How to maximize Money Fronts profits in GTA Online

GTA Online's Money Fronts update may not seem as exciting as the other criminal activities available in Los Santos, but money laundering is actually now one of the best ways to add some extra digits to your bank account without much effort.

In addition to the passive income rewarded just for owning money laundering businesses, you can also accept missions from Raf and Mr. Faber to infuse your illicit operations with even more cash. Big cash deposits draw a lot of attention, though, so you'll have to balance everything out with above-board business endeavors.

Here's how to make the most of your new businesses in the Money Fronts update for a nice flow of passive profits.

Money laundering passive income

Once you've forked over $1,000,000 for the Hands On Car Wash, you can start laundering money immediately. The car wash generates passive income every in-game day on its own, and it'll bring in even more money if you own other criminal enterprises.

When you check the safe to collect your earnings, you can see a checklist of every potential GTA Online business that can contribute to your money laundering scheme. With all 23 boxes checked, you'll pull in $30,000 daily.

GTA Money Fronts: Expand your operations

Speaking of other businesses, you can use the laptop inside the Hands On Car Wash to purchase two new money laundering fronts. Smoke on the Water Prescription Cannabis and Higgins Helitours will unlock new missions to reduce Heat if you're getting tired of washing cars, and they'll boost the income of your weed farm and air freight cargo operations respectively.

These are pretty pricey investments, but you'll need them to max out the daily passive income you can collect from the car wash safe. If you're a veteran GTA Online player with money to burn, go ahead and buy them as soon as you can. If you're still missing other crucial businesses like the Bunker or Nightclub, then your cash is better spent elsewhere for now.

Money laundering missions

Passive income is nice, but Money Fronts also introduces new sets of missions with huge paydays for players who don't have the patience to wait for the cash to flow in by itself. Money laundering missions can be started from the laptop inside the Hands On Car Wash, or you can call Raf directly from your phone as well if you're looking for work.

These money laundering missions only take a few minutes to complete and reward you with $35,000 on average. It doesn't seem like a lot at first glance, but you can spam them back to back and rack up thousands in just a few hours since there's no cooldown. They'll increase the Heat level of your money laundering businesses, though, so you'll need to take a break every now and then for some menial busywork.

Money laundering missions become especially profitable when they have boosted rewards. During Money Fronts' launch week, for example, money laundering missions reward double the usual payout (4x for GTA+ members). Rockstar regularly cycles the featured missions and businesses in GTA Online, so keep checking to see if money laundering is in the spotlight whenever a weekly update drops.

Money laundering missions don't pay the full amount up front, so you'll have to wait a while and collect your payment from the bag next to your bed at the car wash once the cash is clean. You can see how much cash is ready by checking the Work Earnings section in the bottom-right corner of your screen when inside the car wash.

Mr. Faber Work missions

If you prefer to be paid in full, you can start Mr. Faber Work missions from the car wash laptop to access another set of missions. Mr. Faber Work doesn't pay as much as money laundering missions and they still raise Heat, so they're not ideal for grinding money.

Still, there are optional objectives you can complete during each mission that will boost your total payout by a few thousand dollars, and you'll need to complete a few Mr. Faber Work missions if you want to finish the Career Progress challenges for Money Fronts.

How to Reduce Heat

Heat is the main thing that'll get in the way of your cash flow, but it's pretty easy to manage once you get the hang of the new stuff in Money Fronts. Any illegal activities—whether they be money laundering missions, Mr. Faber Work, or anything in between—will fill the Heat meter for your money laundering businesses.

All passive income generation stops when the Heat meter completely fills up, so you should sprinkle in a few legal jobs in between your criminal activities to maintain your cover and prevent your operation from getting shut down.

Legal jobs don't pay very well at all and can be pretty frustrating to complete (seriously, what car wash makes the workers go and pick up a customer's car?), but they're a mandatory part of the process.

These only take 5-10 minutes to complete, and a successful car wash job, weed delivery, or helicopter tour will shave about quarter off your Heat meter. If you decide you need a break from the money laundering business, there's no penalty for leaving the Heat meter full for a while to focus on other things.

You won't earn any passive income, but you can just knock a few missions out to get things up and running again whenever you have time.