History Main / TimeTravelForFunAndProfit

* ''Conrad's Time Machine'' by Creator/LeoFrankowski uses this in multiple forms. First of all, the characters start out planning to use their new scientific discoveries for things like railroad tunnelling rather than time travel; and they do have many non-time-travel uses for the technology that is also useful for making a time machine. At one point, during the process of figuring out how to invent a really workable means of time travel, they seriously consider using time travel to steal from a bank vault, and get as far as figuring out the plan for how to do this. Fortunately, Jim Hasenpfeffer points out that it would make more sense just to use stock tips from future newspapers, and the characters get the money they need that way. And then, about halfway through the book, the characters are whisked away to a fabulously wealthy MarySueTopia island paradise which was built by their own future selves, in which all of this wealth was generated by the practical applications of time travel.

* In ''Up the Line'', by Creator/RobertSilverberg, most of the major characters work for the Time Service. The protagonist and several other characters are Couriers, who take parties of tourists to sightsee historical events. One use for the hefty fees charged to the tourists is financing scholarly research via time travel.

%% Image selected via crowner in the Image Suggestion thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/ImagePickin/ImageSuggestions58
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

* At the end of ''Anime/BatmanNinja'', it's revealed Catwoman sold the vase from Sengoku Era Japan Gorilla Grodd had been using as a trash can for his banana peels to an antique store in Gotham for a nice sum.
* One of the first ways the protagonists of ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'' try to use [[OurTimeMachineIsDifferent D-Mail]] for personal benefit is by sending winning lottery numbers to their past selves. In the altered timeline, the winning lottery numbers are all correct... except for the number 18, which is now 1''9''. This is one of the first hints that [[ButterflyOfDoom changing the past will cause other parts of the world to change]].

* In the first scene of ''Film/TimeCop'', criminals make money by going back to the 19th century and robbing a carriage full of gold... with laser-aimed machine guns.

* ''Film/{{Primer}}''. Abe and Aaron never got around to publicizing their time machine, because they were too busy using hourly time travel to make money day-trading stocks.
* ''Film/GroundhogDay'': Phil uses his knowledge gained from the GroundhogDayLoop to just walk up to an armored car and steal a bag of money at the exact moment neither guard will be looking. This is done more for the thrill of it than anything else, because he won't have time to spend much of the money before the next iteration of the loop.
* In ''Film/{{Paycheck}}'', [[spoiler: Michael uses his machine to see the next day's winning lottery numbers, giving him and the girl a HappilyEverAfter even after he destroys the machine]]. This is also the BigBad's plan, only on a much bigger scale.
* ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' has the old 2015 Biff borrow the time machine for this, giving his 1955 self an almanac with sports scores in the past (although Marty had actually bought the almanac for himself). The funny thing about the almanac is that in Part I, Doc Brown told Marty he was going to learn the winners of the next 25 World Series, [[{{Hypocrite}} then objected strongly to Marty buying the sports almanac]] in Part II. However, it's implied that he had no intention of profit for the former and just wanted the Fun part.
* Although not the main focus of the film, the protagonist of ''Film/{{Frequency}}'' drops a hint to his perennially unlucky friend to invest in Yahoo when the company gets created. The epilogue shows that he did just that.
* ''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 journalist 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.
* The ending of ''Film/HotTubTimeMachine'' reveals that [[spoiler:Lou, who [[IChooseToStay chose to stay]] in 1986, became immensely wealthy using his knowledge of the future to get an early lead on the tech boom, founding the search engine "[[Website/{{Google}} Lougle]]". He also became the frontman of Music/MotleyCrue (now called "Motley Lüe") along the way. SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome in the second film, however, where Lougle is now falling apart because Lou, having run out of ideas to steal from the original timeline, is now running the company into the ground with his terrible business decisions (among them moving the company's HQ to [[ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans New Orleans' French Quarter]] so he could get drunk and party).]] Earlier in the film, Lou also ''tries'' this by betting on the AFC Championship game, only for the ButterflyOfDoom to kick in with disastrous results.

