If you were at your maximum potential, you could get 16,100 Bells out of the rock for the day. Assuming that you have no bad luck or good luck, you can make 5,876,500 Bells a year if you were doing this everyday. If you hit a money rock with a silver shovel, you have a good chance of getting ore instead of Bells. Each of them sells for 2,000 Bells (3,000 for silver, 4,000 for gold) at the Re-Tail. If you only get golden ore for the day, and ore is the premium price item, you can make 64,000 Bells. While one of the permanent rocks can emit money per day, one temporary rock forms everyday. If you have already broke the temporary rock in the previous day, a new one will appear. If not, it won't appear. The temporary rock will give you one piece of ore. ----------------------------------------| Money Trees | ----------------------------------------| An old saying says that money doesn't grow on trees. This is true, but in Animal Crossing, it's not true. Just like in Wild World and City Folk, you can bury money with a golden shovel. While earning the golden shovel is harder in New Leaf (mainly because of Gracie's fashion checks), it still has the same purpose. If you bury a certain amount of money, you get triple the value you bury after shaking the tree. However, you can make no more than 90,000 Bells per tree, and they only bloom once. After the first shake, no more Bells can be grown. Therefore, you have to cut down the tree to get more money trees. Here is a table of probability of making money through money trees: Bells planted Chance Possible earnings 1,000 Bells 1% 3,000 Bells 5,000 Bells 5% 15,000 Bells 10,000 Bells 10% 30,000 Bells 20,000 Bells 20% 60,000 Bells 30,000 Bells 30% 90,000 Bells 40,000 Bells 40% 90,000 Bells 50,000 Bells 50% 90,000 Bells 60,000 Bells 60% 90,000 Bells 70,000 Bells 70% 90,000 Bells 80,000 Bells 80% 90,000 Bells 90,000 Bells 90% 90,000 Bells 100,000 Bells 100% 90,000 Bells To get the best value, you should bury 30,000 Bells with a golden shovel. Even if you only have a 30% chance, it's worth gambling for it. This is the highest percentage where you can make three times as much as you bury. ----------------------------------------| Luck | ----------------------------------------| A twist in money making by trees and rocks is the luck system. Every day, you could either get good luck if you wear the lucky item, or you could get bad luck if you don't wear the lucky item. The lucky item changes every day, and so does the area of luck. If your luck is focused on wealth, then you will face differences when hitting money rocks or shaking fruitless trees. To unlock the good luck (or neutralize the bad luck), you have to wear the lucky item. Here is what good luck can do: * Each tree you can get money from will have 200 Bells instead of 100. * Money rocks will have a maximum of 32,000 Bells emitted instead of 16,100. And here is what bad luck can do: * Fewer trees will give you money. * Money rocks will have a maximum of 8,200 Bells emitted instead of 16,100. Another way to increase your luck is by improving your Feng Shui. To increase luck in wealth, you have to put yellow items in the western parts of your room. ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| || || || 4. The Re-Tail || || || ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| Behold! The most prominent way of making money in ACNL. The mighty Re-Tail! The Re-Tail is where you can sell items to make money. Other than mannequins and stuff that are currently in use like bingo cards, the Re-Tail can accept anything, but you will be warned about golden tools and other prizes like the ABD. ----------------------------------------| Selling | ----------------------------------------| When there's items you don't want to keep anymore, or if there are items that you want to make money off of, you may sell items to the Re-Tail. You can tap multiple items to sell more items at once. Here is a list of items and how they sell: 1. Items provided in stores - for items such as furniture, carpets, wallpapers, tops, bottoms, dresses headwear, accessories, footwear, and umbrellas, they have a selling price at the stores. You can buy them for one price, but when you sell them to the Re-Tail, you only get 1/4 the Bells. If you got the items on half price day, and the items are on premium price day, you get the full refund, but this is rare. For example, an air conditioner sells for 2,500 Bells if bought at the Nooklings's store. If you sell it to Reese, you will only get 625 Bells. But you shouldn't sell only duplicated crowns. It is a good way to make money, but it takes the fun out of ACNL. Please do not dupe crowns and sell them to the Re-Tail. 2. Fruit - on the trees that have fruits on them, you can shake them to get the fruits. A fruit is usually worth 500 Bells, but if it were a native fruit, it is worth 100 Bells. Tropical fruits are worth 250 Bells, and perfect fruits are worth 6 times as much as a regular fruit. 