Investment

Investments are another way Sims to earn money over the course of The Sims 3. It comprises of Partnerships and Ownership. Both of which will put big holes in a Sims wallet but, overtime, will pay for themselves.

Once a Sim has partnered (Become a Partner) or become an owner (Buy out Property) a Partner's Deed or Owner's Deed will be moved into the Sims inventory. As of version 1.3, deeds will form a stack in the inventory, which will have a "Collect All" interaction. Deeds can be transferred between Sims of the same family at anytime (by dragging them out of a Sim's backpack into another Sim), and are automatically transferred to a relative when a Sim dies.

Sims must invest in Partnership first before they are eligible for Ownership. So, Total Cost of Ownership includes both Cost of Partnership and Cost of Ownership.

Profits earned through investment become available at 9:00am each Monday and are not automatically paid. They have to be collected from their respective locations hence traveling will be needed. Although a Sim may own the building in which they work the deed will have no effect on the Sim's career.

Strangely, even when a Sim is the owner of a business they cannot use its products or services for free. (With the release of Patch 6, food and drink at owned restaurants are free). When a Sim is the owner of a business, the player may rename the business or fire employees. Firing workers, however, is at the expense of the relationship between the owner and that employee. They cannot fire the owner (which would be themselves), or the last employee of a business.

Also when a sim becomes owner of a business, if they are married or dating a sim that works at the venue some romantic options will be rejected. The recieving sim will also get a "creeped out" moodlet and the relationship will suffer. There is also a real estate system introduced in Patch 12 where you can go on the computer or the phone and purchase the whole community lot. You can then upgrade it and with the upgrades recieve more profits.

Costs & Profits

Business	Partnership					Ownership
	Cost of Partnership	Weekly Earning	Sell Price	ROI	payoff in weeks	Cost of Ownership	Total Cost	Weekly Earning	Sell Price	MROI	TROI	payoff total in weeks
Diner	6,000	850	4,800	14.2%	7	18,000	24,000	1,800	19,200	5.3%	7.5%	14
Bookstore	7,000	1,000	5,600	14.3%	7	20,000	27,000	2,000	21,600	5.0%	7.4%	14
Supermarket	7,000	1,000	5,600	14.3%	7	20,000	27,000	2,000	21,600	5.0%	7.4%	14
Bistro	12,500	2,100	10,000	16.8%	6	25,000	37,500	3,000	30,000	3.6%	8.0%	13
Spa	15,000	2,500	12,000	16.7%	6	35,000	50,000	4,000	40,000	4.3%	8.0%	13
Abandoned Warehouse	15,000	2,500	12,000	16.7%	6	35,000	50,000	4,000	40,000	4.3%	8.0%	13
Theatre	18,000	3,000	14,400	16.7%	6	40,000	58,000	6,000	46,400	7.5%	10.3%	10
Office building	18,000	3,000	14,400	16.7%	6	40,000	58,000	6,000	46,400	7.5%	10.3%	10
Hospital	30,000	6,000	24,000	20.0%	5	75,000	105,000	12,000	84,000	8.0%	11.4%	9
Stadium	35,000	6,800	28,000	19.4%	5	80,000	115,000	13,000	92,000	7.8%	11.3%	9
Science lab	40,000	7,900	32,000	19.8%	5	100,000	140,000	15,000	112,000	7.1%	10.7%	10