* In ''[[Literature/JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy Johnny And The Bomb]]'', when Kirsty thinks that she and Johnny have traveled to the future, the first thing she wants to do is to find out what horses have won so she and Johnny can become rich.
** Later, after Wobbler has been trapped in the 1940s, he uses his knowledge of upcoming trends in the fast food industry to open his own chain of hamburger restaurants and become a millionaire.
** Whenever Mrs. Tachyon comes into any cash, she time-travels to the date on the coin or note to get the most value from the money.
* In the science fiction novella ''The Plagiarist'', a time-traveller supports herself by passing off science fiction stories from other authors (stories that wouldn't be published in the original timeline for decades) as her own writing.
* The ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' series, where TimeTravel is an integral and recurring aspect of the story's universe, has time tourists, and at one point we even see a group capturing footage of the ''actual'' Battle of Waterloo for a historical documentary.

* H. L. Gold's story [[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31892/31892-h/31892-h.htm "The Old Die Rich"]] is built around the CompoundInterestTimeTravelGambit, but with an unpleasant twist for the travellers.
* In the novel ''Literature/{{Replay}}'' by Ken Grimwood, the protagonist has a heart attack at 43, and wakes up in the body of his 18-year-old self. He uses his knowledge of the future to get rich, but gets bored with it.
** 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 ''Film/ANewHope'', 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]].
* In the novel ''Literature/TheManWhoFoldedHimself'', the protagonist uses his time-travel belt to get rich, but gets bored with money and decides to mostly use time-travel for sightseeing and [[spoiler:screwing himself]].
* Many people try this in ''Literature/TimeScout''. Usually they try to smuggle artwork to the present, or gamble downtime. And time tourism is booming.
* In ''Up the Line'', by Creator/RobertSilverberg, most of the major characters work for the Time Service. The protagonist and several other characters are Couriers, who take parties of tourists to sightsee historical events. One use for the hefty fees charged to the tourists is financing scholarly research via time travel.

* Creator/RobertSheckley has a story where a couple running an electrical appliance store have a few of those stolen. Turns out it was a genie from the past who got a job at the royal palace [[{{Nepotism}} solely through having influential relatives]], and, when the queen demanded spells to clean her clothes or cool her chambers, he found the spells to be too complex and could do nothing but [[MugglesDoItBetter steal some tech from our time]]. At first, they try to banish him (doesn't work because a genie is immune to all spells except from his own country, which they don't know). Then, they sabotage the devices and refuse to do maintenance on the ones already taken. So the genie attempts to start trading. At first, they are afraid it will cause a TemporalParadox, but change their mind after the genie says [[spoiler: "Don't worry, I'm from {{Atlantis}}. A couple of years and nothing will remain of it '''or''' your tech"]]. Then they decide to trade as much as possible.
* In Creator/TomHolt's ''Overtime'', one firm guarantees investors a profit by sending their money back in time to invest in ''the Crusades!'' (It's complicated.)
* In one of Creator/HarryHarrison's ''Literature/BillTheGalacticHero'' novels, the titular hero ends up traveling through time to an alternate past where Nazis have occupied New York. One of them captures Bill and his partner and asks them who they are. When Bill explains that they're from the future, the Nazi starts demanding lottery numbers, despite Bill explaining that they're from thousands of years in the future and, thus, have no idea what "lottery" even is.
* In ''Literature/{{The Green Futures of Tycho}}'', Tycho becomes hugely rich by paradoxically selling off future copies of his own time machine.
* In the YA novel ''Literature/LocksmithsCloset'', 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.
** Unfortunately, they forgot to do (5): [[spoiler:Come up with a plausible, parent-satisfying explanation for why they both have $640 in quarters stashed under the bed.]]
* In ''[[http://www.tor.com/stories/2011/08/wikihistory Wikihistory]]'', [="SneakyPete"=] changes history by getting Hitler admitted to Vienna's Academy of Fine Arts, and brings back some genuine Hitler paintings to sell. He forgot that the paint on these supposedly 200-year old paintings wasn't completely dry yet...
** A similar foul-up happens in the 1952 Creator/IsaacAsimov short story "Button, Button", where [[spoiler: a scientist brings a piece of parchment with the valuable, genuine signature of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button_Gwinnett Button Gwinnett]] to the present day...that is, a piece of ''new'' parchment with the valuable, genuine, ''very fresh'' signature of Button Gwinnett]].
* Deconstructed in ''Literature/ElevenTwentyTwoSixtyThree'': the protagonist funds his attempts to fix the past by betting on sports, but gets the attention of bookmarkers who try to beat his secret out of him. His mentor, in addition to the sports-betting thing, ran a diner incredibly cheaply by buying all his meat in 1958 and selling it in the twenty-first century.

