How did you decide when you had enough np to start spending it?

[GillyTook]

This'll be an odd one   I would like to start reading to my main pet seriously, but I'd also like to continue saving up neopoints.  How did you guys decide when you had enough in the bank that it wouldn't hurt to start spending some of what you were earning?  Was it just getting sick of saving up, or did you have a goal in mind?  How'd you set the goal, if you did?

I was thinking to get to where I was getting, say, 30K a day in interest in the bank (that's going to be years. . .  I just hit 25 million POINTS in the bank, so ~8,500 in interest daily)  I figure that way, even when I don't have enough from Trudy to do stocks daily (or if they take it away at some point) I can get at least 15K/day into the bank on days when I can't sell stocks.  I can also, on days when Trudy DOES give me 15K + spend 15K a day on books, until I get into the really expensive ones.  Plus, I'd be able to save up some cash for stuff like paintbrushes!  Does that sound like a reasonable goal/way to figure out my eventual goal, or does that seem like overkill?

[balloongal247]

What is your plan for getting to the point of having 30k a day in interest?  What would you do with that amount of np other than live off the interest?  Will having that much interest make you happier than starting on checking off the list of books?  If you are saying you want to start reading to your pet seriously, you probably don't want to wait until you earn 60m more to have about 30k a day of interest.

I find the best way to earn np is food club.  It requires a lot of investment, but it pays off daily.  Today I won 64:10.. In the slightly over year I've been doing it, I've won on average a little more than 17:10, so usually about a 16:1 win on one of my 10 bets.  

I think most, if not all, paint brushes are well under 25M.

 

When I had less NP, I'd wait until I hit 10M, and then splurge on a few mil of stuff that I'd been wanting, then save up and repeat.

But the main thing is, what would make you happier, having the np in the bank, or whatever you want to buy with it.

[Duma]

I wouldn't wait until 30K of interest, you already have so much interest a day you could buy a lot of books with just that daily amount. That's what I would do. And when you get to the books that cost more than your interest, you save it up a day, or a few days, until you "earned" enough to buy it. Every NP you earn more that day, you can still put in the bank and increase your bank account and thus your interest with.

I'm saving up to buy a nice Hidden Tower battle set. I would like to keep about 5 mil in my bank at all times, but if the current plot to come is going to require me to have better weapons i might just spend all I have to get just this one new weapon or shield already. If my NP are as low as 5 mil, i would save up first again to about 15 to 20 mil before spending. (The items I want are all 10 mil+).

And then there is my gallery... at the moment kinda on hold until i have more time to play and earn NP, but once I do I would spend all my daily earnings (except my interest at the bank) on my gallery items.

It's not real money anyway, so you might as well use it. And as long as you have enough interest a day to buy food for your pets (or to put them in a hotel for 28 days), you're all set. They won't get sad and you get to buy everything you want whenever you want. But remember, you're free to save up or spent as much as you like. You're the only one that decides, so just do what makes you happy and comfortable. 

[jellysundae]

This title made me laugh so much, lol Neo seems to foster a need to hoard in so many ways, socking it all away in the bank being just one of them, lol. I always feel like I shouldn't spend anything, and feel guilty when I do.

That's an impressive long-term goal you have there. I've got no opinion on that either way, my question is do you wait for the book smarts boon before reading to your pet?

 

[balloongal247]

I don't bother with the book smarts boon, because my goal is number of books read, not intelligence points.

[GillyTook]

I figured the np in the bank would make me feel safer, since I know I'll always have a lot in there (and could 'live off of the interest' in a way)

My goal is also just number of books read, not intelligence since I don't fight, so I don't need the boost on that.  I know I can't do all of them, but I definitely want to start just giving her a few, and yes, I am totally hoarding!  I admit it.  

Plan is the same as I've been doing, even though it'll take forever.  Just collecting interest, selling daily prizes that are worth something, and buying stocks at 15, selling at 20.  I'm also starting to try to play a few games that I'm okay at every day.  I've been considering trying neoquest, though I've never really understood how food club works.  Guess I should go look at the guide, huh?

[balloongal247]

To me, Food Club works by using the posted bets of someone who knows how food club works.

