fav way to make money?

Mostly painting or writing. I like to have my future writer Sims complete the Painter aspiration when they're teens, because the aspiration reward allows not just painting any of the emotional paintings regardless of mood, they can write the emotional books (Romance, Playful Book, Sad Book etc.) regardless of mood. I do use some faster crafting mods (the ones I use just take out the distractions like staring off into the distance and such) so it doesn't take super-long. I keep most of the paintings in the Sim's inventory, so when they move out they can take them along then sell them to upgrade their starter home.

BTW, the Painter aspiration is one of the few that can be completed while still a teen if you work at it really hard and play on Long lifespan. Someday I'm going to have an author with their own bookstore where they can sell their own books so my other Sims can buy and read them, especially the skill books that can be written by Sims who've completed the Renaissance Sim aspiration.