* In "Literature/ASoundOfThunder" by Creator/RayBradbury, Travis' agency runs safaris into the past for big game hunters, who pay handsomely for the privilege. They take great care to ensure their clients only kill dinosaurs that were going to die anyway (in this case, a tree falling over it) and otherwise don't affect the present, but this ''is'' the story that named the ButterflyOfDoom...
* In Robert Heinlein'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 the short story "Literature/TimeAndTimeAgain" by Creator/HBeamPiper, the [[PeggySue 43-year-old Allan Hartley's mind is sent back in time to his 13-year-old self's body in 1945]]. He intends to alter history by having his father Blake elected U.S. President in 1960 and thereby prevent the outbreak of WorldWarThree. Allan plans to raise primary capital for his father's campaigns by placing bets on [[UsefulNotes/HorseRacing the winners of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes]] and by using his knowledge of future developments in chemistry to establish a company that will overshadow IG Farben.
* In ''Literature/GoodOmens'', Agnes Nutter left her descendants a book of prophesies that, when interpreted, gave them enough information about the future to be able to earn their living from her suggested investments. For instance, one prophesy was "Do not buy Betamacks."

* In ''Series/EarlyEdition'', Gary supports himself by using tomorrow's newspaper to bet on the ponies.
** Gary only did that in the first episode and quickly realized that the money didn't bring him happiness. Afterwards, he was always against using the paper for personal gain.

* Attempted in the early seasons of ''Series/GoodnightSweetheart'' but due to StatusQuoIsGod it doesn't work. A later attempt is more successful.

* Lampshaded/subverted on ''Series/{{Lost}}'', in which Hurley goes back to the '70s and attempts to rewrite (or rather, write in the first place) ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' when he goes back in time -- not to make money, but to improve it, because "Ewoks sucked, dude." He apparently has every intention of sending it to George Lucas.
** Sawyer references this in a later episode when he and Juliet are being kicked off the island. He says they'll buy a ton of Microsoft stock and bet on the Dallas Cowboys for Super Bowl XII in 1978, so that they'll be set for life.

*** Also, Rodney is Canadian.

* The aliens in ''VideoGame/ZakMcKrackenAndTheAlienMindbenders'' have a machine aboard their [[TheMothership mothership]] that predicts winning lottery numbers. Once you get aboard, all your financial troubles are over.

* In ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', musician Albert Fink has made a bundle by taking advantage of a portal to the future in his studio to plagiarize songs.
* In ''VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime'', this is BigBad Cyrille La Paradox's plan. By altering the past, including making false genealogical trees, he intends to establish his present organization as an NGOSuperpower, with himself being allegedly descended from royalty.
** His lackey, Grizz, has a similar usage of time travel: make elaborate cave paintings in the Ice Age, dig them up in the present, then sell them for an obscene fortune.
* Agent 5, Gage Blackwood, is framed for stealing items from his mission time periods in ''VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject 2: Buried in Time'', and he enlists his past self to fix the problem. From the news articles, everyone is aware of what the dangers of time travel are about, and from how celebrated Gage was from his efforts in the previous game, his peers refuse to believe that Gage would ever do this for personal gain, he was only arrested because that's where the evidence pointed. [[spoiler: Turns out that he really was framed. His colleague Agent 3, Michelle Visard, tampered items in those mission time periods to spread time travel technology to an alien race, since she, having had to research several time periods of war, believed [[HumansAreBastards humans should not be trusted with time travel technology.]] Because the items she was modifying would not only coincide with Gage's mission locations, they were also to be sold in an auction at the Louvre in the present day, Agent 3 could get away with it without the Temporal Security Agency knowing. She almost succeeded, [[StableTimeLoop if not for future Gage's intervention in the first place]].]]
* PlayedForDrama in ''VideoGame/QuantumBreak''. A time travel experiment gone wrong in 2016 sends Paul Serene to [[TimeCrash the End of Time]], but he manages to find another working time machine and escape back to 1999 (the earliest he can go by [[OurTimeTravelIsDifferent the game's time travel logic]]), where he founds Monarch Solutions with the aim of finding a way to stop the End. With his future knowledge, Paul makes financial investments that cause it to rapidly grow into a MegaCorp. A long series of whiteboards in the last level even shows his preparations year by year, whether they're financial (investing in [=YouTube=] and Twitter the moment they become available) or [[VillainWithGoodPublicity would provide good PR]] (having cleanup services ready when Deepwater Horizon explodes, helping Monarch employees during the subprime mortgage crisis).
* In ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'', one of the seasonal league mechanics (which is now in the main game), involves this. 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 11 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 fixation with looting this particular temple keeps her from wrecking havoc on the timeline.

