Alpha Founders’ Zach Smith: Students calculate FIRE numbers and assess early-start timelines
Alpha Founders (New York) Lead Guide Zach Smith posted on X on November 13, 2026, saying that he has long been frustrated that schools do not teach basic financial literacy.
That day, he saw students calculate their own FIRE numbers and realized that, because they started early, the timeline was achievable. The post quoted Nat Eliason’s content the same day about holding a workshop at Alpha Founders on the 4% rule and the financial freedom number.
Smith said this was a full-circle moment.
Original source:
Title: Zach Smith original post
Posted by: Zach Smith (@founderguideNYC)
Date posted: 2026-11-13
URL: x.com/founderguideNYC/status/2121373564859514978
Source type: Original post
Verification status: Full text actually read in this article, verification date 2026-11-13
Supporting content: Students calculated FIRE numbers, the timeline was achievable because of an early start, and the statement about traditional schools not teaching financial literacy
ABAB AI Insight
Zach Smith serves as Lead Guide at Alpha Founders’ New York campus. Alpha Founders is an entrepreneurship-oriented high school program under the Alpha School system that provides AI-accelerated academics and entrepreneurial practice for teenagers, with goals that include reaching a million-dollar-scale business by graduation (or refunding tuition).
The FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) number is usually calculated based on the 4% rule, meaning the required asset size is about 25 times annual spending. Eliason’s workshop and Smith’s observation indicate that the school is bringing this kind of personal financial planning into its curriculum for teenagers.
Traditional public school curricula rarely systematically cover compound interest, savings rates, and financial independence calculations. Alpha Founders incorporates this as part of entrepreneurship education, allowing students to encounter asset goal-setting during high school.
Whether this kind of instruction translates into actual financial outcomes depends on students’ later income, saving behavior, and market returns, rather than the calculation itself. Smith’s post records an observation from the classroom rather than independently verified data on any specific student’s assets or timeline.
ABAB News · Cognitive Law
Calculating a FIRE number in class does not mean a path to financial independence has already been achieved.
Early exposure to compound-interest models can change the perception of timelines, but outcomes depend on subsequent saving and returns.
Nontraditional schools embedding personal finance tools into entrepreneurship courses fill a gap in conventional schooling.