Built From Real Financial Frustrations

arikgoraverircium started in 2019 when three accountants got tired of watching people struggle with budgeting tools that felt designed by robots. We wanted something that actually made sense to regular folks trying to manage their money.

Our Beginning

Why We Started Teaching This Differently

Back in 2019, Cordell Harshaw was working with small business clients in Wollongong who kept saying the same thing — budgeting software felt overwhelming. Not because they couldn't do math, but because nobody explained the why behind the numbers. They'd download apps, attend generic workshops, then give up within weeks.

That's when we realized the problem wasn't intelligence or motivation. It was approach. Most financial education treats budgeting like a mechanical process instead of a skill you develop over time through understanding patterns in your own spending.

So we started small — evening workshops at the local library. Twenty people showed up to the first one. Instead of spreadsheets and formulas, we talked about actual behavior. What triggers impulse spending? How do you plan for irregular expenses without panicking? When does automation help versus hurt?

Financial planning session with notebooks and calculators on wooden desk

How We Actually Teach Budgeting

Most programs throw theory at you then expect instant habits. We built our approach around how adults actually change financial behavior — which research shows takes consistent practice over months, not days.

Pattern Recognition First

Before touching any tools, you spend two weeks just observing your spending patterns. Not judging, just noticing. Most people discover their biggest leaks aren't where they thought.

Behavioral Triggers

We dig into what actually causes overspending for you specifically. Stress? Boredom? Social pressure? The budget that works has to account for your real life, not some idealized version.

Gradual System Building

You don't revolutionize everything overnight. Each month you add one new habit. By month six, tracking feels automatic rather than like homework you're avoiding.

Person reviewing financial documents with laptop showing budget spreadsheet

What Happens After Six Months

73%

Still actively tracking after one year

4.2

Average months to first emergency fund

68%

Report reduced financial anxiety

850+

Students since 2019

These numbers come from our annual check-ins with past students. Not everyone succeeds, and progress looks different for each person. But the ones who stick with the behavioral approach for at least four months tend to see lasting changes in how they relate to money. Several have told us the biggest shift wasn't saving more — it was feeling less dread when checking their bank balance.

Who's Actually Teaching This

arikgoraverircium runs with a small team because we believe personal finance education works better in smaller groups where people feel comfortable asking questions that might seem obvious.

Cordell Harshaw

Lead Educator & Founder

Cordell spent eleven years doing tax prep and bookkeeping before starting arikgoraverircium. He got frustrated watching clients make the same budgeting mistakes year after year, not because they lacked information but because traditional financial advice didn't account for actual human behavior.

His background combines accounting credentials with what he calls "recovering perfectionist" energy — he knows what it's like to try sixteen different budgeting systems before finding an approach that actually stuck. That experience shapes how he teaches now, with more emphasis on sustainable habits than ideal spreadsheets.

Outside work he volunteers with youth financial literacy programs and maintains a modest vegetable garden that routinely produces more zucchini than any human needs.