Converting money to items

I'm getting close to maxing out my gold. I want to see what options are available for converting money into items. I know that lockpicks are fairly stable at 1,250g each. Ectos and Zkeys tend to fluctuate a lot though, so buying some of those are very risky.

What other methods are there of converting cash, or at least storing more?

I currently use 2 accounts, one as a secondary pack mule.
With how cheap buying the game is now, why wouldn't you. you don't even need all the expansions either, just buy one and voila, you have 2x the storage space and character inventories =)

If you don't like the chances of ecto or zkeys or arms staying relatively stable, lockpicks are indeed probably your best bet.

Zaishen keys would've been ok (they've been steady since the "red resign" fiasco ended), but they'll probably go up due to PvE'ers using them for the PvP trophy for the HoM.

- ecto and zkeys arent a big risk.... even if they fall the one day they'll rise another day.
def the easiest way....

- like u already said... lockpicks are and will always be 1,2-1,25k.... buy em from some guild with a town for 1,2k/ea and u will never lose any money. still u won't get more back tho...

- use storage account. 8toons on first account + storage = 1800k, at least 4 toons on other acc + storage = 1400k... thats 3200k you can have cash...

still.... if you already have that much, buying ecto's and maybe losing 100k cause of falling prices isnt a big deal...

I think you should still go for ectos because it's the most important currency in gw

not everyone accepts lockpicks but almost everyone accepts ectos

Good luck selling all of those lockpicks after ^^

the best bet tends to be ecto, yes their value shifts around, but be smart and buy as they are low, only sell when they are higher/same amount as bought.

also, once you have a large ecto amount you can store your money in rare minis

I have always been very careful and was heavily diversifying my stackable wealth into many different kinds of items, with ectos being less than 25%. But for more than a year now, despite the fluctuations, ectos have been very stable in the long term. Also they're easiest and fastest to both buy and sell in large quantities so out of my laziness (and much much less time for GW) I'm now converting almost all extra gold into ectos. They're safe and the just added HoM achievement point for Obsi armor will ensure the demand will stay high over time, even after GW2 release.

Any place to go (other than just trying to buy/sell in game) to get an approximate current exchange rate on z-keys, ecto, etc.?

Ecto go for somewhere between the trader buy/sell prices. 14 or 15 per 100k is where they are at the moment. For zkeys, the Great Temple American is usually where they're traded the most. I haven't checked the prices lately, but I suspect that they've gone up - PvE people will be buying them for the PvP trophy for the HoM. I would personally stay away from zkeys for awhile as a method of storing cash.

could convert money into Black Dyes, they stay stable no matter what economy is at.

If you are critical about keeping your money in the +... Go farm up a bit of luxon faction, join an alliance with a town, buy as many lockpicks as you would like at 1.2k from luxon merchant. And that will give you a good stackable collateral that you can easily trade for 1.2k if you just need cash, or for 1.25k if you want to make a little. (1.25k is a little more tedious)

Regarding stability lockpics are the best choice. Bur ectos and zkeys are far easier to sell. If you are gonna quit the game for a while, ectos/zkeys/braces/black dyes are certainly risky. I had around 300e when they were 9-10k. When i came back to game, they were 4-5k. Now they are around 8k again.

Limited pets seemed to be a nice choice for long periods of time, but HoM update messed things up. As I play almost everyday, I have all my big money in ectos, but I always keep an eye in their prices. Fluctuation in ecto prices is slow, takes days till a significant fluctuation. Major fluctuations come when there are updates concerning farming builds (for ectos and braces specially). When that happens, it usually becomes more expensive. Rubies and sapphires are a big risk, I wouldnt put my money on them.

Braces are also a not good choice these days. They went from 18e to 25e because of HoM update, but I believe they will go down again. Ive lost money on them when they were around 45e each and went down. Quit game for a few weeks and they were down to 38e.

Regarding all that, chose lockpics if you want a safe place, chose ectos/zkeys if you dont mind about small risks. Forget dyes, obsidian shards and specially armbraces. Wait before thinking on limited minis cause market is weird. If you wanna go for minis, destroyer seems to be the best pick. Asians are still crazy, impossible to know when they will stop dropping.

shards ectos n zkeys are like playing with shares