🐮💰 How to teach kids to use money for experiences, not just things

Hey There,

Thanks for joining us for another hot edition of Mini Millionaires.

Please keep those replies, DMs and messages coming. We’ve loved hearing about everyone’s mini millionaires journey. 

Each week we chat about a money topic using our 3 main topic pillars: a mindset to cultivate, a habit to form, and a tip to try. 

Between school runs, play dates, and everything else, we know family life is busy. Our Mini Millionaires newsletter is nice and simple to digest, with a really nifty takeaway for moms and dads to help the lesson stick.

If there’s any money topic you and your mini millionaire would like to learn about next, just let us know.

Let’s get into this week’s topic: How to teach kids to use money for experiences, not just things.

🙌 The Ultimate Battle Royale: Things, or experiences.

⭐ This Week’s Free Resource: Has us seeing stars.

🎲 In The News: FinMaster’s Exclusive Books launch takes SA by storm.

✖️ The Votes Are In: What your fam’s stokvel is saving towards.

We’re willing to bet that if you were to ask your mini millionaire about their favourite memory from last year, the chances are, it's not a toy. 

It's probably that one a braai with cousins were the toasted marshmallows late into the night, a family holiday you took that long weekend, or even that movie night on the couch that turned into watching the same movie 5 times across that weekend. 

We live in a world designed to make kids want things. Item after item, making us want more more more.

The good news though experiences make us happier than stuff. 

And as South Africans, we're sitting on a treasure chest of affordable, meaningful experiences right on our doorsteps, just waiting to be had.

Stuff fades, but stories stay.

There's a reason your mini millionaire struggles to remember half the gifts they got two birthdays ago. 

Psychologist Dr Thomas Gilovich spent over 20 years at Cornell University studying this exact phenomenon. His research found that happiness from things fades fast, while happiness from experiences grows over time. 

It's called hedonic adaptation, but it’s basically just some fancy words for "new stuff stops feeling new." 

Experiences, on the other hand, become part of who we are, actually shaping our identity, not just some short-term satisfaction. 

Takeaway: The best things in life really aren't even things.

The experience budget.

Here's a small shift that makes a big difference: carve out a dedicated slice of your mini millionaire's Spend jar specifically for experiences, not stuff. 

Let them pick a cool name for it, think: "Adventure Fund" or "Memory Jar" and make it feel intentional. 

Have them save toward a chosen experience: a family hike, a local market, a cooking afternoon. 

Research shows that even the anticipation of an awesome experience brings us joy, long before it even happens. So the saving itself becomes part of the fun.

Takeaway: The anticipation is all part of the experience. And it's free.

The 24-Hour rule + the swap.

The next time your mini millionaire spots something they simply have to have, you can try two things. 

First, the 24-hour rule: wait a full day before spending. 

Then introduce them to the swap: "Would you rather buy this cool new thing, or use the same money to do something together?" 

You'd be surprised how often they choose the experience. 

Research shows that family activities and shared experiences are a powerful source of children's wellbeing. 

So it’s really not about saying no to stuff, but rather about saying yes to something better.

Takeaway: Things get forgotten in the toy box. Experiences get retold over dinner.

Not all spending is created equal, and the free, downloadable Spend Stars resource helps your mini millionaire figure out which purchases were worth it, and which ones they'd rather forget. 

They rate each thing they've spent money on, from 1 to 5 stars, based on how they feel about it now. 

Pssst, we’re more confident than a chatbot giving a made up answer that the movie day with the fam is going to score way higher than the tub of slime.

Download it, print it, and let the ratings do the talking.

We’ve had such a great time over the last few weeks of our FinMaster x Exclusive Books launch from Cape Town, to Jozi, Pretoria to Durban.

Thanks to all of you who came out to support us, and of course enjoy a few rounds of FinMaster. We are so grateful.

A big thank you to our new friends at Exclusive Books for all the help and support over our launch weeks. We had the best time with you.

It also meant that several news publications covered our launch and brought it to a whole host of new FinMaster players.

Check out the most recent 2 on Moneyweb and TechCentral.

And with winter settling in nicely across South Africa, it doesn't get any better than a games night with loved ones at home.

In last week’s edition of Mini Millionaires: how to teach kids about stokvels and group savings, we asked you what your family stokvel is saving towards? And guess most of us are going on holiday. Let’s GO!

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🏖️ A family holiday

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🎮 Something fun (new console, day out, treat)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🎓 School fees or education costs

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🛒 Groceries or household essentials

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💰 A long-term savings goal

What you said: 

“I really LOVE this idea of my family saving together towards something cool like a holiday. Wow. Thank you Mini Millionaires team - you are brilliant. Big fan.”

JM

Thanks. We’re glad to be of service, Big fan… 😂

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?

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