I wish personal finance, budgeting, and investing were taught in high school. Learning about compound interest and retirement planning earlier would have helped me avoid financial mistakes.
This is more of a personal finance post than FIRE, but I've always wondered why budgeting, saving, and general investing (like even a Boglehead approach) is not taught in high school, even as an elective. I know we all learned the compound interest formula from math class at one point in life, but I never truly understood its significance for me and my life until my late 20s/early 30s. I would have really appreciated it if someone actually taught me the importance of personal finance and Boglehead investing in high school. It would have prevented me from making financial mistakes early on in life. Heck, I would even go as far as wishing that someone taught me how to use a retirement simulation software like Boldin or Projection Lab. Playing around in them was incredibly eye opening to the effects of compound interest. I think if I knew what I know now while I was in high school, I would have made better financial decisions like automatically investing a small amount in a Roth IRA instead of blowing it on booze on the weekends in college. But, maybe money is just one of those sensitive subjects that parents feel shouldn't be taught in school?