[charelan]

19 minutes ago, GillyTook said:

My goal is also just number of books read, not intelligence since I don't fight, so I don't need the boost on that.  I know I can't do all of them, but I definitely want to start just giving her a few, and yes, I am totally hoarding!  I admit it.  

Whoa... intelligence points help you in battling?? I had no idea....

I also second the food club bets - I always bet with Garet: http://www.neopets.com/~boochi_target

[balloongal247]

There are one or two weapons that require a certain intelligence amount to use to their fullest.  If you aren't using those, then no, it does not help you in battle.

[jaydeed]

I would buy max stocks every day even if Trudy doesn't give you enough. The amount of profit on them in the long term far exceeds what you make in interest, Diversify so you have stocks in most companies and build them up. Battle; I make a lot from that, though I have Premium so I win nerks quite often. But the profit from codestones is pretty good and you can get those from most challengers, especially Koi Warrior. Do the Obelisk War; you can get nice boons if your side wins. Food Club definitely. Pays off long term even if some days you lose.

But honestly, you have a decent amount of NPs there. Live a little with them! :-)

Oh and save all your r90s in case another Charity Corner comes along; that's when you can make a fortune if you're lucky and well prepared.

Editing; you're selling at 20?! I would wait way longer than that. I sell at 60 and some ppl wait to sell at 100. Maybe at least raise your sell point to 30 so you're doubling?

Edited October 11, 2017 by jaydeed
added a comment

[balloongal247]

Oh yeah, don't sell stocks until AT LEAST 30, I'd recommend 50 or 60.  They get up that high often enough.  I've been trying to wait until around 75, but my minimum is 60.  I wouldn't recommend waiting until 100, I don't feel they go that high that often.

Yes, if you don't have premium, you should be battling in the maraquan dome if you can beat koi warrior, who is the least difficult opponent there.  If you can't, you should be training at the krawk island academy until you can.  Will also come in handy in the upcoming war.  Yes, save r90-99, and anything that you get a TON of as battledome prizes or whatever.  Like when I was battling chiazilla, I saved the green chia plushies.  Because while r90s gives the best prizes and opens up profit, things like avatar are based on how many times you donate, or could be based on donating every day, or how much each day, etc etc.  So the lesser items can be good to pad those totals.

For the obelisk war, I battle in my regular arena first (either maraquan or premium) and then when I've earned all the items, I move on to skirmish opponents.  That way I'm still getting the best prizes I can.

[kayahtik]

It's all about budgeting, just like irl. Personally, I have two strategies. 

1. Every morning I withdraw 100k from the bank. This is my spending money for the day--it allows me to buy stocks, bet in FC, do a quest or feed a few kads, and even some light restocking. My goal is to deposit at least 100k (hopefully more) back into the bank at the end of the day. I use this strategy when I'm mostly trying to save nps and spend minimally.

2. If I'm trying to find a balance between spending and saving, I designate certain income sources for certain expenses. For example, I might say that all FC winnings get deposited directly into the bank for saving, but any shop till earnings can be spent freely. If I get 100k in my shop till, great, I'll spend it all. If my till is empty, too bad, no spending that day. If FC busts, I don't feel bad about not depositing much that day. I like this method because it takes the decision-making aspect out. I don't have to sit around debating with myself about how much I should spend vs. save, it's all pre-determined by however many nps I have from each category. If that makes sense. 

I've been using these two strategies in combination for the last few months, and I've been banking about 4m each month while still being able to work on other goals like books and stamps. 

[Angeló]

i don't think i'm qualified to answer your question

i always blow through my NP

the past few days i've been working on a gallery and i spent 12 Million (between items and upgrades)

whenever i see my NP close to 20 Mil my pockets start to burn and i get an irresistible itch to spend spend spend !!!

so it's up to you really 

[etrnldarkness]

Pretty much agree with most people here on how to make money - Food club + stocks

In your case though if you are earning enough interest to buy some books (since that is your goal) each day, it is a good time to start working on them. For myself personally I don't have any large/expensive goals yet so I will continue to hoard hoard hoard, hehe. This is a tendency I have on most sites I play when it comes to money. I'll use/keep any 'extras' from quests etc that I can use (stamps, books) but hoard the money!

