How It Started
In 2017, our founder sat across from her teenage niece explaining why a store credit card wasn't free money. That conversation revealed something troubling: despite excellent grades in maths and business studies, this bright seventeen-year-old had no practical understanding of personal finance.
The gap between academic knowledge and real-world money skills was staggering. Schools taught equations but not budgeting. Universities expected students to manage loans without explaining compound interest. Young people were entering adulthood financially unprepared.
rustic-wander began as weekend workshops in community centres across Belfast. Word spread among parents desperate for resources that traditional education wasn't providing. Within two years, we'd partnered with dozens of schools and reached over a thousand young people.