Making, investing, and managing ISK, EVE’s main currency, are complex and distinct challenges in a game as intricate as EVE Online. Building your fortune of ISK takes time, and alongside knowing how to make money, you need to know how to keep it. So we posed the question to our community of EVE Online experts: how do you manage your money? How do you cultivate good financial habits and avoid common scams and money-losing mistakes? It resulted in this comprehensive guide of top tips for keeping hold of your ISK while slowly growing your treasury. For related reading, check out our guide on how to invest 500 million ISK in EVE Online and learn how to turn a little into a lot.

Without further ado, here's an  EVE Online money management guide you don’t want to miss:

Only fly what you can afford to lose

Our first tip is an EVE Online classic. It comes courtesy of FirestormGamingTeam, who explains that you should only fly with what you can afford to lose. Every time you embark on a trip through the black in EVE Online, you're essentially gambling that you'll return successfully, and you know what they say about gambling: only gamble with money you can afford to lose. The exact same ethos rings true in EVE.

Sturmer provided similar advice in simpler terms: don't get blown up. It's easier said than done, but he explains "the biggest losses come from having your ship destroyed". Much like FirestormGamingTeam, he suggests using "only what you need for the task," and not going over-the-top with your fit. In other words, keep the bling at home.

"Most of my fits are T2. Even when running 10/10 DED sites, I don't use ships filled with A/X-types like a piñata. My piloting and character skills are enough to make cheap fits work."

It's clearly a popular way of playing, because TheGreatestBanana12 also agrees: "Bling doesn't mean you’ll win - that fancy expensive ship you just bought won't mean a thing if you don't know how to use it properly."

Loot everything, even if it has no value

Some games advise against looting worthless items because they'll take up precious inventory space and are useless to boot. In EVE Online however, you can find a collector for anything, and due to the economy, even seemingly worthless items may one day increase in value. This is another tip from Sturmer who reminds us that "station space is limitless", so there's no harm in setting it aside for the future.

Kane Carnifex recommends doing a yearly spring clean to organise everything in your storage, because "outdated doctrine ships, loot, and a lot of indy stuff" can increase in value.

Convert spare ISK to PLEX

This tip comes courtesy of Limal who explains that since ISK inflation is high, they always convert any spare ISK they have into PLEX:

"I do not follow price fluctuations or hunt for a perfect price, I just go on the market and buy whatever I need, almost every day. Some of my friends fell for the trap of buying absurdly expensive items on the market, then their wallets were empty, so don’t make their mistake. PLEX is also very liquid and in high demand, so if I need cash, I can always turn it into ISK or transfer it to my other characters."

Accept menial tasks early in your career

When you're still trying to make it in the world, like a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed capsuleer on their first day in the job, don't be afraid of taking on menial tasks. Brother Grimoire explains that this is how they paved their path:

"Everything was too expensive for me when I started playing EVE. Corpmates doing hangar cleanouts would contract me stuff they were too lazy to sell because I was an impoverished newbro. As my experience with EVE grew, so did my wallet. I found myself exploring, gas harvesting, and running Sleeper Sites in wormholes for ISK."

These days, he uses a third-party tool known as Highsec Buyback to sell off loot that he "leaves in random highsec stations," saving him time so he doesn't have to haul everything to Jita.

Time is money

Another EVE adage applicable to life in general is that time is money. This is another tip from FirestormGamingTeam who uses the following example: "People will say they don't care if they mine all day because they made 80 million. Sure, that may be true, but over a seven-hour period, that is only 13.3 million per hour."

Instead, you should know your worth per hour and make your money that way, he explains, finishing it off with a memorable rule: "ISK income is about ISK per hour, not ISK per activity."

On that note, here’s some more advice from Kane Carnifex: "If you want to PLEX your account, don´t lose yourself in the grind. Sometimes just paying out $5 a month is better than having to grind."

Consolidate your assets

Finally, we have FUN INC with another tip that can loosely be applied to real life: consolidate your assets. Make sure they’re somewhere secure:

"If you're like me and, during the course of roaming, you nab some kills and some nice mods, then remember: AAS - Always Asset Safety! Once it’s in asset safety, get it moving, and arrange for the mods to be hauled periodically and sold at a trade hub. This ISK adds up very quickly!"

That rounds off our guide to money management in EVE Online, so you can look after your finances and earn more with ease. Do you have any additional tips or thoughts on managing finances in the space simulator? Let us know in the comments below!

Some text has been edited for brevity, clarity, or spelling, punctuation, and grammar. You can find the original wording here. Image credit: Razorien via Flickr