Coincidentally, I clicked on Frugalwoods from another blogroll wondering what the Frugalwoods must be up to these days. Not surprised to see the website is converted to a financial coaching service- further not surprised to see that it's been undone by fraud or misrepresentation of some sort. You'd have to be a complete dope to pay for the services of a non-professional financial service provider. Not to mention, that is not very FIRE (not that the Frugalwoods were ever really FIRE bc I think one spouse kept working. They just had enough money to play make believe in the woods of Vermont that they were self sufficient retirees.) Most publicly facing FIRE proponents are not actually retired.
I don't think a class in this format will do well with high schoolers unfortunately. I especially don't agree with the "follow a stock" approach in a competitive classroom setting. That's a pretty common teaching trope regarding stock investing, and it's just going to devolve into gambling degeneracy amongst the students. The students would probably be a lot better off if you synthesized the info and videos from investopedia regarding the absolute basics of financial literacy forgoing lessons about capital markets. If I absolutely had to follow this lesson plan, I would structure it around completing all the modules on the moneychimp website. That's an amazing website for teaching investing fundamentals.
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Coincidentally, I clicked on Frugalwoods from another blogroll wondering what the Frugalwoods must be up to these days. Not surprised to see the website is converted to a financial coaching service- further not surprised to see that it's been undone by fraud or misrepresentation of some sort. You'd have to be a complete dope to pay for the services of a non-professional financial service provider. Not to mention, that is not very FIRE (not that the Frugalwoods were ever really FIRE bc I think one spouse kept working. They just had enough money to play make believe in the woods of Vermont that they were self sufficient retirees.) Most publicly facing FIRE proponents are not actually retired.
Post: Going too far with FIRE: The downside of being in the financial advice business – RDQ
Link to comment from August 4, 2025
I don't think a class in this format will do well with high schoolers unfortunately. I especially don't agree with the "follow a stock" approach in a competitive classroom setting. That's a pretty common teaching trope regarding stock investing, and it's just going to devolve into gambling degeneracy amongst the students. The students would probably be a lot better off if you synthesized the info and videos from investopedia regarding the absolute basics of financial literacy forgoing lessons about capital markets. If I absolutely had to follow this lesson plan, I would structure it around completing all the modules on the moneychimp website. That's an amazing website for teaching investing fundamentals.
Post: A Teenager’s Walk Through the Stock Fund Wilderness
Link to comment from July 29, 2025