# Another time travel question: how do I get rich? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** baseball-mlb\ **Created:** [February 3, 2024, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057 "2024-02-03T02:36:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/1 "2024-02-03T02:36:47Z")
So I’ve come across the typical Time Machine. It’s about the size of a phone booth (or sports car), and it can physically transfer me and whatever I can reasonably fit inside across the years. I’ve managed to resolve all of the contradictions that would create schisms in the universe, and I’ve already learned that you can’t change the big events like the whole Nazi thing or JFK assassination. So what I’d really like to do is cash in. Since I can’t create major disruptions to society (for reasons), I can’t become a famous prognosticator or finagle my way to other obvious fame. But I can certainly parlay my knowledge into smart decisions. And there’s the artifact angle; although if I bring some old priceless object with me in the Time Machine, there’s that risk it will be considered a fake, since it’s not old enough. So what to do? And how to do it? First, I figure I’d need local currency. If I head back to the 18th century, for example, my 21st century money looks fake. So, I should load up on jewels, right? What about aluminum foil? Wasn’t Aluminum a very valuable commodity at one point? But if I convert my wares to cash, then what? Depending on when I went, I could cheaply snag a mint condition baseball card or comic book- which would fetch a lot of money in present times - and either take it with me in my Time Machine, or stash it in a safe deposit box. But what about a document from colonial America? If it would be thought a reproduction if immediately transported, I’d have to stash it. Is there some bank where I can put it so I can then retrieve it 250 years later? I suppose I’d want to do the same with certain stocks. It’d be helpful to invest in Coca Cola when it was a fledgling company, as one example, and leave the stock certificates for yourself. But then how do you ensure that you will leave that stock so that the future you - who isn’t born when you acquire it - can “inherit” it in the future? Do I need to create “identities” at periodic periods throughout history- my own ancestors, if you will - so that I can pass it along to my present self? What are the other ways an ambitious time traveler can put their effort into something profitable? I’d figure knowing some trivia like who is going to win the next presidential election isn’t exactly a big money maker. I mean, if you decide to live in the past, you might be a “know it all”, but would being able to predict future events really be a financial boon? I mean, sure, there’s last week’s lotto numbers. But anything else? (The complications of time travel is why nobody does it, in my opinion) ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/2 "2024-02-03T03:03:09Z")
Isn’t there a bit of a clue about the age of metals thanks to the nuclear bombings? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/3 "2024-02-03T03:03:26Z")
I’m thinking a discovery of some item that is very valuable. Like a rich gold deposit. Pinpoint the time. Be there. Elbow the right person at just the right time. It’s yours. Your timing would need to be precise. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/4 "2024-02-03T04:40:30Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > What are the other ways an ambitious time traveler can put their effort into something profitable? Corner the market for time machines. No need to waste your, er, time messing with lotto numbers and documents and shit. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/5 "2024-02-03T05:00:53Z")
Related thread: > [@You're a time traveler to the late 1800s. What do you do for money?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-time-traveler-to-the-late-1800s-what-do-you-do-for-money/942546): > > I don’t usually do hypotheticals, but I’ve been watching a fair amount of TV westerns lately and I thought it might be an interesting topic. Sometimes when I hear the price of something on a period show I check it against an online inflation calculator to see if they were actually in the ballpark. So the cost of things like basic commodities, horses, cattle, land, etc. seems to be much less than they would cost today, but I understand basic concepts like inflation indexes and cost of living. I … ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/6 "2024-02-03T07:22:57Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > …the whole Nazi thing… Classic Understatement ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/7 "2024-02-03T07:35:24Z")
I take it you never watched the Back to the Future movies? Anyone remember the details? I thought it was a book of sports records which you bring back from the future and thus could make sure bets on the sporting contests. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/8 "2024-02-03T12:22:41Z")
At the risk of squelching the whole thread, there’s a super-easy way to do just what the OP wants. Ref this > **[Powerball Ticket in Michigan Wins $842.4 Million Jackpot in New Year’s Day...](https://www.powerball.com/powerball-ticket-in-michigan-wins-842.4-million-jackpot-in-new-years-day-drawing)** > > The Powerball® jackpot has been won in MICHIGAN on the first day of 2024! all you need to do is set your time machine to Sun Dec 31 2023 or Mon Jan 1 2024, and buy a lottery ticket in one of the 45 states plus DC, PR, and USVI that have Powerball. Buy a ticket with 12, 21, 42, 44, 49 and red Powerball 1 and wait for the good news Monday night. Heck, splurge and buy some camouflage: get 10 chances for a Jackson, but make sure one of the 10 is the soon-to-be winning numbers. You might have to split the jackpot with the “real” winner, but that still sets you up here in 2024 with $421M (pre tax, cash vs annuity, etc) of seed money for your next maneuver. It might actually be easier / better to go back a few years (~10) and do the same thing, then choose to simply live your life forward from that point normally (but richly). You already know, or can look up before you go, enough winning investments to do very nicely with your seed money. Heck, if you can go back to early 2008 and just invest in SPX, you’ll have tripled your money by now in just 15 years: [![](https://trendystockcharts.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/SPX-2015-07-19.png) ](https://trendystockcharts.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/SPX-2015-07-19.png) The biggest downside to reliving the last 15 years of USA history is, well, having to relive the last 15 years of USA history. Then again, it might be better than living the next 15 years of USA history. