I dont know how the rest of the recent L3 passers are feeling since learning of their results. For me, after what has been an extremely hectic week at work and no time to appreciate anything, for the first time this morning (saturday 23rd) it finally hit me that I truely can have my life back, after these past few years, I can now claim back the winter, the spring, the president BH, no more guilt of not looking at my books when I am with my husband and family celebrating some holiday or birthday, and not condense my fun time with myself and my family within 4-5 months of the year. haha, although, with the current environment and with my firm making us to do more with less these days, where the ‘extra time’ was dedicated to studying , it now appears to be moving over to the work side!
i still can’t believe it. Those exams dominated last 5 years of my life. Took L1-2004 L2-2005 2006-Took a break, was completely burnt out after level 2 2007-Failed level 3 and had a baby 2008–Finally its over My daughter was 2 when I started studying for Level1, now she is 7. Every year time JAn-June was nothing but the struggle for me and my husband In the short run its a GREAT feeling to know that you are finally beat this beast For me it was a HUGE sacrifice and I just hope it was all worth it in the long run
I’m with both of you. Been at this for a long time, took time off, but finally finished this year. It feels amazing! It will feel better in January when I don’t have to open any books.
The feeling is euphoric, but I have to admit that I have this itch about what is next. As much as I hated the study grind, there is something in me that is going to miss the challenge. I hope it goes away because I don’t want to start anything like this again.
congrats edge… I remember u were one of the believers of me 
thank you. congrats to you turkish_dude, I was pleased to see your name on the ‘pass list’… all I did was to remind you what you already knew deep down - that you were going to make it. You did all the hard work that day. well, we did it and hopefully, few of our fellow cfa travellers will kick butt next year and join us.
you could always tackle the CAIA…
… and the FRM
CAIA in 2009…
As I was leaving the office last Friday, one colleague said, “You probably have no idea what to do with yourself this weekend. You’ll have to find some new activity to fill your time.” At the time, I thought it was a little weird, since I have always had my summers free, but then it came to me—this was the first weekend of the rest of my life. Even when I wasn’t studying, for the last few years, there has always been this cloud hanging over me and now it is completely gone. Very often in the past, I have felt a sense of letdown when finishing something big, like master’s thesis, etc. But this time I just feel relief and a very clean conscience. I don’t really understand people who feel like they have to chase the next credential or that they have no idea of what to do next with their lives. For me, the CFA has always had a very practical application, so now that it is all over, I feel a lot of pressure to actually use it. That means using whatever leverage I have with my employer and if they want to keep ignoring me, then I have to go out and find something better in this rancid environment for financial services. So I feel a new kind of pressure—granted a much better kind of pressure than the whole pass/fail stress. But I would think after a very short letdown, the next challenge should be obvious to everyone who is not completely satisfied with their employment situation.
Same here. The cloud has gone. I am thinking about delving back into the books from time to time to check out some things that I have now forgotten. At least it doesn’t come with the added exam pressure, just the joy of learning new-old knowledge. I’m still on a high one week on.