I first became a teacher because that's what my parents expected of me. According to all my performance reviews, I was a good teacher, but my heart was never in it. Because my DH and I moved frequently early in his career, I took a tax class so that I knew how to handle all the moves, house sales, etc. for tax purposes. That led to working for a tax firm, and then a CPA firm. I took enough classes to sit for the CPA exam. I was 43 when I started working as an accountant for a large financial services firm. I loved it! I wish I had started in accounting, but I went to a small rural high school and didn't even know what an accountant was. The girls in my high school graduating class either married, or became secretaries, nurses, or teachers.