Financial literacy and resilience

The Queensland Government financial literacy program helps Queenslanders to improve their financial knowledge, build financial capacity and manage factors that contribute to financial difficulties. The program includes:

• Financial Counselling—help for individuals and families with budgeting, financial planning and debt management. Counsellors are qualified to identify and support clients experiencing financial hardship and provide a discreet confidential service.
  Financial advice provided by the counsellors includes:
  • assessing financial positions
  • choosing products to suit individual financial position and needs
  • identifying financial goals
  • helping with decisions about how to better use money.
• Financial resilience—financial education and advice to help Queenslanders manage financial stresses, personal issues and cost of living pressures. This includes:
  • understanding how credit works
  • developing and maintaining budgets
  • undertaking straightforward negotiations with creditors
  • linking with specialist support services (e.g. gambling help, drug and alcohol services)
  • accessing low cost financial products such as no interest loans.
    Qualified financial counsellors provide support to resolve more complex financial problems, and undertake complex negotiations with creditors about restructuring debts if necessary.

• Good Money—Community Finance Stores—helps build the social and economic wellbeing of Queenslanders. Good Money are located in Southport and Cairns and offer safe, affordable and responsible financial services for people on low incomes who are otherwise excluded from mainstream financial services.