My strategy was to try to maximize the money from the shrewd reward trait from completing the fabulously wealthy aspiration. To do that, I tried to put what I thought would be the highest earning skills early in the challenge. In order, my skills were photography, fishing, handiness, painting, mixology, and logic. My sim Alexa Diggory was my main skilling sim and her husband Cedric Diggory was the secret agent, and both had the traits loves the outdoors, loner, and genius.
To fill needs, they purchased the best bed and toilet, and also a medium-tier shower. They filled their social and fun through woohoo in a tent. They renewed their wedding vows every few days for the happy moodlet, and once a week they hired a caterer to make the meals for that week so that they wouldn't waste time cooking.
Week 1: Photography: This skill takes the most real life time (I got the achievement for 24 hours of play on Thursday of the first sim week) but it is also the biggest earner I have found. My strategy for this week was to take as many pictures as possible. While Cedric was at work and filling needs, Alexa was the photographer. When Alexa's needs got low, Cedric was the photographer. Alexa completed the fabulously wealthy aspiration on Tuesday at noon and Cedric finished it on Saturday at 5am. They both got the never weary trait after completion. This allowed them to each get 5 payments from the shrewd trait. In total, they took 39,268 pictures and sold them for $948,800.
Week 1 End Balance: $941,172.
Week 2: Fishing: This week was dedicated entirely to getting aspiration points, with Cedric also levelling his logic and charisma to level 6 for his career. I thought that having the reward traits would earn my sims more money than any of the other skills, as I couldnt find a 6th profitable skill. This way they could spend extra time on skills I know are very profitable, like handiness and painting. On the first day this week, both sims completed the soulmate aspiration and got the hardly hungry trait. They also worked on the athletic, curator, angling ace, and musical genius aspirations. I made fishing the skill of the week because my sims caught so many fish from the angling ace aspiration, but it wasn't much of an earner for them. By the end of week 2 both sims had never weary, hardly hungry, morning sim, night owl, savant, creative visionary, and marketable reward traits.
W2 Shrewd Payments: Alexa: $47,131; Cedric: $49,516
Week 3: Handiness: My strategy for this week was to make and sell camping mascot statues. Both sims reached the level 8 of handiness required to learn the statue on Monday by making horse statues, garden planters, mirrors, and wall hangings. Once they learned the mascot schematic they focused on making those for the rest of the week. They kept the statues in the yard while making them so that they could complete the mansion baron aspirations, which took about 4 days of mascot making. When they finished, both sims got the antiseptic and steel bladder rewards, and Alexa got the frugal trait because the bills were starting to get high from the skilling objects. They sold their creations for $749,032.
Week 3 Shrewd Payments: Alexa: $54,758; Cedric: $80,788
Week 3 End Balance: $1,857,517
Week 4: Painting: This week, my sims both worked on large abstract paintings as soon as that type unlocked. Cedric also reached level 8 of the villain career track, and decided he no longer needed to work on levelling his career. At level 8, you only need to work 3 days a week, so this was the ideal stopping place. He no longer needed to do the daily task,so he could devote all free time to earning money with skilling. Between them, Alexa and Cedric created 108 paintings and sold them for $233,842.
Week 4 Shrewd Payments: Alexa: $93,295; Cedric: $105,658
Week 4 End Balance: $2,281,140
Week 5: Mixology: The strategy this week was to make amydelight, which unlocks when the sims are focused. At level 10, this drink sells for $489 and only costs $100 to make, so it's a fairly good earner. Between them, my sims made 358 drinks and sold them for $171,822.
Week 5 Shrewd Payments: Alexa: $114,989; Cedric: $125,210
Week 5 End Balance: $2,654,231
Week 6: Logic: This week the strategy was to make microscope prints. I already had 6 fossils and 10 crystals from the curator aspiration, and I also planted 40 plants at the beginning of the week to get microscope slides to make the prints. I tried to make as many prints as possible with fossils and crystals, but filled in the rest of the time with plant prints. With this, my sims were able to make 403 prints and sell them for $107,795.
Week 6 Shrewd Payments: Alexa: $134,244; Cedric: $144,820
Week 6 End Balance: $3,054,514
I think that the key was to finish the fabulously wealthy aspiration early to get both the interest payments and to work on reward traits. Both sims finished with never weary, hardly hungry, morning sim, night owl, savant, creative visionary, marketable, steel bladder and antiseptic, and the total $ earned from the interest payments was $950,409 so I think it made a pretty big difference.
