History Main / TimeTravelForFunAndProfit

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

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

* ''Literature/ThePsychologyOfTimeTravel'': The reporter Zach Callaghan previously published an exposé about time travellers using their unique situation to minimize their income tax.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': The episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E46AMostUnusualCamera A Most Unusual Camera]]" involves a camera that can 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.

** 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.
** And in ''another'', he had to write a paper at 6:30 but didn't feel like doing it, so he went two hours into the future to pick up the completed paper. Except, of course, that there ''wasn't'' a paper at 8:30 since two hours ago he went to the future instead of writing it. 6:30 and 8:30 Calvins rationally decide it's 7:30 Calvin's fault and go see ''him'', but of course he's no closer to writing it (and when 6:30 threatens to punch him, 7:30 points out 8:30 is going to feel it too). Fortunately 6:30 and 8:30 Hobbeses wrote the paper, a write-up of that evening's adventures narrated by Hobbes. Calvin ended up (according to him) looking like a lunatic in front of the class, but it got him an A+.

* ''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 [[MirroringFactions blurring the border]] between Light Ones and Dark Ones.

* 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.

-->-- ''Series/DoctorWho'', [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E2ToothAndClaw "Tooth and Claw"]]

* 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.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* ''Series/{{Blackadder}} Back & Forth'' involves an unscrupulous man with a time machine. By the end he's King, his buddy is PM, he's married to the hottest woman in history, he has 98% approval, and had disbanded parliament.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath "City of Death"]]: The MonsterOfTheWeek is splintered throughout time. His Renaissance persona makes 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.
** [[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 timeline 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.
** Gets [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E7TheUnicornAndTheWasp "The Unicorn and the Wasp"]], when Donna accidentally mentions Literature/MissMarple and ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'' to Creator/AgathaChristie years before she wrote them, and then adds, "Tell you what, copyright, Donna Noble, okay?"
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]]: It's implied the Doctor did this with the lottery ticket [[spoiler:which he gave to Donna]]. And he got the coin to buy the ticket from the bride's dead father in the past, so that he could get her a wedding present.

* On ''Series/{{Eureka}}'', the Season 1 finale involves a time-travel paradox that, when resolved, leaves Carter and Henry the only people who remember it. In the second season premiere, Carter points to out Henry that they now know all the sports results for the next four years, as well as what movies will be good.

* 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 80s to invest in [[UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh "Master Jobbes machine" for "an Apple that cannot be eaten"]].
* 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.

*** Done 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.
*** "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 [[{{EveryYearTheyFizzleOut}} the Cubs win the 1908 World Series]].
** 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"...

* An episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' concerns a traveller from the 25th century who came back to see what the 24th century was like...except he was really from the 22nd century and had stolen the TimeMachine he was using, so he could steal futuristic technology and bring it to the past (his present) where he would "invent" it.
** The ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' book "Legends of the Ferengi" has a brief summary of what happens when a [[PlanetOfHats race]] of [[HonestJohnsDealership CMOT Dibblers]] [[GambitPileup discovers]] TimeTravel:
--> 17822 was a ''very'' interesting year on Ferenginar. In that year alone, over twenty thousand Grand Nagi held office; the Ferengi Financial Exchange crashed 3152 times, while setting 12322 record highs; there were 41098 civil wars; an unknown number of Ferengi-incited interstellar wars (estimates are in the millions); and the Ferengi sun went nova at least once a week.
--> In other words, 17822 was the year Ferenginar discovered time travel.
** Eventually a Ferengi named Twim decides to put a stop to the lunacy, does... ''[[NoodleIncident something]]''... with a time machine; and when the dust cleared, Twim was Grand Nagus and the penalty for TimeTravel was death.
* An episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' 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.

* 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. One of early shorts had Jimmy trick his mother into letting him have a single cookie, then use a time travel remote to rewind time a few seconds to get the same cookie over and over again.
* On ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Stan goes back in time to the 70s and drops a "Best of the 1970s" cassette there. The Roger of the past finds it and becomes a wealthy songwriter by "[[PlagiarismInFiction writing]]" the songs on the tape. [[AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted He then loses it all]] thanks to heavy spending on parties and luxuries when disco goes out of style.

* 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 bank accounts that will provide for the families they left behind.

* In the Ruby-Spears ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' cartoon, there was one episode where ComicBook/LexLuthor stole a machine that can see one hour into the future. He considered using it to bet on horses.

* 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.

* 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.

* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'': Conversed in a flashback between Jimmy and Mike in the finale. While discussing where would they go if they have a time machine, Jimmy says he would go back in time to invest in Berkshire Hathaway and come back as a billionaire. Mike (who says he would stop his past self from becoming a dirty cop) is disappointed as he is hoping Jimmy to not be so greedy and have some regrets.

* ''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 {{Utopia}} 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.

* 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.

** Kevyn's 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]].

* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'': A time machine is built that's powered by low-background lead, which is scarce enough that they only have enough for one round trip. After explaining that the primary source of low-background lead is Roman shipwrecks they decide to [[https://xkcd.com/2321/ create some more]].