3. Seashells - they aren't a good way to make money off of in general, but they're one thing that you can make money off of. Everyday, shells appear on the beach. You can pick them up and sell them to the Re-Tail. Here are the shells and their selling prices: Conch Shell - 350 Bells Coral - 250 Bells Cowrie Shell - 30 Bells Giant-Clam Shell - 450 Bells Oyster Shell - 450 Bells Pearl-Oyster Shell - 1,200 Bells Sand Dollar - 60 Bells Scallop Shell - 600 Bells Sea-Snail Shell - 90 Bells Venus Comb Shell - 150 Bells 4. Gyroids - everyday after a day of rain, three new cracks appear. They are otherwise known as gyroids. For every gyroid you sell, you get 828 Bells. If you have Bell Boom ordinance active, they sell for 993 Bells instead of 828 Bells. 5. Fossils - just like the temporary rocks, fossils will appear everyday if all fossils have been dug up. Four will appear daily, Unidentified fossils sell for only 100 Bells, but if they have been identified, they will sell no less than 1,000 Bells. Here is a list of fossils by their selling prices: <2,500 Bells: 2,500 Bells: 3,000 Bells: ---------------- ---------------- ---------------- Amber Ankylo Tail Ankylo Torso Ammonite Ichthyo Skull Igranadon Tail Archaeopteryx Mammoth Torso Mammoth Skull Coprolite Parasaur Tail Megacero Tail Dinosaur Egg Raptor Torso Pachy Tail Dinosaur Track Sabertooth Skull Parasaur Torso Fern Fossil Spino Tail Raptor Skull Peking Man Styraco Tail Spino Torso Shark Tooth Styraco Torso Trilobite Ichthyo Torso Sabertooth Torso 3,500 Bells: 4,000 Bells: >4,000 Bells: ---------------- ---------------- ---------------- Ankylo Skull Apato Tail Apato Skull Archelon Torso Archelon Skull Apato Torso Iguanadon Torso Diplo Hip Dimetrodon Skull Megacero Torso Iguanadon Skull Dimetrodon Torso Pachy Torso Pachy Skull Dimetrodon Tail Parasaur Skull Plesio Skull Diplo Skull Megacero Skull Ptera Skull Diplo Neck Styraco Skull Spino Skull Diplo Chest Stego Tail Diplo Tail Plesio Neck Plesio Torso Ptera Left Wing Ptera Right Wing Stego Skull Stego Torso T-Rex Skull T-Rex Torso T-Rex Tail Tricera Skull Tricera Torso Tricera Tail 6. Works of art - they won't make as much money if sold, but they are near 1,000 Bells per art. You can make 980 Bells per piece. But beware, some art pieces are considered illegitimate, as they will be counted as junk items. 7. Ore - like stated in the Rocks and Trees section of this guide, ore can be extracted by hitting temporary rocks or permanent rocks with a silver shovel. While they have their uses in refurbishing, they also have their uses in money making. Each ore (amethyst, emerald, ruby, and sapphire) is worth 2,000 Bells (2,400 on Bell Boom). The silver nuggets are worth 3,000 Bells, but the gold nuggets are worth 4,000 Bells. 8. Fossil Models and Music Boxes - while they are only achievable from the Re-Tail or a friend from another town, they can also help you make money. A fossil model is worth 25 times as much as the production cost (which varies per dinosaur and other prehistoric creatures). The music boxes are worth 800 Bells per box. 9. Flowers/plants - like most items, the saplings, bush starts, and flower bags are worth 1/4 the selling price. However, if you plant flowers, they will have a higher value. Each regular flower is worth 40 Bells, while most hybrid flowers are worth 80 Bells. The more valuable flowers are the Black Tulips, the Orange Tulips, Blue Pansies, the Black Cosmos, the Purple Roses, the Black Roses, the Blue Roses, the Gold Roses, and any carnation you can grow. 10. Other - a lot of the other items not mentioned above are not very worthy. Most of them are worth less than 1,000 Bells. In fact, there are even some items like pitfall seeds that aren't even worth 100 Bells. They will still make money, but try not to sell these items. 11. Insects, Fish, and Seafood - the quickest way to make money without using Wi-Fi or taking a gamble is by catching insects, fish, and creatures of the deep. Those have a lot of value, but it depends on what you catch. Please see the Insects, Fish, and Seafood section of this guide for close-up detail on this. 12. Turnips - every week (except for Sundays), you can sell turnips to Reese. This will teach you all about the stock market in real life, as this is a simulator version of it. Turnip prices vary every day. Please see the Stalk Market section of this guide for close-up detail on this. 13. Disposal - junk items are items that Reese will technically not accept. To get rid of them, you have to pay a disposal fee, which will make you lose Bells, not earn Bells. Here is a list of items that you have to pay to get rid of: Empty can - 80 Bells Boot - 80 Bells Old Tire - 80 Bells Counterfeit art - 100 Bells Used items - 120 Bells Used fireworks - 200 Bells Rotten fruit - 400 Bells Spoiled turnips - 400 Bells ----------------------------------------| Higher Prices | ----------------------------------------| You can make more money off of each item opposed to the usual price. One way is to change to Bell Boom ordinance. It may raise the costs by 20%, but you will make 1.2 times as much as normal for every item you sell. For instance, a Shark, which sells for 15,000 Bells, will be 18,000 Bells. Bell Boom can also change the premium price system. Instead of one item at premium price, two items can be at premium price per day. Speaking of premium price, there is another change in prices in ACNL. Every day, some random item will be on the Re-Tail's board. The items on the board are the