* In the "Instant Replay" arc of ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' Kevyn uses stock market information from the future to get several million credits and hire the mercenary company that was going to kill captain Tagon.
** Similarly, his future self buys a lottery ticket once he's done saving the galaxy, and [[spoiler: [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-07-07 bets on some rigged races]] which gets the mob angry at him]].
* Doctor Cook from ''Webcomic/{{SSDD}}'' got on the [[MegaCorp Maytec]] board of directors after finding a PDA with stock quotes that fell through a time portal. In addition when he and the other "S.S.D.F." cast get stranded in the 21st century he starts a tech company (even Tessa admits to making a few quid via future knowledge).
* This is how Cassie Wells of ''Webcomic/TimesLikeThis'' funds many of her time travels, [[spoiler: and her time machine in the first place]].
* Jin of ''Webcomic/WapsiSquare'' uses her memory of previous times through a GroundhogDayLoop to make a killing in stocks.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'', people from the far future have set up a hotel in prehistoric times, using ''Australopithecus'' as staff.

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'', 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.

* In ''WesternAnimation/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.
* An episode of the ''[[WesternAnimation/CaptainCavemanAndTheTeenAngels Captain Caveman]]'' segment of ''[[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones The Flintstone Comedy Show]]'' sees this as the 20th century villain Futuro's plan: using a time machine to go back in time to Bedrock and steal random worthless stuff (a coat rack, benches, a cash register, etc.) and sell it in the present as valuable "antiques."
* Louie's "GetRichQuickScheme" in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/Ducktales2017'' involves using time travel to "find" lost historical treasures before they were lost. It's not stealing because, being lost, they didn't belong to anyone. While it seems like the setup for a StableTimeLoop, it actually sets up a "Timephoon" that brings people from each timeframe he visited into the present.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'' 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.
* A more sympathetic example appears in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Goobacks". The titular time travelers come from a BadFuture of poverty and unemployment. Thus, they travel back in time, work odd jobs, and set up back accounts that will provide for the families they left behind.
* ''WesternAnimation/StrokerAndHoop'' had YetAnotherChristmasCarol where Stroker stumbles into a lottery scam ring where the Ghost of Christmas Future relays winning lottery tickets to the Ghost of Christmas Past through the Ghost of Christmas Present as they teach people the meaning of Christmas. They attempt to assassinate Santa Claus when he started getting on their trail, which gets Stroker involved when he accidentally got their current lottery ticket.

* In ''VideoGame/TheSims3'' 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 ''Film/TheTimeTravelersWife'', Henry and Clare are having money problems, and their relationship is starting to crack. So, he uses his ability to find out the winning lottery numbers and get the $500,000 first prize. Clare is initially appalled at his misuse of his ability, but he points out that his ability is, for the most part, a curse, so why not get something good out of it?

*** "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.

* In ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'', musician Albert Fink has made a bundle by taking advantage of a portal to the future in his studio to plagiarize songs.

** 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 ''Film/ANewHope'', 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]].

