monkeymath
New member
- Jun 18, 2026
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Hi everyone,
I passed Level III and so - and this makes me a bit sad - I’m guessing I will not be such a frequent visitor to this forum in the future.
But I wanted to thank all of those people who supported me here last year to go ahead and take Level II just weeks after my younger brother tried to end his life all while I was trying to get our troubled mother into a nursing home (see original post below).
CFAbeatmeup and many others were very kind back then in encouraging me to keep going so close to the exam.
I’m sad to report that my brother ended his life in July of this year, just a month ago.
Studying for the CFA gave me a much-needed focus in trying times and I’m grateful to all of you who showed me such kindness.
To all of those who wrote to me, I sincerely hope and pray you will all become charterholders. More kind and good people in this industry would be a bonus.
The best to all of you.
Post from June 2015:
Hi folks,
I just wanted to thank all of you who wrote to me during a time of horrific crisis in my immediate family just prior to the exam.
A liberal arts graduate with no financial education, I had studied extraordinarily hard for Level II as a first -time taker - at least 700-800 hours - only to be derailed two weeks prior to the exam by two separate but intertwined emergencies. I wasn’t going to take the test because I was so stressed out and many of you wrote to me with kind words and encouragement, both saying I should take the test and others saying it was perfectly fine to sit this one out. I was - and still am - extraordinarily grateful to the analystforum community for the kindness you showed me. I wouldn’t have taken this test without you.
In my previous e-mails, I had just said I had an undefined family emergency. I’m now going to share this story with all of you with the hope that, whoever didn’t pass today, will soldier on because, no matter how many times you have tried or whatever happens to you, you can master this. And you will!
Ten days or so prior to the exam, my troubled brother tried to commit suicide. Out of work, divorced and an alcoholic, he had been caring at times for our mother, who has her own issues including moderate Alzheimer’s. Sadly, my brother swallowed all of my mother’s anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medicine, washing it down with ~ 24 beers, according to doctors. His ex-wife found him 11 hours later the next morning, unresponsive, when she went to pick up their dog and she called 911.
On the day I took the exam, my brother was still in the ICU and I was in the middle of trying to coordinate our mother’s move into a skilled nursing facility because she could not care for herself.
Sadly, my mother and brother are still in bad shape and the family crisis continues - albeit now under the watchful eyes of hospital doctors and nurses - but this morning I got the only good news I have gotten in more than a year: I passed Level II.
So, please, however down you are feeling today about not passing, however discouraged you may be: Don’t be! Bad stuff and setbacks happen to all of us and you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other until you realize your dreams.
I wish all of you, from the bottom of my heart, only the very best in life.
I passed Level III and so - and this makes me a bit sad - I’m guessing I will not be such a frequent visitor to this forum in the future.
But I wanted to thank all of those people who supported me here last year to go ahead and take Level II just weeks after my younger brother tried to end his life all while I was trying to get our troubled mother into a nursing home (see original post below).
CFAbeatmeup and many others were very kind back then in encouraging me to keep going so close to the exam.
I’m sad to report that my brother ended his life in July of this year, just a month ago.
Studying for the CFA gave me a much-needed focus in trying times and I’m grateful to all of you who showed me such kindness.
To all of those who wrote to me, I sincerely hope and pray you will all become charterholders. More kind and good people in this industry would be a bonus.
The best to all of you.
Post from June 2015:
Hi folks,
I just wanted to thank all of you who wrote to me during a time of horrific crisis in my immediate family just prior to the exam.
A liberal arts graduate with no financial education, I had studied extraordinarily hard for Level II as a first -time taker - at least 700-800 hours - only to be derailed two weeks prior to the exam by two separate but intertwined emergencies. I wasn’t going to take the test because I was so stressed out and many of you wrote to me with kind words and encouragement, both saying I should take the test and others saying it was perfectly fine to sit this one out. I was - and still am - extraordinarily grateful to the analystforum community for the kindness you showed me. I wouldn’t have taken this test without you.
In my previous e-mails, I had just said I had an undefined family emergency. I’m now going to share this story with all of you with the hope that, whoever didn’t pass today, will soldier on because, no matter how many times you have tried or whatever happens to you, you can master this. And you will!
Ten days or so prior to the exam, my troubled brother tried to commit suicide. Out of work, divorced and an alcoholic, he had been caring at times for our mother, who has her own issues including moderate Alzheimer’s. Sadly, my brother swallowed all of my mother’s anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medicine, washing it down with ~ 24 beers, according to doctors. His ex-wife found him 11 hours later the next morning, unresponsive, when she went to pick up their dog and she called 911.
On the day I took the exam, my brother was still in the ICU and I was in the middle of trying to coordinate our mother’s move into a skilled nursing facility because she could not care for herself.
Sadly, my mother and brother are still in bad shape and the family crisis continues - albeit now under the watchful eyes of hospital doctors and nurses - but this morning I got the only good news I have gotten in more than a year: I passed Level II.
So, please, however down you are feeling today about not passing, however discouraged you may be: Don’t be! Bad stuff and setbacks happen to all of us and you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other until you realize your dreams.
I wish all of you, from the bottom of my heart, only the very best in life.