items where Reese will be paying extra. The selling price will be at double rather than the original. List of items that can be bought at premium price: * Furniture * Carpet * Wallpaper * Tank * Tee * Shirt * Pants * Skirt * Shorts * Dress * Headgear * Hat * Accessory For fruits, insects, and fish, Reese will be more specific. Only one of them will be singled out when they are the premium price item. And turnips will never be at premium price. ----------------------------------------| Flea Market | ----------------------------------------| The Re-Tail is more than just a place where you can sell to make money. It is also a place where you can sell items to the animals. If there is an empty space to put up something, you can ask Reese if you want to put up the item. In order to sell well, two conditions have to be met: 1. The price of what you're selling doesn't exceed double the price you can get from Reese. 2. The price of what you're selling doesn't exceed 9,500 Bells. Not everything can be sold at the Flea Market. Some items, such as mannequins, fish, and insects cannot be sold at the Flea Market. ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| || || || 5. Insects, Fish, and Seafood || || || ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| The second best way to make money (and the best way to make money without taking a gamble) is by catching insects, fish, and seafood. In this section, you will see what's hot and what's not when you catch one of the three. ----------------------------------------| Insects | ----------------------------------------| What are the reasons to catching insects? You can fill the museum, complete your encyclopedia, earn a golden net, and to get a badge for catching a certain number of insects. But why do some insects end up getting caught more often than others? The reason is quite obvious. It's because of the selling price. To make good money off of insects, you have to catch and sell the more valuable insects. WORST CATCHES: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These insects are not good for making money. All of the ones on this list will have a selling price less than 1,000 Bells. Here are the ones you should not catch to earn money (unless if you want to want to take an even longer time to pay a debt or earn a golden badge for saving Bells). These 45 insects are quite common (or not), yet they are bad for making the big Bells. Common Butterfly Yellow Butterfly Tiger Butterfly Peacock Butterfly Monarch Butterfly Moth Honeybee Long Locust Migratory Locust Rice Grasshopper Mantis Brown Cicada Robust Cicada Giant Cicada Walker Cicada Evening Cicada Cicada Shell Red Dragonfly Darner Dragonfly Ant Pondskater Diving Beetle Stinkbug Snail Cricket Bell Cricket Grasshopper Mole Cricket Walking Leaf Walking Stick Bagworm Ladybug Violin Beetle Longhorn Beetle Dung Beetle Wharf Roach Firefly Fruit Beetle Flea Pill Bug Mosquito Fly House Centipede Centipede Spider ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BAD CATCHES: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Although they sell for over 1,000 Bells, they don't sell to well. These insects don't even exceed 3,000 Bells if you sell them. Here are the following insects that have a poor price, but not less than 1,000 Bells. Emperor Butterfly Raja B. Butterfly Oak Silk Moth Bee Orchid Mantis Lantern Fly Tiger Beetle Hermit Crab Jewel Beetle Miyama Stag Saw Stag Horned Dynastid ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AVERAGE CATCHES: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These are some insects that do a better job on making money thatn the majority of the ones you can catch. Unfortunately, they aren't the best ones. They're still good, but it will take long to get more money if you rely on just these. All of them are worth at least 3,000 Bells, but aren't even worth 6,000 Bells. Agrias Butterfly Birdwing Butterfly Banded Dragonfly ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GOOD CATCHES: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These insects are very good to catch. Even if they are rarer or harder to catch, they make good money. The best one of these isn't worth 10,000 Bells, but it is still good to catch them. Petaltail Dragonfly Scarab Beetle Cyclommatus Stag Horned Atlas Horned Elephant Goliath Beetle Tarantula Scorpion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BEST CATCHES: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These insects are the best ones you can catch. Not only the lowest price you can make off of just one is 10,000 Bells, but you just need to catch them on the trees, but you have been warned. These beetles are super sensitive to motion, so in order to prevent scaring them, you have to move very slowly while you practice your sneak move (hold down the A button with your net out). Giant Stag Rainbow Stag Golden Stag Horned Hercules ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------| Fish | ----------------------------------------| Catching insects can be easier and more predictable, but catching fish can make more money for you. You have to hit A when you hear the splash sound after a certain amount of bobs. Your best bet are the huge fish with fins, or the huge