Building Financial Confidence Through Real Education

We started veoldesilauiq back in 2019 because too many people in regional Queensland were making expensive money mistakes. Not from being careless, but from never getting proper guidance.

Most financial education assumes you're already comfortable with spreadsheets and investment jargon. That doesn't help someone trying to understand their first home loan or why their credit card keeps them broke.

Our approach is different. We break down complex financial concepts into plain language that actually makes sense when you're sitting at your kitchen table wondering how to make next month work.

Financial planning discussion session in Queensland community setting

What Drives Everything We Do

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Honest Conversations

No fancy jargon to make us sound smart. When we explain budgeting or debt management, we use the same words you'd use with a friend over coffee. And if something's genuinely complicated, we'll tell you that too.

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Practical Over Perfect

Perfect budgets look great on paper but fall apart by Thursday. We teach systems that work when life gets messy — because it always does. Real strategies for people with real lives and unexpected car repairs.

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Long View Thinking

Financial literacy isn't a weekend workshop. It's ongoing learning that adapts as your situation changes. We design programs that give you tools you'll still be using five years from now, not quick fixes that fade.

The People Behind the Programs

Our team brings years of financial counseling experience from working with Australian families facing everything from mortgage stress to rebuilding after job loss. We've seen what actually helps.

Desmond Thorne

Education Coordinator

Spent twelve years doing financial counseling in rural communities before joining veoldesilauiq. Desmond grew up watching his parents struggle with farm debt during the droughts, which shaped his entire approach to teaching money management. He's blunt about what works and what's just wishful thinking. His webinars on debt reduction are honest to the point of uncomfortable sometimes, but participants say that's exactly what they needed.

Rhiannon Voss

Program Development

Before veoldesilauiq, Rhiannon designed training programs for community organizations across Queensland. She has this talent for taking a concept that sounds intimidating and breaking it into steps that feel achievable. Her background in adult education means she understands that everyone learns differently. The workshop materials she creates actually get used instead of filed away and forgotten.

Community workshop session focused on practical budgeting skills

How We Got Here

The turning point came in early 2019 when we were volunteering at a community center in Rockhampton. Person after person showed up needing help with financial decisions — understanding loan terms, planning for retirement, dealing with unexpected bills.

What struck us wasn't that people lacked intelligence or discipline. They'd just never had anyone explain this stuff in a way that made sense for their actual situation. The existing resources were either too basic to be useful or so technical they required a finance degree to understand.

So we started running small workshops. Just a dozen people at first, meeting Saturday mornings to work through real scenarios. By late 2020, we had waiting lists. People were bringing their relatives. Teachers were asking if we could create materials for their students.

veoldesilauiq became official in 2021, but we've kept that original workshop approach. Small groups. Real questions. Practical answers. Our learning programs launching in October 2025 are designed the same way — focused on what actually helps people make better financial decisions in their daily lives.