Peter loved his career as a CPA. He loved his clients. He loved helping people.
This is one of the few professional photos Peter ever had taken. This was taken shortly after he started working at Richard Start Accounting. I remember he emailed me through several photos from the shoot and asked me to help him choose one. I like this photo because of the kindness in his eyes.
I remember suggesting to Peter that he should study accounting. We were in the car, driving to Ballarat, with the kids in the back seat. They were very young; Deltree was not yet in school, and Calan was still a baby.
"I was thinking that if you wanted to go back to work once Calan started school, maybe you should study to become an accountant."
At the time, I was quite happy with my job, and Peter was the stay at home parent. It worked well for us. Peter had the sort of laid-back personality that made him a natural with little children, who need a lot of patience, understanding, and attention. But I couldn't see Peter being happy, long-term, with staying at home. Already he had a dozen different projects going - a film festival; writing scripts; dabbling in film distribution - and I thought he'd probably want to do something, once the kids were older.
As it turns out, accounting was a natural fit.
He immediately took to it. He loved his courses, and excelled at them. Because there wasn't a lot of time during the week for him to study, every weekend, I'd take the kids to the Ballarat Wildlife Park to give him an uninterrupted block of time. We went so often, we had all of the shows memorised! Sometimes he'd go into Ballarat and study for several hours. Once he had to call to get us to pick him up. He'd been parked on a street, listening to his radio and studying, and by the time he was finished, his car battery was dead. So I loaded up the kids and gave him a jump start so he could get home to us.
He flew through his course, finishing it quickly. While he was still studying, he spent one tax season at The Tax Shop, and found a natural affinity for income taxes. After he finished his course, he started sending out resumes, and was called in for an interview at Richard Start Accounting.
Peter had a good mind for accounting work. He was often able to see possibilities that other people couldn't see straight away. He also had a good personality for it. He always liked people - he liked hearing their stories, listening to them, learning from them. His favourite part of the job was listening to his clients' stories, and finding a way to help them. So he was a natural with the clients. He could put them at ease and make them feel valued - because, to him, they were. And he loved feeling like he was helping them.
Peter was always keen to grow his career. He was brilliant. He passed all of his CPA exams the first time - something that is almost unheard of. He studied hard, worked hard to memorise as much of the book as possible, and had an amazing system for post-it notes, highlighting, and indexing. I remember we were on Green Island when the results came through for a test he was convinced he'd failed. I came out of the dressing room and he told me he'd passed. He said, "When I saw the result I had to double-check that it meant I'd passed because I was sure I'd failed that one!" We went out to dinner that night to celebrate.
When Richard suggested he become a tax agent, he leaped at the opportunity. Later, he decided to become a financial planner, so that he'd be able to give more detailed advice to his clients. Eventually Peter was given a chance to buy into the business. He considered it carefully before deciding to make the investment.
Peter enjoyed all aspects of accounting . . . except BAS statements. But he primarily loved working with people. Finding solutions. Looking at things from a different angle. He loved feeling like he was helping them achieve their dreams.
He was full of wisdom. To boy who was just starting out as an apprentice, dismayed at his low wages, considering quitting, he would say, "Stick with it. This is only temporary. In a few years' time you'll be making heaps more money than your friend at McDonald's." To the professional who had just gotten her first big raise he would say, "Make sure you pay yourself first. It's easy to find more things to buy, but you've got to plan for the future." To the couple adjusting to being empty-nesters, he would say, "Enjoy it! You've finally got some extra money, for the first time in a long time. Go have fun!"
For Peter, money was fun. He never wanted money just for the sake of having it. He loved saving, and he loved investing; but he also loved playing with money - opening companies, trusts, and starting a SMSF. He loved knowing all the tricks you could do with money. He loved making it work for him.
When he died, his solicitor told me, "He has the most complicated estate I have ever seen." I thought he'd enjoy that. It did, however, make things difficult for me. In fact his estate is so complicated, I've decided to become an accountant just so I can make sense of it!
After he died, a few of his clients messaged me to let me know how much they liked him. How helpful he was. How he always had time for them, and always greeted them with an enthusiastic smile. They also told me how his face would light up when he'd talk about me and our children - how it was obvious he loved us very much, and that he felt loved in return. I treasure those messages.
As I write this entry, it's tax season. I never go to see enough of him at tax season; he was always booked up solid. I used to call myself a "tax widow." This year, for the first time, I'm faced with the prospect of doing my own taxes. (Even before he was an accountant, he would do my taxes for me. The deal was that I'd do my US taxes, and he'd do my Australian taxes.) And it's sad, and scary - he would always take weeks to do our taxes, he would think through every little thing to get as big a refund as possible for us, within the confines of ethics and legality.
I know I'm not the only one missing his expertise this time of year. And his expertise in accounting is pretty far down on the list of things I miss about my husband. But it deserves to be said: He was a brilliant CPA.
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