Sims 4 Economy - Is It Broken?

I wouldn't say TS4 economy is really broken, but it is relatively easy to get rich. I sometimes stick a violin in the attics of my houses to make bills higher. I definitely wish there was some kind of inheritance/will system.

In reply to the comments saying you shouldn't be able to sell lower quality items, this is what I do: How about just not selling lower quality items? You could keep them in your home or delete them or give them as gifts. That way it feels more realistic to you, but others who like that aspect of the game can keep doing it.

I think some aspects work well and make sense but others don't. I think over all it's probably most realistic if you play on a normal lifespan. Sometimes the cost of buy mode objects (furniture) don't match the quality of the object. I think the comfort, environment, etc. Level should be factored in to the cost. Most of the times it seems like it is... others not so much. I guess I could see a really cheap sofa or chair being comfortable though.
When making money some things do seem like glitches and cheaty to me. And it's so tempting to take advantage of that.

In real life there are career paths that you will never get super rich (human services, education) in comparison to others but not in TS4.
I'd kind of like it if you got to, let's say, level 4 of certain careers you can't get promoted unless you pay to get a college degree and absolutely have to complete the promotion requirements (college requirement) and not just happy mood your way to promotion. So maybe to get to level 7 you need your masters to get to 9, your doctorate.

> @treece01 said:

> I'd kind of like it if you got to, let's say, level 4 of certain careers you can't get promoted unless you pay to get a college degree and absolutely have to complete the promotion requirements (college requirement) and not just happy mood your way to promotion. So maybe to get to level 7 you need your masters to get to 9, your doctorate.


I know it's purely speculation, but I really think one of the new packs will have something to do with education. An option to pay for rabbit hole classes/degrees would be a nice addition to the base game. It would be like paying for training for your employees.

"purpleplum;c-17035105" wrote:
> @treece01 said:

> I'd kind of like it if you got to, let's say, level 4 of certain careers you can't get promoted unless you pay to get a college degree and absolutely have to complete the promotion requirements (college requirement) and not just happy mood your way to promotion. So maybe to get to level 7 you need your masters to get to 9, your doctorate.


I know it's purely speculation, but I really think one of the new packs will have something to do with education. An option to pay for rabbit hole classes/degrees would be a nice addition to the base game. It would be like paying for training for your employees.

I'm sure they will. Yeah, that was kind of my thinking.

"AquaGamer1212;c-17034358" wrote:
There’s no banking system, everyone shares the money despite who brought the money into the household, which isn’t fair. When someone dies the money and home disappear. A new system would be great but probably not gonna happen this iteration.

If/when University is A Thing I'd love to see some sort of system where you have a household account but the game keeps track of what each Sim has contributed to the household. I'll have my teens write books and paint, but hold off on selling the finished works until they move out as YAs so they can immediately upgrade their starting space, or I'll move them to an apartment, sell off everything and if they have enough money move them to a small house right away. It would give more weight to the current part-time job system if teens could work to earn money for University rather than rely on the household money. Especially if we get the "odd jobs" board back from Sims 3, so students can earn extra money while they're at campus -- maybe be a science test subject (could return with different moodlets from the experiments) or maybe a librarian (pro: time to study, con: increased chance of Bored moodlet).

I would say yes because it is very difficult to lose money. I miss those chance cards from Sims 2 where sims could get fired, have to pay $50000 fines for making a mistake at work, etc. A few of my sims have like 3.5 million earned not cheated...one did hit the lottery though. I have decided those families will stop working a few generations to see if I can burn through some of that money. It will be hard when everything is pretty cheap. The most money you spend is buying a house and paying the bills for that monster house. Maids are cheap, eating out is cheap, vacations are pretty cheap, butlers are worthless so I don't hire them.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who have my sims only dedicate themselves to work and skill building, always trying to get to the top of their careers. If you play this way, yes, money is going to come easy.

I've been trying to make my sims more social, have them visit other lots, and try to make them less "skill build happy" to slow career progress. Sometimes I will purposely not raise a skill so they don't get promoted. Switching/quitting jobs help too. Move to a bigger, more expensive lot that you have to redecorate/upgrade. Donate to charity a couple times a day. Hire every service and don't have either the frugal or free services rewards.

I had downloaded an updated version of Judith Ward's lot, and her bills were a whopping 27,000 simoleans for the week. That and I've noticed that the bills are much higher in the game thanks to the thermostat that came with Seasons. I've even had to move some sims to apartments because their weekly bills would leave them only with a few hundred simoleans left, especially if I had only one sim in the household working and had the thermostat on when it was super hot or cold.

I agree painting and writing have problems. They finish paintings in only a few sim hours and my sims write an entire novel in one day! For this reason, I have both the slower painting and a slower writing mods (I think it doubles or triples the normal time) so it seems so much more realistic and helps with the ridiculously fast income gains. No longer can my sims write a book in one day, and a masterpiece takes them almost the whole day to complete. This way it takes more time to make money, slowing down income and having it feel more authentic.

I wouldn't necessarily say it's broken, but it could certainly use improvement. I agree with a lot of what's been said here about funds not all just going into one big pot for the household; I would love a budget panel, and bills that made sense, or at least a way to see where I was spending the majority of my money. I feel I have a healthy economy in my game. Yeah, most of my sims are filthy rich, but I also cheated to get a lot of them there. Gardening used to be a huge money maker, and I'm sure it still is, but with seasons is does limit to some degree what sims can harvest during the year. I still use the money tree because honestly I hate having to worry about bills. I like my sims to be more social, so the economy in the game isn't a thing I spend too much time worried about. I think if we had the ability to work part-time jobs (maybe multiple part times jobs?) and university as a block to higher ends of careers, that would probably fix some of the ease in money making; the exception being gardening, painting and writing. However, you can do those things less and won't accrue as much money.

First of all thank you all for the responses.

I guess for me it just seems like on the one hand I have Sims who have $80,000 and their bills are basically nothing. But then their kids moved out and they were given $22,000 magically. So they will struggle for a bit but I imagine it won't be long before one of the two brothers moves out. Meanwhile the parents will continue to be rich.

Even if I could just have ways to burn through money. That would help.

A budget with separate bank accounts would be helpful I think.

it is imo, far too easy to earn money