Actuarial Career Presentations

Brought to You By:Brought to You By: About an Actuarial Career Be An Actuary A Career Without Boundaries Presented By: Laura McSweeney... Where do Actuaries Work?■ Insurance companies ■

Brought to You By:

Brought to You By:

About an Actuarial Career

Be An Actuary A Career Without

Boundaries

Presented By:

Laura McSweeney

 What is an Actuary?

 Where do Actuaries work?

 What do Actuaries do?

 Why become an Actuary?

 What is the career outlook?

 What skills and talents are needed?

 How can you become an Actuary?

What is an Actuary?

An Actuary is a person who:

■ Analyzes, manages and measures the financial implications of future risk

■ Develops and validates financial models to guide decision making

Where do Actuaries Work?

■ Insurance companies

■ Consulting firms

■ Government insurance departments

■ Banks and investment firms

■ Large corporations

■ Public accounting firms

■ Colleges and universities

■ Anywhere risk management

is needed

Most Common Industries

Where Actuaries Work

■ Insurance Industry

◆Property (home) and casualty

(auto)

◆Life and annuities

■ Employee Benefit Industry

◆Retirement benefits

◆Health benefits

◆Social Security

■ Financial Services Industry

◆Banks, investing, risk

management

◆Mergers & Acquisitions

Typical Actuarial Projects

■ Life Insurance: Designing and pricing

life insurance products

■ Property & Casualty: Estimating the

amount of money to be set aside for

insurance claims that have not been paid

■ Health Benefits: Setting HMO premium

Interesting Actuarial

Problems

■ Property/Casualty Actuary

◆ Automobile Insurance and Credit Scores

◆ Catastrophe Insurance Coverage – hurricanes, earthquakes, etc

◆ Modeling retention changes for large

corporations

Interesting Actuarial

Problems

■ Pension Actuary

◆ Social Security Funding

◆ Employer-Sponsored Pension Plan vs 401K

◆ 2% x years of service vs 1.5% x years of Service – Pension Benefits

Why Become an Actuary?

■ High earning potential

■ No cost of graduate school – “learn while you earn”

■ Advance by examinations – no “glass ceiling”

■ Skills are highly transferable to other

industries and job responsibilities

■ Job security; need expected to grow

■ Overall, a highly ranked profession

Jobs Rated Almanac

■ Actuary was rated the #1 job

in America, according to the

Wall Street Journal (2010),

#2 in 2012, #4 in 2014

Money (2012) claim that

actuaries one of the top

Earning Potential

Note: Compensation may vary significantly according to years of experience, geographic region and responsibilities.

Source: D.W Simpson & Company, Inc., 2006 Salary Survey

Average Actuarial Salaries

Years of Experience

What Skills are Needed

to be an Actuary?

■ Knowledge of math and finance

■ Computer skills

■ Keen analytical, project

management and problem solving skills

■ Solid communication skills (oral

& written)

■ Good business sense

What Talents are Needed

How to Become

an Actuary

professional status by passing examinations to

prove a certain level of knowledge.

Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) and Society of

Actuaries (SOA) Three of the first four exams are administered jointly.

times/year)

organization:

actuarial trainees taking exams by providing exam study time on the job.

■ Validation by Educational Experience (VEE)

VEE credits are obtained through college courses,

standardized exams, approved educational

experiences,

and transitional exams for:

prereq EC 278 (Statistics) [or MA351/352 with

permission of chair]

AC 11, EC 11, EC 12 and FI 215 (Financial Management)

Preliminary Education

Structure

■ Preliminary Examinations

◆ Joint Exam 1/P: Probability

◆ Joint Exam 2/FM: Financial Mathematics

■ In addition to the preliminary

education, each society has

additional requirements to

achieve professional designations

Advice for Students Who Want to be Actuaries

classes approved for VEE credit

business skills

sooner you start, the sooner you will finish

◆ Demonstrated performance and commitment

■ Exam Fee Reimbursement for Minority Students

◆ Reimbursed for successfully passing Exam P/1 and/or FM/2

■ Visit the website www.BeAnActuary.org

Minority Programs: Scholarship applications, exam fee reimbursement forms,

internships, and more

Questions and Answers

To learn more about the actuarial

profession, exams, and

internships, visit

BeAnActuary.org

Casualty Actuarial Society -

www.casact.org Society of Actuaries - www.soa.org

■ Some past students recommended the online

seminars offered through The Infinite Actuary (theinfiniteactuary.com) and/or study materials from Actex (actexmadriver.com)