How to teach kids to be money confident, one small decision at a time. Real practice, everyday habits, and a free braai-budget worksheet for SA parents
Being confident when it comes to money isn't about having it all figured out.
What it’s really about is feeling equipped and capable enough to make a call (even if that means sometimes getting it wrong), then dusting yourself off and trying again.
That’s why we are so passionate about what we’re doing with Mini Millionaires. When kids (and their parents) just put off learning about how to work with money cause it’s considered "adult stuff", they tend to grow into adults who feel anxious about it.
But the good news is that confidence is built like any other skill: small stakes, real practice, and room to stumble.
Money is a skill you practise.
Mini millionaires who one day just decide "I’m bad at (fill in the blank)" often stop trying altogether.
It’s the exact same thing with money.
Psychologists call this a fixed mindset: treating ability as something you either have or you don't. A growth mindset, however, sees money as a skill that can be improved by intentional effort and gets stronger every time it's used.
See, confidence isn't the starting point, but rather what ends up being built as a result of competence. And that makes your job as a parent pretty easy. Catch the "I'm bad at money" early and help reframe it.
Takeaway: Being good with money is something that’s practised one small decision at a time.
Let them make the call.
The only way to build real money confidence comes from being trusted with real decisions.
A mini millionaire who only ever watches you handle the money learns to sit back and wait for a grown-up. So why don't you give them a regular small money decision they can make all on their own?
A really easy start could be which treat to buy with their pocket money, or whether to save it for something bigger.
A study of young adults found that the kids who got to manage their own money and make their own choices grew into the adults most confident with it.
The hardest part might be for you to sit back while a (possible) small, safe mistake does the teaching.
Takeaway: Every call you make for them is one they don't get to practise making themselves.
Give them the trolley.
Give your mini millionaire a real job with a set budget and let them handle it.
Something like R150 for a few braai basics at Checkers. Let them check the prices, compare house brands against name brands, and work out what fits in the budget and what gets left behind.
So if they spend big on biltong and run short on rolls, that's a cheap lesson well learned.
Child development experts recommend exactly this kind of budgeting with real money. The stakes are real, but small enough that a mistake costs next to nothing.
Takeaway: A R150 mistake at ten is a lot cheaper than the R50 000 version at thirty.
Ready to let your mini millionaire handle the budget?
This week’s free resource is the My Braai Budget worksheet. It turns your next braai or birthday into a proper money lesson. Your mini millionaire gets a set budget, lists what they need, works out the costs, and keeps the total in check.
Afterwards, a few reflection questions get them thinking about what they'd do differently next time, like whether the Coke was really worth it. Low-stakes mistakes are welcome here.
Print it out, hand it over, and let them run the show.
