Spend a Little Now, Make a Lot Later

     After saving up countless Neopoints to reach some goals like completing a stamp album page and customizing all of my pets to the best they can be (subjectively, I’m sure some would suggest better outfits!) I put my money in the only spot left: The National Neopian. When you just have a big pile of cash and no immediate goal, the best place is a safe place, locked into the bank, with the advantage of that sweet daily interest. Saving 10 million NP will grant you access to the highest interest level, a massive 12.5% per year… compounded daily! You may have learned in NeoSchool that that actually means an effective annual rate of 13.3%…. It’s free NP. So, it’s pretty clear that you should put all your cash in the bank if you aren’t sure what to do with it, right?

      Wrong!

      What? Yes, there are many areas of Neopia that are costly… or at least may seem like that when every day, you’re looking at that rare stamp or expensive paintbrush. But when your goal is achieved and you have a bit more cash flow, there are quite a few spots you can invest your Neopoints now to gain them back plus more profit in the near future. Here are a few…

           1. Upgrade your shop size

      “There’s no point to upgrading my shop more than a few times,” you say. “After all, I’m not a mall owner - I just put things I get from random events and dailies in there, and they’re always at the lowest price I can find on the Shop Wizard.”

      To that, I say: It’s still worth it! Even if you don’t sell a ton through your shop, having a larger size will allow you to put items in your shop that don’t sell quickly. Many items are not purchased right away, even if you’re the cheapest seller out there. Take r90-99s, which are requested in quests from Illusen and Jhudora. Questers need these items quickly, and go straight to the shop wizard - but the chance of any one item being requested is miniscule. The more r90s you’re able to leave in your shop, the higher the chance a quest will ask for it, and you’ll be able to still sell your faster-moving stock with a larger shop size.

      How big? Well, I have a shop that can hold 200 items, but I would say starting with 50 to 100 is probably sufficient. Try it out for a bit and see if it makes it easier to keep longer term sales going! At only a few thousand NP per level, the upgrade will pay for itself if even one or two pricey items get sold as a result.

      2. Stocks!

      “I don’t like putting my cash into the Neodaq,” you say. “I know you can make money over the long term, but you know, sometimes I need it right now!”

      Well, it may be true that your stocks will not always be as high as you bought them. But if you buy stocks at 15, the minimum price without the Charity Corner stock boon, you’re pretty close to the minimum value of 6 - there’s only so far they can go. And most of the time, other stocks are leaning more positively. The total value of your portfolio will usually be at least the same as what you paid for it, so there’s actually less risk than you think in keeping a large balance. You can sell the entire thing off for an overall fee of 20 NP, if you do it in one transaction!

      3. Retired Items You Like

      “Why would I buy something I might just like, and not love?” you ask me. “I should be saving for the things I really want.”

      If you’ve had your eye on a gallery item that somewhat interests you, and they aren’t making ‘em any more, grab one while you still can! As long as it’s not your entire budget, having a variety of rare items makes it pretty likely that in the future, you’ll have what another collector wants. And if the items are unique or retired, like plot prizes, it’s unusual for the price to go down - again, breaking even is possible, but you probably won’t do worse than that. And by picking items you like, you won’t be unhappy holding onto them for a while. I like to put nice event coins in my gallery, and if I ever need cash again, I can always auction them back off.

      4. Train your pet (a bit more)

      “But I do fine fighting the Chia Clown and the Defender Robot,” you grumble. “I sell the Neocola tokens for a bit, and I get NP too!”

      If you’re still fighting the chia clown, it’s time to train! The better prizes, like codestones and dubloons, drop from enemies that are harder to defeat consistently without Lens Flare, an ability that prevents your opponent from attacking for a turn. By getting your pet up to level 50 for Lens Flare and getting enough strength coupled with two strong weapons, you’ll be able to defeat the Koi Warrior in one turn - without taking damage. This requires an investment of a few codestones a day for a few months, depending on how far along your training is, but once you get tan and red codestones daily, you’ll make back the cash in no time. This can be hard to remember to do every day, but it’s worth getting to the point where the battledome is a piece of cake!

      5. Food Club

      “That place makes no sense,” you’re saying, getting ready to close this article immediately. “Food Club is where people go to lose money unless they’re lucky.”

      That’s just not true, my friend! There are plenty of guides out there on how to bet, and if that’s too much work for you, just head over to the boards and use someone else’s bets! There are many users who have daily bets posted and you can easily find one that works for you. The key to this is not giving up after one bad day. Over a long period of time, you will make back 1.5 to 2 times what you put into Food Club bets, so if you have NP just sitting in the bank, withdraw some and try FC out!

      Hopefully now you see that there are better uses for your hard-earned Neopoints than having them just sit in the bank for interest. While that’s not a terrible choice, there are plenty of better options out there for those who aren’t saving everything they can and who are willing to invest a little bit for relatively safe returns in many different areas of Neopia! Whatever you choose to do, best of luck and don’t forget to treat yourself to smaller rewards along the way. If you play it smart with your NP you’ll have plenty more than you expected!