History Main / TimeTravelForFunAndProfit

* A minor example of this in the ''Film/{{Titanic}}'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8448413/1/Our-Future-is-Now Our Future is Now]]", where Jack and Fabrizio were time-travellers. After they create a new timeline where ''Titanic'' gets to America, when Rose decides to go to the future with Jack, Jack decides to give Cal and Ruth a 'consolation prize' by advising Cal to get everything out of the stock market before October 1929 and advise a suitable company Ruth can invest her remaining money in to recoup her losses.

* In ''Film/{{Paycheck}}'', [[spoiler: Michael uses his machine to see the next day's winning lottery numbers, giving him and the girl a HappilyEverAfter]]. This is also the BigBad's plan, only on a much bigger scale.

** In that same novel, the protagonist meets a young woman who also found herself looping through time in much the same way(essentially a 20-plus year long GroundhogDayLoop). During one loop, she went to film school, became a movie producer and recruited Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/GeorgeLucas to collaborate on a science-fiction blockbuster called "Starsea" in 1976, one year before they created ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' and ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' respectively. Starsea ends up becoming the most successful movie of all time, and she becomes a power player in Hollywood. The protagonist identifies himself as a fellow time-traveler when he meets her by mentioning some of her possible future projects; he asked if she would be producing ''StarWars'', advised that ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind''' may be a bit redundant after "Starsea"(which covered similar themes), but ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' should be fine, as well as ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', but [[TakeThat she should talk to Spielberg about that first sequel]]. Years later, she takes another unusual gamble by hiring Rob Reiner(years before he became a filmmaker) to direct a comedy about [[Film/WhenHarryMetSally a mis-timed mismatched couple]].

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutron'', Jimmy goes back in time to make his father invest in a successful business that he originally decided not to invest in. When Jimmy goes back to the present, he has everything he ever wanted, but his parents are cold and distant.

->'''Rose:''' I want [Queen Victoria] to say "[[CatchPhrase We are not amused]]". I bet you five quid I can make her say it.\\

* Dave Strider of ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' uses his time travel powers to create several copies of himself from the future. They get dressed in various disguises and cooperate in a stock exchange, thus allowing Dave to make a killing. There is one downside, though: Dave always has to make sure he's [[StableTimeLoop going to be his future selves]], or else he will spawn an alternate timeline, and one of the rules of time travel in ''Homestuck'' is that if an alternate timeline self ever crosses into the alpha timeline, they're doomed to die.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' has an interesting take on this. You can "fix" the lottery by simply doing the exact same thing as before. This works because the Random Number Gods only wake up when you do something different, so you can buy a lotto ticket on the first day, >> to the last day to find the number, then go back in time. Once you've gone back in time, you can buy the next/last (see time paradox for explanation of that comment) winning number, >> to the third day, and by golly, you have the winning number. Rinse and Repeat until you max out the money.

* ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'' has seasonal leagues which add a new mechanic to the game, and in the Incursion league, you meet an explorer named Alva Valai who offers you a business proposal: She opens a ''PortalToThePast'' to an ancient temple that's been lost in today's history built 2000 years ago during its construction, kill some architects to determine what kind of treasure room gets made in there, repeat 10 more times until she can pinpoint the temple's location in the present, loot it, then reset the timeline of the temple and repeat. Another NPC mentions that Alva's obsession with looting a lost temple keeps her from wrecking havoc on the timeline.

* In ''Series/OdysseyFive'', five astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle ''Odyssey'' are sent back in time by a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien to prevent Earth's destruction that they have just witnessed. After the MentalTimeTravel, two of the crewmembers refuse to spend the next several years trying to figure out what will happen. One of them, a cynical geneticist named Kurt Mendel, decides to use his knowledge of the future to make some money and live it up. He bets all his savings on the outcome of a close football game, whose result depends on a single field goal kick that almost missed in the previous timeline. To Kurt's surprise, the kicker misses this time. He finds out that his unusually large bet has caused more people to bet on the kick. When the kicker found out, the pressure caused him to miss.

** And the first time he used it he planned on swiping something from the future and patenting it, but he accidentally went the opposite direction in the time stream.

* In the YA novel ''[[Literature/LocksmithsCloset Locksmith's Closet]]'', Lock and Gary use a time portal to: (1) Hide five quarters under the porch. (2) Go to the future, get the quarters and bring them back to the present. (3) Take the quarters from the future and hide them next to the "original" quarters. (4) Repeat this process until they have 5,120 quarters, then call it a day.

* In ''VideoGame/TheSims 3'' expansion pack ''Into the Future'', you can travel to the future and go to Oasis Gardens' city hall to obtain knowledge of winning lottery numbers, and then travel back to the present to use that knowledge to obtain a large sum of Simoleons. Doing this is one of the steps necessary to have the Philanthropist statue made in your honor.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' two-parter "The Once and Future Thing", a supervillain named Chronos uses a time machine to steal numerous artifacts and monuments from the past, allowing him to become a wealthy and powerful crime lord when he returns home to Gotham City in the future.

* Kirie from ''Manga/UQHolder'' uses her SaveScumming powers to make a fortune on the stock market.