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/9 "2024-02-03T13:05:12Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Is there some bank where I can put it so I can then retrieve it 250 years later? Not necessary. You have invaluable knowledge about the use and provenance of land and property over those 250 years, or longer. You can put your object anywhere that’s safe, and even move it. Go back and acquire an original Gutenberg bible, or whatever. Seal it inside a period oak chest with some other random papers and artifacts from the time. Stick your chest deep in a dry cave that you know has been largely inaccessible and unexplored in your own time. Then, go forward to a time a hundred years before your own, retrieve the chest, and place it in the root cellar of your great-grandparents’ farmhouse just before it caves in for the last time, or some other similar location you know will stay in your family and be untouched until you can “miraculously rediscover” the chest in your own time. You have no idea how it got there. It doesn’t matter. It’s yours now. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/10 "2024-02-03T13:57:21Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The biggest downside to reliving the last 15 years of USA history is, well, having to relive the last 15 years of USA history. **Then again, it might be better than living the next 15 years of USA history.** You have a time machine. You can just skip ahead. Learn Finnish, then go 28 years. Trust me, you won’t regret it. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/11 "2024-02-03T14:02:38Z")
If I didn’t have to worry about splitting the timeline or poofing myself out of existence, I’d just go back to January 2021, log into my retirement account, invest in GameStop before it went bonkers and cash it out a few weeks later. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/12 "2024-02-03T14:58:16Z")
Take modern day aluminum, travel to Napolean III’s court. Trade for gold. Return to now. Lather, rinse, repeat. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/13 "2024-02-03T15:27:20Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > Related thread: Thanks for posting. That was fun rereading that old post of mine. This OP is somewhat different, since mine was only about taking something back with you that would be valuable in the past, and the OP is speculating in both directions. In which case, bringing something back from the past to present day to make your riches, I thought of this, but Saint\_Cad beat me to it, the cad: > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Take modern day aluminum, travel to Napolean III’s court. Trade for gold. Return to now. > Lather, rinse, repeat. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/14 "2024-02-03T15:30:03Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I thought of this, but Saint\_Cad beat me to it Sure, that’s how it looks _now._ ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/15 "2024-02-03T15:33:24Z")
Ah, that’s how @Saint_Cad had such a good answer. They traveled to the future, stole my answer, and Ninja’d me! ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/16 "2024-02-03T17:04:21Z")
Anyone serious about profiting off time travel should red the Wikipedia article in Tulip Mania and bring some tulip bulbs back to Holland circa 1835, > **[Tulip mania](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania)** > > Tulip mania (Dutch: tulpenmanie) was a period during the Dutch Golden Age when contract prices for some bulbs of the recently introduced and fashionable tulip reached extraordinarily high levels. The major acceleration started in 1634 and then dramatically collapsed in February 1637. It is generally considered to have been the first recorded speculative bubble or asset bubble in history. In many ways, the tulip mania was more of a then-unknown socio-economic phenomenon than a significant econo ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/17 "2024-02-03T17:13:48Z")
If I were into agriculture, I’d bring back silphium seeds and start a garden. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/18 "2024-02-03T17:38:10Z")
Don’t travel far into the future. Your invention will result in the people in the future constantly on the lookout for travelers from the past who have nothing important of value to bring them. They won’t treat you kindly. Don’t bother to go to tomorrow and get some winning lottery numbers or tomorrows closing stock prices. Both are subject to quantum randomness changing the results. Predictions of major events like exact time, epicenter, and intensity of an earthquake might make you famous as the lucky guy who predicted an earthquake and maybe you’ll get a lot of subscriptions to your website and sell some merch. I’m pretty sure the universe abhors time travel and success always results in auto paradox correction so you can’t significantly change anything without risking your own existence. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/19 "2024-02-03T17:39:49Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Isn’t there a bit of a clue about the age of metals thanks to the nuclear bombings? Indeed. But it only applies to a limited time period (before above ground nuclear testing ceased) > [@](#): > > Between 1955 and 1963, the use of atomic bombs doubled the amount of carbon-14 in our atmosphere. Carbon-14 exists in the air, and plants breathe it in during photosynthesis. Animals eat those plants; we eat those animals; and carbon-14 winds up in our bodies, incorporated into our tissues. Every eleven years, the amount of that carbon-14 in the atmosphere would decrease by half… > > Once carbon-14 levels return to their baseline level, the technique becomes useless. _Scientific American_ explains that “scientists only have the opportunity to make use of this unique form of carbon dating for a few more decades, before C 14 levels drop to baseline.” Which means that if they want to use the technique, they’ve got to act fast. Unless there are more atomic bombs, and nobody really wants that. [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nuclear-bombs-made-it-possible-to-carbon-date-human-tissue-20074710/](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nuclear-bombs-made-it-possible-to-carbon-date-human-tissue-20074710/) > [@solost](#): > > Saint\_Cad beat me to it, the cad: > > > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > > > Take modern day aluminum, travel to Napolean III’s court. Trade for gold. Return to now. > > Lather, rinse, repeat. Would aluminum foil be enough? ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057/20 "2024-02-03T17:40:53Z")
Oh, of course, that’s why I said related, not “we’ve already done this one!” And it was a great thread, which is why I remembered it. Not to mention the discussion of how to do it without being obvious or drawing attention is still useful. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-travel-question-how-do-i-get-rich/997057.md?page=2)