Hi there,

Welcome to this week’s edition of Mini Millionaires.

In this edition, we’re talking about how to teach kids to measure their financial progress using our magic formula of a mindset to cultivate, a habit to form, and a tip to try, plus our free resource to help the lesson land.

We also can't wait to hang out with some of you at our very first FinMaster Friday this coming Friday, 6 February, at LaunchLab in Stellenbosch.

Pssst! Get all the details further down in this edition.

We’ve also loved hearing all about your mini millionaires journey, so hit reply, introduce yourself, and let us know what you’d like to learn about next as you shape the next generation of money masters.

Let’s go.

Imagine playing a game of soccer, netball, or cricket where no one kept score.

Or suddenly, your favourite video game no longer has an Experience Points bar. 

(Don't worry if you don't get the reference. If you have a gamer in your home, they’ll be able to show you).

How would you know if you were winning or losing the game, or if you were even playing the game correctly?

For most kids, money goes into their piggy bank or bank account and disappears until they want to buy something. 

But money is a great scorecard to measure financial progress, and if your mini millionaire can't see their progress, they might lose interest.

Don’t measure what you can spend, measure what you can grow.

Most kids view money as a fuel tank that’s only useful when it’s being emptied (i.e., spending the money). 

But to a mini millionaire, however, money is a seed. 

Progress isn't measured by the size of the new flashy toy they just bought, but by the size of their money army they are building. 

When they see a growing balance as potential power rather than just a future purchase, their relationship with wealth changes forever.

It’s not just their spending power that increases, but their saving power, and their ability to invest in longer-term investments like stocks, properties, and other investments.

Takeaway: The higher the balance, the higher their level in the game of life. (Well, one of the areas of life, anyway.)

Do A Weekly Scoreboard Check-in.

Awareness is the enemy of impulse spending. 

Pick a specific time every week, like a lazy Sunday afternoon, and let your mini millionaire do an audit on their jars, piggy bank or account. 

See what’s in there, how has it grown (or shrunk) in the last week? 

What are the things they did to increase the amount (like chores for extra pocket money, or not spending the cash someone gave them as a gift)?

What did they do to decrease the amount (did they spend it on sweets at the school tuckshop)?

By physically counting or recording the total, they internalise the growth.

Takeaway: You cannot manage what you do not monitor.

Create a "High-Score" Heat Map.

Humans are wired for visual dopamine. 

Grab a piece of paper, draw a "thermometer" or a progress bar, and stick it on the fridge. 

Let your child colour it in as they reach milestones (R10, R50, R100). 

Seeing that line climb gradually toward the finish line provides the same psychological reward as when they level up in a video game, making even the boring middle part of saving feel like a win.

Takeaway: Make the invisible progress visible to keep the momentum high.

To help your child master their money scoreboard, we’ve created the “My Money Scoreboard” tool to turn theory into action.

It helps kids audit their Spend, Save, Share, and Sow buckets. By comparing Last Week to This Week, they’ll learn to internalise their growth and own their decisions.

It even includes a Money Mission section to help them crush their goals for the week ahead.

It’s free, so download it, print it out, and let your mini millionaire keep track of their money week in and week out.

Cancel your Friday plan, grab a friend, and get your tickets, cause this Friday, 6 February we are in Stellenbosch for our first-ever FinMaster Friday.

Join us at LaunchLab in Stellenbosch from 17:00 to 20:00 for some fun, laughter, drinks and snacks, all while sharpening your money skills with our dynamic, smart money board game FinMaster.

Martha from Potchefstroom said, “Finmaster is ~60mins of laughter and sound financial insight, definitely a big win!” after she picked up a copy on Takealot in December.

There are only a handful of seats left, so hurry so you don't miss out.

In last week’s reader poll, we asked you to describe your family's medical "Armour", and Mini Millionaire readers have a solid shield with their medical aid good to go…

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ ⚔️ Fully Protected with Medical Aid, Gap Cover, and critical illness cover.

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🛡️ A Solid Shield: Medical Aid is good to go.

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 👤 We are amateur biohackers. No one gets sick in our fam.

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🛠️ We are busy researching our options.

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤞 Fingers crossed this year is not 202sicks.

What you said: 

“Pain in the neck (not to mention a costly exercise), but far rather that than taking one's chances with our public hospitals, to be perfectly honest.”

JM

It’s all about figuring out what works best for you and your family. But here’s hoping 2026 is a year of good health for all.

What’s been your mini millionaire’s favourite lesson they’ve learnt from our newsletter so far?

Or is there something you’re navigating on their money smart journey right now you’d like us to talk about in an upcoming feature?

Hit reply and tell us. We’d love to know.

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