Within weeks of landing in Sydney, I found myself sitting across the table from a celebrity. Specifically, as Ross Gittins puts it, the rock star of high school economics.

One hour stretched into four as Ross got to know his newest mentee: an overenthusiastic sandgroper who hadn’t read his columns throughout high school, but who came with a budding passion for the economy.

Like Ross, who moved from accounting to journalism, I had decided writing about money would be more fun than making it, so pivoted careers. Soaring house prices aside, I’m happy to report this is the best job in the world.

For the past two years, Ross has shared his wisdom, advice and feedback with me over our weekly Friday lunches (with Ross doing much of the talking, and me doing most of the eating) and helped me settle into the big smoke.

In our earlier days, Ross would come wielding a pencil and an annotated stack of my latest stories, pointing out how I could write more simply or sharply: what he called “the easy read”. The focus was always on serving the reader.

When my copy improved, Gittins’ focus turned to bolstering my knowledge beyond textbook economics. It’s a work in progress, but there are few people who can sit with Ross over a meal and sparkling water without learning........

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