* The trope is used very loosely in ''RampageThroughTime''.

** The ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' book "Legends of the Ferengi" has a brief summary of what happens when a [[PlanetOfHats race]] of {{CMOT Dibbler}}s [[GambitPileup discovers]] TimeTravel:

* ''Literature/NightWatch'' rather abruptly ventures into this territory in the later book. At first the general assumption is that both Night and Day Watches finance their operations through front companies in the human world, with the Night Watch [[TheFettered feeling the obligation]] to rely on "wholesome" pursuits like making dairy products and therefore being generally more strained for cash than their EvilCounterpart. And then, in "Sixth Watch" it is suddenly revealed that they have pretty much unlimited funds obtained by farseers playing stock market. Granted, it does play in the overarching theme of [[NotSoDifferent blurring the border]] between Light Ones and Dark Ones.

* An episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' involved a camera that could take pictures of the future (you take a picture, but when it develops it shows the subject five minutes in the future). The people in the episode go to the racetrack and take pictures of the tote board, which would show the winners and who they should bet on.

* You can use your [[TimelineAlteringMacGuffin knowledge of the future]] to make money in the past. Example: go to the future and find out what horse is going to win, what stock is going to rise, what lottery number is going to be picked, etc. Note that you can have only the information; you don't have to actually time-travel.

** 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]].

* ''ComicBook/MegaMan'' issue #53 reveals [[spoiler:Xander Payne, having been sent back in time after smacking the ResetButton at the end of ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogMegaManWorldsUnite'', used his knowledge of stocks, lotteries and gambling to found the X Foundation and establish the [[VideoGame/MegaMan6 Mr. X]] persona.]]

** Later, after Wobbler has been trapped in the 1940's, he uses his knowledge of upcoming trends in the fast food industry to open his own chain of hamburger restaurants and become a millionaire.

* A variation occurs in the television adaptation of ''[[Series/GoodOmens2019 Good Omens]]''. Agnes Nutter uses her extremely accurate prophecies to direct her descendants in the 80's to invest in [[UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh "Master Jobbes machine" for "an Apple that cannot be eaten"]].

Beware of TimePolice, though. And note that the ButterflyOfDoom and the TimelineAlteringMacGuffin both existed because of this trope. This implies the existence of CasualTimeTravel.

* In "Literature/ASoundOfThunder" by Creator/RayBradbury, Travis' agency runs safaris into the past for big game hunters, who pay handsomely for the privilege.

* 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 game. When the kicker found out, the pressure caused him to miss. Despite losing all his money he is overjoyed, because this proves that the future ''can'' be changed.

* One issue of ''ComicBook/BackToTheFuture'' shows that Doc Brown financed his activities in the future by taking the [=DeLorean=] back to 1938 to buy several copies of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Comics_1 Action Comics #1]], then selling a couple of them to an auction house in 2015 for $2.5 million.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' has the old 2015 Biff borrow the time machine for this, giving his 1955 self an almanac with sports scores in the past (although Marty had actually bought the almanac for himself). The funny thing about the almanac is that in Part I, Doc Brown told Marty he was going to learn the winners of the next 25 World Series, [[{{Hypocrite}} then objected strongly to Marty buying the sports almanac]] in Part II.

* The ending of ''Film/HotTubTimeMachine'' reveals that [[spoiler:Lou, who [[IChooseToStay chose to stay]] in 1986, became immensely wealthy using his knowledge of the future to get an early lead on the tech boom, founding the search engine "[[Website/{{Google}} Lougle]]". He also became the frontman of Music/MotleyCrue (now called "Motley Lüe") along the way. RealityEnsues in the second film, however, where Lougle is now falling apart because Lou, having run out of ideas to steal from the original timeline, is now running the company into the ground with his terrible business decisions (among them moving the company's HQ to [[ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans New Orleans' French Quarter]] so he could get drunk and party).]] Earlier in the film, Lou also ''tries'' this by betting on the AFC Championship game, only for the ButterflyOfDoom to kick in with disastrous results.

* ''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]].

* 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. Despite losing all his money he is overjoyed, because this proves that the future ''can'' be changed.