Hi everyone,
let me start by saying I'm driven, motivated and geared towards success and I've been brought up in that sort of environment. I am in the commerce line and my aspirations are to be in investment banking or private equity asap. I'm 25 at the time of writing this.
I just started my I'm doing my masters degree combined with sitting for my CFA level II on the back of finishing my bachelors and CFA level I. ( possibly PhD one day? )

Because of this workload I'm always studying. Way more than my peers since the final year of uni.
My parents have always maintained that a good education was imperative to my success in the professional world.

The main gripe I have :
While I'm studying so very hard . Most of my peers and even those a year younger have already began their professional lives. I find myself unwillingly being envious and depressed about my close friends, albeit being happy for them, getting 'big jobs' like at the investment arm of the govt etc and everyone seems proud of them. while i don't get any recognition because I did not apply for any jobs and am still a "student." And others who did not do very well in university also getting respectable jobs. If the job market is so simple why am I putting myself through so much schooling? on this evidence a simple bachelors second class honors is fine for securing a job, yet I'm here doing a further year of study (not getting paid, not getting recognized, feeling left behind) and piling extra hours on top of that for that added CFA qualification( still level III to go after this ). It's hard to stay focused.

My parents have always said that a good education central to your acceptance and progression in any job. Maybe times have changed? I don't know . I would think now more than ever more qualifications are necessary?

thank you for letting me express my frustrations. Any advice or words of wisdom are appreciated.

Your parents were wrong. You and them have mistaken the idea that more education equates to better career prospects. It doesn't.

Upto BSc it helps, but then the rules start to change. Certain educational paths allow you to access more options (e.g. medicine and engineering, maybe CFA), but after a point it in other fields can work against you and you become overqualified and unnecessary. Piling on MScs and PhDs are probably going to harm your career options rather than help it as the academic job market has dried up. No one on the outside is impressed by a permanent student (apart from maybe your parents), and you will be starting into the labour market with fewer earnings, no pension and little experience.

You need to re-evaluate your assumptions about what employers want. They want experience far more than postgraduate degrees in most cases. Sometimes too much exposure to academia can be damaging. I had to learn completely how to rewrite things, because my academic training had me writing for journal articles (wordy, over complicated), but working outside I was expected to be clear and concise.

Okay. Thanks for the input that has helped put things into perspective . Guess I'll just enjoy the years of academia for what they are a learning process :)