I wish you luck with your book goals <3

[GillyTook]

WOW!  Some of you wait until 30+?  Do the stocks that typically sell for 15 even get that high regularly?  It seems to take a while for them to even hit 20, let alone seeing them there.  When I first started I tried to wait that high, but it seemed like I only got to sell once in a few months, which seems like I wouldn't be getting as much out of them.  Just wish I was good at the games!.

Uh. . . I looked at the food club bets page that was linked, and while the point gain looks nice (I could get it WAY quickly that way!) I have no idea what the page is saying 0_o  

Thank you guys for the advice, though!

[balloongal247]

They get above 30 pretty often.  Even 50 doesn't take too long.  You will have quite the collection of stocks, but the ROI is much better than having the same funds in the bank.

Also, the Skirmish battles can help a lot.  Thieves and Sway have a stock boon that allows you to buy at 10np a share.

Those Food Club bets are actually a lot easier to read for the first time than the ones I use, I guess because of petpage vs guild post space and formatting limits.  So, they don't have the new bets posted yet, these are their recommendations for earlier today, the contest happens at 2pm NST, though it's been messed up, so the results often don't come in until around 3, and you *can* bet until then.  Looking closer, it might be harder to bet since it doesn't group by arena changes.

So, you'd just go to the food club bet page, they have a link there, and you'd make your bets match what that says.  Each row is one bet.  So, you check all those arenas, and make the drop down boxes reflect the pirate listed.  Then you put in your max bet, and you submit, then you go back and change them to the next row.

[charelan]

6 hours ago, GillyTook said:

Uh. . . I looked at the food club bets page that was linked, and while the point gain looks nice (I could get it WAY quickly that way!) I have no idea what the page is saying 0_o  

I never understand the commentary lol - I just make the exact same bets as posted and hope for the best ;)

[jellysundae]

4 hours ago, charelan said:

I never understand the commentary lol - I just make the exact same bets as posted and hope for the best ;)

Same! lol. Though when Garet's clearly not confident, or is going out on a bit too much of a limb in his commentary I'll often skip. ONCE I did go for the more vanilla alternative option that he laid out, that totally paid off because the bets set out in the table tanked, lol.

@GillyTook If you stick with buying stocks you should gradually learn to hold off selling until they reach a higher value. I'm getting much better at it, and so's Charelan. Most people go for selling at 60 as that's a 300% increase on your investment. I initially  found it hard to hold off until then before selling, but now I generally won't even consider it until 75, lol.

Right now there's a couple that I'm keeping an eye on in my portfolio

DROO (profile)

73

75

+2

12,000

172,000

900,000

+423.26%

MYNC (profile)

58

56

-2

12,000

170,000

672,000

+295.29%

 

DROO's been higher than this recently - I sold 10k at 86 last month but it went up into the 90s - so of course now I want to wait and see if it goes this high again.

[GillyTook]

Okay. . . looking at the food club thing again, do you go down and make ALL of the bets he has highlighted, so you double up on a few, or do you just pick one and go for that?  He's got a few of the locations mentioned more than once.  

[balloongal247]

You do all 10 bets.  They do it to maximize the odds that one will win.  You can not make the same bet combo more than once.  You will include some of the same pirates in many of the bets.  The ones most likely to win their arenas.  You'll have two or three of those, and then usually you'll have one arena where you bet all the pirates, and then you'll go and bet alternates for each of your core ones, in case of upsets.  To win the bet, all of the pirates you choose have to win their arenas.  So, except on rare weird days, you'll win one bet a day.  Which is why people here and that bet-maker describes the bets as win:10 instead of :1, because if you win 16:1 on one of your 10 bets, overall you've won 16:10.

Today is one of those weird days where the odds might not be favorable... You may want to wait until tomorrow to bet....

[GillyTook]

Okay.  I think I've got it.  And it is definitely more likely to win me neopoints than lose  them?  Okay, I'll try tomorrow.  Thank you :) 

[eloralestrange]

I don't spend it, I just like getting the interest and having neopoints to use as collateral for ALP lends. But I do like to buy books, and the occasional pretty item. I finally got my birthday alabriss <3.