fish without fins. However, you will see a list of what's good and what's bad. WORST CATCHES: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These fish are the worst fish in the game when it comes to making money. Some of them are the more notorious examples of what fish to avoid. Some of them on this list aren't as bad, but most of these fish are worth less than 500 Bells, and all 31 of them are worth less than 1,000 Bells. Please release them unless if you are doing a museum collection and other personal stuff, but do not primarily sell them if you want to finish off a debt quicker. Bitterling Pale Chub Crucian Carp Dace Barbel Steed Carp Killifish Crawfish Tadpole Frog Freshwater Goby Loach Catfish Bluegill Yellow Perch Black Bass Pond Smelt Sweetfish Rainbow Trout Salmon Neon Tetra Clown Fish Zebra Turkeyfish Blowfish Puffer Fish Horse Mackerel Sea Bass Dab Olive Flounder Squid Ribbon Eel ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BAD CATCHES: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Although they sell for over 1,000 Bells, they are still not good enough. As long as they're less than 4,000 Bells, they won't be good moneymakers, but you can still sell these. Goldfish Popeyed Goldfish Soft-Shelled Turtle Eel Pike Cherry Salmon Char King Salmon Mitten Crab Guppy Nibble Fish Angelfish Piranha Sea Butterfly Sea Horse Surgeonfish Butterfly Fish Red Snapper Moray Eel Football Fish Ray ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AVERAGE CATCHES: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These are some of the better fish, but they aren't your best bet. None of these are worth more than 7,000 Bells, but all of them are worth 4,000 Bells or more. You can sell them as you wish, but they are better off for smaller projects or for shopping sprees. Koi Giant Snakehead Gar Saddled Bichir Barred Knifejaw Giant Trevally Ocean Sunfish ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GOOD CATCHES: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are the few fish that will help boost your money-making skills. They aren't the best fish to catch, but they are better than most fish. Some of them are even worth 10,000 Bells. Try catching as many of these as you can. They may be rare, but they are worth it. Arowana Arapaima Napoleonfish Tuna Blue Marlin Hammerhead Shark Oarfish ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BEST CATCHES: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not only these 6 fish are worth no less than 12,000 Bells, but the majority of these fish on this list are part of the 15,000 Bell group. Even if they aren't available all year, you can still catch at least half of them on the island at any time of the year. Stringfish Dorado Shark Saw Shark Whale Shark Coelacanth ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------| Seafood | ----------------------------------------| Catching fish and insects aren't the only way to make money, even when it comes to extracting natural resources. If you have a wet suit, you can catch creatures from the deep. There aren't very many creatures to catch in comparison to the fish and insects, and most of them are cheap, but some of them have a good value. There are three lists of seafood in this section, which are the cheaper ones, the middle ones, and the more expensive ones. Poor Catches So-so Catches Good Catches ---------------- ---------------- ---------------- Seaweed Pearl Oyster Snow Crab Sea Grapes Scallop Horsehair Crab Sea Urchin Mantis Shrimp Red King Crab Acorn Barnacle Tiger Prawn Spider Crab Oyster Spiny Lobster Giant Isopod Turban Shell Lobster Abalone Octopus Ear Shell Horseshoe Crab Clam Sea Anemone Sea Star Sea Cucumber Sea Slug Flatworm Sweet Shrimp Spotted Garden Eel Chambered Nautilus From these lists, all of the ones under the "poor catches" list are worth less than 1,000 Bells. The "so-so catches" worth at least 1,000 Bells, but none of them are even worth 4,000 Bells. The "good catches" are worth at least 4,000 Bells. The best one is the Spider Crab, which is worth 10,000 Bells. ----------------------------------------| Using the Island | ----------------------------------------| The Island is the best way of making money in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. If you already have unlocked access to your island, you can use that to make money. You could go there to get island exclusives or go on Island Tours, but it is the best way to make money too. There is only one limit. You can catch as many fish and insects you want, but you can only bring back 40 at a time. Also, do not sell anything to Leila. She won't pay very much. Here is a list of average, good, and best catches of both insects and fish you can get on the island: Agrias Butterfly Barred Knifejaw Giant Trevally Ocean Sunfish Scarab Beetle Cyclommatus Stag Horned Atlas Horned Elephant Goliath Beetle Napoleonfish Hammerhead Shark Blue Marlin Giant Stag Rainbow Stag Golden Stag Horned Hercules Shark Saw Shark Whale Shark Your best bet is to catch the Cyclommatus Stag, Horned Atlas, Horned Elephant, Golden Stag, Horned Hercules, Hammerhead Shark, Napoleonfish, Blue Marlin, Saw Shark, Whale Shark, and Sharks. If you catch 40 fish and insects, and if none of them are anything other than the aforementioned insects and fish, you could come back to town with a value of 320,000 Bells or more. On the Bell Boom ordinance, your minimum is 384,000 Bells. The maximum is 600,000 Bells (which is harder to do). The maximum on Bell Boom is 720,000 Bells. Tips for Beetle-farming: 1. Cut down every tree and dig up the flowers and shrubs on the island, but grow more palm trees. This will prevent insects like the fruit beetle from spawning. 