[[folder:Comics]]
* The basic premise of ''ComicBook/BoosterGold'' in which a man from the future uses gadgets from his time and his knowledge of the past to become a superhero and make money through endorsements (and other less ethical means).
* In ''ComicBook/{{Thorgal}}'' in the independent episode "Three Ancients of the Realm of Aran", the three old men, rulers of the country, often defy a brave candidate to go through a perilous way in order to find a huge treasure, that they could keep. Along the way they are to take a potion that makes them travel to the past, where they meet the three men then in their twenties. They then explain they use fools arriving from the future with a phial containing the Water of the Dawn of Times, in order to increase their own riches, and they kill the now useless fool. Thorgal breaks the cycle by pouring the water on the ground.
* In ''ComicBook/TheFlash'', Barry Allen's EvilCounterpart Professor Zoom is addicted to abusing the Speed Force's time travel capabilities to benefit himself and punish those he doesn't like, often in [[EvilIsPetty astoundingly petty]] ways. For example, he not only [[MurderTheHypotenuse murders his crush's husband]] before they were married, but also erases ''every man she had ever dated'' from the timeline.

[[folder:FanFic]]
* In ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'', Harry Potter experiments with a way to exploit the StableTimeLoop to quickly find the answers to certain problems. The result? [[SubvertedTrope ''DO NOT MESS WITH TIME.'']]

[[folder:Film]]

* In Robert Heinlen's ''Literature/ToSailBeyondTheSunset'', Lazarus Long travels back in time and warns his parents of the imminent 1930s stock market crash. This information makes his parents and their descendants extremely rich.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath "City of Death"]], the Monster of the Week was splintered throughout time. His Renaissance persona made Leonardo da Vinci whip up 6 more copies of the Mona Lisa with the intent of having his 20[[superscript:th]] century persona steal the one in the Louvre and then sell off all seven and make a huge profit.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E7TheLongGame "The Long Game"]], Adam Mitchell, a TeenGenius who joined the Doctor and Rose on their travels at the end of the previous episode, tries to make money out of information about future technological developments, which could cause major disruptions to the time lines if it led to advances being made centuries ahead of their time. So the Doctor sends Adam home and tells him he is no longer welcome in the TARDIS.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E3SchoolReunion "School Reunion"]]: It was just plain weird how the school teacher the Doctor replaced won the lottery -- she didn't even play. The winning ticket was pushed under her door at midnight.

* In ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'', Sam participates in sweepstakes for the 1973 Grand National. He uses his knowledge to make sure he can profit from Red Rum's win.

* The ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "Moebius" involves SG-1 traveling back to 3000 B.C. to retrieve a [[PowerCrystal ZPM]]. Additionally, when Daniel suggests this at the beginning of the episode, Jack complains that he wouldn't let him use their time machine to go back and watch the Cubs win the World Series.
** Done again as a BrickJoke in "1969". After being returned to the eponymous year, Jack borrows some money from his commanding officer's younger self, promising to pay him back with interest. When the team returns home, said commanding officer tells Jack with a grin that Jack owes him $539.50, with compound interest.
* In the ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' episode "The Last Man", Sheppard tries to do this; while he's temporarily in the future, he asks hologram-Rodney if he remembers any Super Bowl winners from the 25 years after Sheppard left and before Rodney made the hologram. Unfortunately for him, Rodney "never was much of a sports fan"...
** Also, Rodney is Canadian.

* ''Series/TheOrville'': In the 29th century, artifact dealers go back in time to steal famous vehicles. To prevent the timeline from being altered, they only steal vehicles that were originally destroyed.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': The second time Calvin uses his time machine, he goes to the Jurassic to take pictures of real dinosaurs and sell them in the present. His parents, however, [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane just see pictures of toys]].
** And the first time he used it he planned on swiping something from the future and patenting it, but he accidentally went the opposite direction in the time stream.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Film/ThrillSeekers'' featured an agency which used time travel for tourists who wanted to witness various disasters from the past, such as the Titanic and Hindenburg. The plot kicks off when a TV reporter notices the same man in photographic records of these events set decades apart but looking exactly the same, and subsequently steals his technology to avert upcoming disasters.

* ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'' has seasonal leagues which add a new mechanic to the game, and in the Incursion league, you meet an explorer named Alva Valai who offers you a business proposal: She opens a ''PortalToThePast'' to an ancient temple that's been lost in today's history built 2000 years ago during its construction, kill some architects to determine what kind of treasure room gets made in there, repeat 10 more times until she can pinpoint the temple's location in the present, loot it, then reset the timeline of the temple and repeat.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': The second time Calvin uses his time machine, he goes to the Jurassic to take pictures of real dinosaurs and sell them in the present.

* Although not the main focus of the film, the protagonist of ''Film/{{Frequency}}'' drops a hint to his perenially unlucky friend to invest in Yahoo when the company gets created. The epilogue shows that he did just that.

** In "The Long Game", Adam Mitchell, a TeenGenius who joined the Doctor and Rose on their travels at the end of the previous episode, tries to make money out of information about future technological developments, which could cause major disruptions to the time lines if it led to advances being made centuries ahead of their time. So the Doctor sends Adam home and tells him he is no longer welcome in the TARDIS.

-->-- ''Series/DoctorWho'', "Tooth And Claw"

* On ''Series/CodeLyoko'', Ulrich uses a Return to the Past to buy a winning lottery ticket for Yumi's family, so they won't have to relocate. This gets everyone mad at Ulrich because each Return to the Past makes Xana stronger.

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutron'', Jimmy goes back in time to make his father invest in a successful business that he originally decided not to invest it. When Jimmy goes back to the present, he has everything he ever wanted, but his parents are cold and distant.

->'''Rose:''' I want [Queen Elizabeth I] to say "[[CatchPhrase We are not amused]]". I bet you five quid I can make her say it.\\