Aug 27, 2026 – 5.00amWhen Michael Jeffriess was in high school in Orange, in regional NSW, his teacher was brutally frank. Even a self-described “genuinely average student” like him was told to aim lower and find a path that did not require high marks.“I remember it vividly,” Jeffriess says. “And my reaction, even at 16, was: ‘You just watch me’. That chip never really left.”Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Andrew HobbsWealth reporterAndrew Hobbs covers self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs), financial planning, retirement, inheritance, tax, personal finance and, sometimes, the Perth Bears. He has been a financial journalist for 30 years, previously at Bloomberg and AAP.Fetching latest articles