2. The rare beetles don't show up until 5pm, but 8pm is when some of the cheaper bugs stop appearing. 3. Try aiming for the Cyclommatus Stag, Horned Atlas, Horned Elephant, Golden Stag, and Horned Hercules. They are worth either 8,000 Bells or 12,000 Bells (depending on what you catch). 4. When you see a beetle on one of the palm trees, use your sneak ability and move very slowly. Do not swing your net until it is at the right position. Release the A button when you're at the right position. You can catch the beetles that way. Please keep in mind that the two fruitless trees on the island are the only two fruitless trees you can ever have on the island. Once they are cut down, they will never come back. You cannot bring anything with you from town to the island, and saplings are one thing you can only get in town. ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| || || || 6. The Stalk Market || || || ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| The one way where you can make the most money off of is by using the turnip trade. Every Sunday (except for events like New Year's Day), Sow Joan will appear in your town from 6:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. You can buy turnips from her until noon. The turnip prices of Sow Joan's can go no higher than 110 Bells per turnip, but they can't go any lower than 90 Bells per turnip. The lower the turnip prices are, the more profit you can make. It costs more to buy more turnips, but you can make more money that way. Tips on the turnip trade: 1. Reese's turnip price changes twice a day. She cannot accept turnips on Sundays. Therefore, there are 12 turnip prices a week. 2. If Reese's price exceeds Sow Joan's, you make a profit. If her price is lower, then it's a loss. 3. Turnips can only last a week. After one week, they will rot. 4. Turnips will rot immediately if you time travel backwards, even by 1 minute. 5. The trick where they never spoil doesn't work anymore in this game. ----------------------------------------| Reese's turnip prices | ----------------------------------------| Like said earlier, Reese's turnip prices change twice a day. Each day has an AM price and a PM price. Most of the time, the prices drop, but there are patterns of the turnip price drop. The lowest she will buy turnips at is 17 Bells per turnip. The highest is 699 Bells per turnip. There are four patterns of Reese's turnip prices: 1. Constantly Decreasing - turnip prices drop after every change, so the highest price of the week is Monday morning's. 2. Large Spike price - turnip prices start off decreasing, but at some point, the prices will go up. Two prices after the interruption, there will be a price above 200 Bells per turnip. After that, the prices continue to drop. There is a chance of a "last call spike price", but it's best to sell the turnips on the first price that exceeds 200 Bells per turnip. 3. Small Spike price - just like the Large Spike price, turnips are constantly decreasing at first. However, the spike price doesn't occur until the third price after the interruption, not the second price. The spike price is somewhere between 150 Bells to 199 Bells per turnip. 4. Random - turnip prices jump up and down randomly between a range of 50 Bells to 149 Bells. There's no pattern in this pattern whatsoever. ----------------------------------------| Turnip Storage | ----------------------------------------| There are ways you can store your turnips if your pockets can't hold enough. It would be best to store your extra turnips if you have over 2,000 turnips. Here's where you can store your turnips: 1. Closet/lockers 2. Home (on the floor) 3. Somewhere in town No matter where you store them, they still last for one week before they spoil. ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| || || || 7. Version History || || || ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| 1.0: Finished Guide - 9/01/14 ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| || || || 8. Contact Information || || || ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| If there are any improvements you like me to make, or if there's any errors I made, you may contact me by using this e-mail. E-mail Address: mghaynes1993@hotmail.com ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| || || || 9. Legal Information || || || ||==============================================|| ||==============================================|| You may copy this guide, but for personal use ONLY! Do not copy this guide and post this on another site. It took me a long time to write this guide, and I worked hard on it. If you see this on another site, please report to me. This FAQ cannot be posted on any site other than: GameFAQs Neoseeker Copyright 2014 turtle4apple