SoS: FoMT Ultimate Money Making Guide (Early Game + Late Game)

by Kal S.

If you want to maximize profits as soon as possible in Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town, the best ways to make money would generally be:

Mining for rare gems in the Lake Mine
Growing Pineapples year-round with the Pineapple exploit
Winning Horse Derby Medals and exchanging them for Dresses or Brooches to sell

This guide will share many of the best ways to earn money fast in SoS:FoMT, even beyond the three methods listed above.

Both vanilla methods and hacks/exploits will be covered here, so you can choose any method you’d like depending on your personal play style & based on how far you are into your save file.

Money Methods in the Early Game

#1: Choose “Simple Mode”

Interface of the game’s mode selection screen.

At the very start of the game when you’re setting up your save, you’re given the option to choose between Simple/Easy and Normal Mode.

Choosing Simple Mode will let you start with 2,500 G and 18 free Turnip crops.

And for the rest of the game, all of the items you ship will sell for 20% more profit than they would in Normal Mode.

#2: Animal Byproducts

The farmer holds up a bottle of Mayonnaise.

Farm animals are a large investment upfront, but they definitely pay for themselves in a short period of time.

Both Coop and Barn animals will give you products that you can process into other items such as Mayonnaise, Yarn, or Cheese.

Chickens are the best initial investment because you can breed more for basically free. Once your chicken lays its first egg, you can place it into the Coop’s incubator to hatch a new one at no additional cost.

#3: Fishing

The farmer catches a Large Fish in the river.

When you’re out of money or waiting for your crops to grow, fishing is a great way to spend your time productively.

Tip: Upgrade the fishing rod to catch bigger and better fish, resulting in more profit.

Normal Fish Selling Price
Type	Size	Price
Small Fish	<24 cm	50 G
Medium Fish	25-49 cm	120 G
Large Fish	>50 cm	200 G

#4: Foraging

The farmer finds a Matsutake in the Church Forest.

Foraging is the best way to earn money without spending stamina, investing money, or completing a series of complicated events.

In every season, you can find plenty of items on the ground that you can just pick up and throw in the shipping bin for extra cash.

Most Profitable Forage Items
Item	Season	Sell Price
Bamboo Shoot	Spring	50 G
Yellow Grass	Spring	40 G
Red Grass	Summer	35 G
Purple Grass	Summer	40 G
Matsutake	Autumn	500 G
Chestnut		50 G
Mushroom
Poison Mushroom
Orange	Winter	30 G
White Grass	Winter	150 G

#5: Horse Derby Medals Shop

The farmer stands in front of Mayor Thomas’ Medal shop.

On every 18th day of Spring and Autumn, the Derby is held in Mineral Town which features the horse race and an exclusive shop where you can exchange medals for prizes.

Medals are won by cashing in for 50 G per medal and using them to bet on the races. In between each race, you can visit Mayor Thomas’ medal shop and exchange your winnings.

The most profitable prize is the Dress which costs 250 Medals. After the event, you can sell the Dress to Huang for between 11,800-12,700 G.

However, this dress is only available once you’ve claimed the Power Berry (900 Medals) and Truth Jewel (1,000 Medals) from the shop at the Derby.

Tip: If you haven’t unlocked the Dress yet, you can alternatively hoard Brooches for 18 Medals each and sell them to Huang for 1,780-1,880 G apiece.

Money Methods in the Late Game

#1: Befriend the Nature Sprites

The farmer employs the Nature Sprites on the farm.

Befriending the Nature Sprites will not directly give you any money – but it will free up time for you to work on other things aside from tending to the farm.

The best universally loved gift for the Sprites is Honey. But you can also give them Wild Grass that’s the same color as their clothes.

Once you achieve a high enough friendship level with them (at least 4 friendship notes), you can ask them to help out on the farm. They will water plants, harvest crops, and take care of your animals for you.

The more you interact with the Nature Sprites (play games, offer gifts) and improve your relationship, the better they’ll become at performing their designated tasks.

#2: Mining in the Lake Mine

The farmer finds Alexandrite in the Lake Mine.

The Lake Mine holds many treasures, including rare gems that can sell for up to 10,000 G each.

The absolute best gems for profit are Alexandrite and Pink Diamonds, although many other gems also sell for a hefty price.

Deep diving into this mine is one of the best Winter activities for easy money.

Tip: To speed up your search for the more valuable jewels, obtain the Mine Elevator first by offering 100 gifts to the Harvest Goddess.

Jewel	Levels Found (Lake Mine)	Selling Price
Alexandrite	50, 100, 150, 200, 210, 220, 230, 240, 250-255	10,000 G
Pink Diamonds	30, 70, 90, 110, 130, 170, 190, 210, 220, 230, 240, 250-255	10,000 G
Diamonds	All levels that end in 0, Levels 201-255	100 G
Emeralds	All levels that end in 5, 201-255	80 G
Rubies	All levels except Levels 50, 100, 150, and 200	75 G
Sapphires		75 G
Garnet		75 G

#3: Van’s Favorite

The farmer receives a Van’s Favorite in the mail.

After completing a specific set of in-game actions, there’s a chance that you’ll receive a letter in the mail containing Van’s Favorite.

This item is extremely profitable and can be sold to Huang for up to 57,000 G.

It’s definitely possible to receive the letter as you play the game normally, but you can exploit this feature by simply shopping at the General Store.

To trigger the Van’s Favorite letter, enter the General Store and buy 10 items from Jeff. This can be any item, but you have to make one purchase at a time. After each purchase, close the shop menu and open it again to make the next purchase until you’ve reached 10.

If you did the exploit correctly, you should receive the letter the very next day. You can do this an unlimited amount of times and sell them to Huang until you have the money you need.

#4: Pineapple Money Method

The farmer stands in the middle of a field of crops.

The Pineapple Method is one of the most popular ways to exploit the game and earn a ridiculous amount of money each season.

This method works by bringing over your crops to the next season without withering or dying in the process.

Here’s how it works:

Go inside your house on the last day of the season when you have Pineapples growing. Make sure to bring your fatigue and stamina levels down to 0, and then you’ll need to exit the house at 5:50 AM.

When the in-game clock hits 6:00 AM, your farmer should ideally faint and wake up in the Clinic.

Upon recovery in Mineral Clinic, you’ll be returned to your farm on the second day of the season with all your crops intact.

This exploit works in any season, including Winter.

The farmer stands in the middle of a Pineapple field in Winter.

This fatigue hack can be done using any crop in SoS:FoMT.

But Pineapples are the most profitable crop in the game, as each Pineapple will sell for at least 500 G. So these are definitely the best crops to use for this exploit.

Since Pineapples normally take 20 days to mature and 5 days to regrow, you can only harvest them once or twice in a season. Using this exploit will allow you to indefinitely harvest your Pineapple crops throughout the whole year.