Building Financial Confidence Through Real Experience
We started Casterina because we noticed something frustrating. Most financial advice feels disconnected from everyday reality. People get overwhelmed by generic tips that don't match their actual lives.
Our approach is different. We teach budget prioritization through hands-on scenarios and practical workshops that mirror real financial decisions you'll face.
What Makes Our Programs Different
Traditional financial courses dump spreadsheet templates on you and call it education. But knowing how to use a budget template doesn't mean you'll actually stick with one when life gets messy.
We focus on the harder part: decision-making under pressure. Our workshops simulate real scenarios like unexpected car repairs during tight months or choosing between competing financial goals. You practice making trade-offs in a learning environment where mistakes don't cost you anything except insight.
One participant told us she finally understood why her budgets always failed after our priority-ranking exercises. Turns out she'd been treating every expense as equally urgent, which meant nothing was truly prioritized. That realization changed how she approached her finances.
Principles That Guide Our Teaching
No Judgment, Just Context
Everyone's financial situation is unique. We don't assume your priorities should match someone else's. Instead, we help you identify what matters most to you and build systems around that.
Skills Over Software
Tools and apps come and go. We teach thinking frameworks that work regardless of what technology you're using. Once you understand priority-based budgeting, you can apply it anywhere.
Practice Makes Automatic
Financial habits form through repetition. Our programs include regular practice sessions where you work through scenarios until budget decisions start feeling natural rather than stressful.
Meet the Educators
Linnea Thorvald
Lead Financial Educator
Linnea spent years working with families struggling to balance competing expenses. She developed our scenario-based teaching method after realizing that people learn budget prioritization better through simulation than lecture. Her workshops focus on building decision-making confidence through repeated practice with realistic financial dilemmas.
Sabine Kaldor
Program Development Director
Sabine designs the learning structures that make our programs work. She's obsessed with creating exercises that feel relevant rather than theoretical. Before joining us, she taught adult education and noticed how quickly people disengaged from abstract financial concepts. Now she builds programs around real situations participants actually face.
How We Got Here
2019
Started with informal workshops at a community center in Hougang. We had six participants and a whiteboard. The focus was simple: help people understand why their budgets weren't working.
2020
Developed our first structured curriculum after noticing patterns in what people struggled with. Most issues weren't about math or discipline—they were about prioritization. We redesigned everything around that insight.
2021
Expanded to offer specialized workshops for different life stages. Budgeting for young professionals looks different than budgeting for families with kids or people approaching retirement. We started tailoring scenarios to match participant contexts.
2022
Launched our practice portal where participants can work through additional scenarios between sessions. The repetition helped concepts stick better than one-time workshops ever did.
2023
Introduced small group coaching sessions. Some topics benefit from personalized attention, especially when dealing with complex household finances or major life transitions.
2024
Refined our teaching methodology based on hundreds of participant experiences. We now have a clearer understanding of which exercises work best at different stages of financial confidence.
What Happens in Our Workshops
Each session focuses on a specific aspect of budget prioritization. You might work through scenarios about handling irregular income, or practice deciding between debt payment and savings goals, or learn how to adjust priorities when circumstances change.
We keep groups small—usually under twelve people. This lets everyone participate actively rather than just watching presentations. You'll make decisions, explain your reasoning, hear different perspectives, and gradually build confidence in your financial judgment.
The atmosphere is collaborative rather than competitive. Most participants find it helpful to hear how others approach similar challenges.
Get in TouchWho Benefits Most From Our Approach
People Who've Tried Budgeting Before
If you've started budgets that didn't stick, you're not alone. Many participants come to us after multiple failed attempts. Usually the issue isn't willpower—it's that the system didn't match how you actually make financial decisions. We help you find what works for your specific situation.
Households With Conflicting Priorities
When two people have different financial goals, budgeting becomes negotiation. We teach frameworks for aligning priorities and making joint decisions that both partners can commit to. The exercises help couples practice these conversations in a structured way.
Anyone Facing Major Changes
Life transitions mess with budgets. New jobs, growing families, unexpected expenses—these all require reprioritizing. Our programs help you develop the flexibility to adjust your financial approach when circumstances shift, rather than abandoning budgets entirely.
Those Overwhelmed by Financial Advice
There's too much conflicting information out there. Pay off debt first? Build emergency savings? Invest? The answer depends on your priorities. We help you cut through the noise and make decisions based on what actually matters to you, not what some generic article recommends.
Our Location
We're based in the Hougang area of Singapore. Most of our workshops happen at our training space on Lor Ah Soo, though we occasionally run sessions at other venues depending on group needs.
