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Welcome to this week’s edition of Mini Millionaires.

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A major expense in many South African households is a car. In fact, there’s been a 21% increase in year-on-year credit agreements for vehicle financing alone in 2025.

If you’ve been reading Mini Millionaires for a while, you’ll know we don't like to advocate for one specific way with regard to any of the topics we discuss. We understand that every family’s situation is different, and so is the way they handle their finances.

So, while there are several different ways to purchase a car, in this week’s edition, we want to talk about how to teach kids about car financing in South Africa.

One of the key concepts we hope to land is that while it’s a lot of fun driving around in your shiny new wheels today, financing your car means you’ll be committed to spending a chunk of money every month towards paying it off.

Let’s get into it…

Cars are everywhere in our mini millionaires’ world. 

School runs, driving on holiday, even trips to visit Granny and Grandpa. Some like to feel it go fast, or make a loud noise, or perhaps slip in behind the wheel pretending to drive while the car is parked in the driveway.

What they don’t see is the paperwork behind the steering wheel: The initial loan (plus interest), the insurance, the pain at the pump every time we put in petrol…

The cost of owning a car has increased drastically over the last 10 years, outpacing inflation by nearly 40%.

But there’s a teachable moment here amongst the financial implications of private vehicle ownership. 

Instead of waiting until our kids have signed their first car’s offer to purchase, we can use cars as a simple, everyday way to talk about borrowing, trade-offs, and what “affordable” really means.

Every big purchase is a choice between “now” and “later”.

Car finance can look like “free access” to a brand new car right now.

But here’s the thing, buying a car is not just a once-off price; but it’s actually a long-term commitment.

In South Africa, vehicle and asset finance is one of the major categories of consumer credit, alongside home loans and credit cards, showing just how common car debt has become.

You can explain it to your mini millionaire like this: “When we take out car financing, we’re saying yes to this car now, but no to some future choices, because part of our money is now earmarked for a car repayment every month.”

Takeaway: Purchasing a car on credit is a long-term commitment.

Teach “total cost thinking”, not just “sticker price thinking”.

Kids usually hear, “This car costs R300 000.” 

But that’s merely the dealership’s sticker price, not the real cost. 

In reality, South African drivers face petrol costs, car insurance, licence fees, tyres, services, parts, and other consumables, all of which start adding up fast, with the additional annual cost of running a car reaching tens of thousands of rands, even for smaller cars.

But what this presents is an opportunity for conversation with your mini millionaire. Whenever you see a car advert, ask them, “What else would we have to pay for each month to keep this car on the road?”

Takeaway: Learning to count the real cost helps make wiser choices later.

Run a “mini car loan” game with something they want.

Instead of a lecture on interest, turn their next big want into a pretend car finance deal. 

Pick a toy, game, or outing and set a “purchase price”. 

(Bonus points if it’s a toy car…)

Then agree on: a deposit, monthly “instalments” deducted from their pocket money (juuuust like a debit order), and a simple extra cost for “interest” if they choose to pay it off slowly instead of saving up for it first.

The real lesson here is when your mini millionaire sees how they end up with less pocket money in future months because they are paying off the toy, game, or outing.

Takeaway: Kids grasp how financing works faster when they can see and feel repayments in real life.

To make car financing easier for kids to understand, we created a simple hands-on activity called The Toy Financing Game. 

Instead of explaining interest and instalments in theory (yawn), this worksheet lets your mini millionaire experience how financing works using something fun like a toy, game, or even an outing. 

They choose an item, decide on a deposit, add a bit of interest, and then work out monthly “repayments” from their pocket money. 

The magic moment is when they see how those repayments reduce their future spending. It’s a playful, practical way to teach real-world borrowing and budgeting.

FinMaster recently touched down in Copenhagen for the Next Generation Digital Action programme, hosted by DTU Skylab. 

The week saw nearly 200 young entrepreneurs and academics from 19 countries, all exploring how digital innovation can shape the future. 

As part of the programme, we had the opportunity to pitch FinMaster at the Digital Tech Summit, connect with an incredible global community, and, of course, play a few rounds of FinMaster. 

And to top it all off, we walked away with another international award in the bag for Best Pitch for FinMaster.

You can also find out what the FinMaster hype is all about. Get you’re hands on a copy today.

Last week, we asked families if they had an emergency fund, and what a mixed bag of results…

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 💰 Yes, and we add to it often.

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🪙 Sort of, but we’re not very consistent.

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🧾 Not yet, but planning to start.

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 😅 Nope, we’re winging it.

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🧠 Working on teaching the idea before we build the fund.

What you said: 

“Also seem to be having a lot of emergencies lately - hahaha.”

J

Isn't that just how it goes hey? Suddenly, a few things pop up back-to-back. 🫣

“It's hard to save, cost of living has gone up, R4000 groceries now look like R2000, shrinkflation has also hit us hard. So we spending more, getting less and all with the same salary ”

M

100%. The other day we bought monthly groceries and we were convinced we were getting stronger cause we could manage to carry it all in one go. Turns out we had just gotten less. 😢

What’s the mindset, habit, or tip you want to try this week?

What worked, what didn’t? Or is there something that’s got you and your mini millionaire excited? 

We’d love to get your thoughts, so hit reply to this email and let us know what's on your mind.

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