Would this be a good future career for someone who is good at maths and wants a solid dependable job.I'm just thinking of college choices and thought it looked good.
My parents were suggesting medicine but I don't think I could handle the pressure of being a doctor(life and death decisions and crazy work hours)
If there's an actuary or anyone else who could give me any insight into what the job is like I'd really appreciate it.
"Good at maths"?? Your resume wouldn't get past the screening phase if it came across my desk with language like that.
Okay, now something constructive: the job can vary a lot depending on whether you're in insurance or consulting. And even within companies, the various departments you might work in as an actuary can be pretty different as far as work load, pressure, atmosphere, etc.
Just being good at math isn't always enough - you need to make sure you're a good studier and test taker to pass all those exams. Also the upper level exams are essay based with much less math, and studying for them requires a ton of reading.
tqx wrote:
"Good at maths"?? Your resume wouldn't get past the screening phase if it came across my desk with language like that.
That's British English and perfectly acceptable. It's funny how so many ignorant Americans are oblivious to British grammar and orthography and then unfairly conclude that the posters are dumbasses.
Maths is short for mathematics so in any case their version is more grammatically correct than our 'math'. Biatch.
tqx wrote:
"Good at maths"?? Your resume wouldn't get past the screening phase if it came across my desk with language like that.
Funny, if your resume came to my desk with that statement, I'd proceed to immediately place it in the paper shredder. Apparently you are too ignorant to realize that many people in Europe refer to mathematics as maths.
Haha, two people immediately called you out for your dumb misunderstanding. Tqx, you just got pwned
do you like death? seriously, you will be calculating that for the next 47 years of your life, plus the incidence of accidents versus life expectancy and the companies bottom line. you will be making life and death decisions regardless of whether you are a few steps removed from the emergency room. someone will be denied coverage based on your actuarial calculations.
I have a degree in math. IQ=160. I took the first actuary exam twice and didn't pass either time. I'd say make sure you can pass the tests. You probably could try one or two in college and then always change your major if necessary. By the way, math would probably be an excellent undergrad degree for med school. The med schools would probably love it. So you can work on both and let the question sort itself out for you later. There's never anything wrong with having a plan B.
Also, a lot of MD's just do research and teach. You don't have to work crazy hours and deal with people. I'd say if your parents are willing to pay for your undergrad degree with an eye towards med school, tell them you'll apply to med school after your get your degree and then explore the different possibilities while working on your undergrad.
bbns wrote:
Haha, two people immediately called you out for your dumb misunderstanding. Tqx, you just got pwned
You'll have to forgive me for not caring.
You cared enough to make a second post. Biatch!
good job? wrote:
If there's an actuary or anyone else who could give me any insight into what the job is like I'd really appreciate it.
I am an actuary working in the property & casulty side. I don't know so much what the work is like as a life, health or pension actuary. I have worked for both insurance companies and consulting firms. The work we do is mainly in commerical line (eg. Workers Comp, Medical Mal Practice, General liability) and personal line (eg. Personal Auto, Homeowner) pricing and reserving. We use a lot of mathmatical and statistical modeling in our work. If you are good at math, this will definitely make your life easier as an actuary. As a math and statitics person, I like my job a lot. You have to pass 9 exams in order to be a Fellow, so it helps a lot if you are good at taking exams. People who are not good at taking exams may have a very difficult time to pass exams. It is not uncommon for some people to take over 10 years to get the Fellow. Some people just quit in the middle.
Major in college doesn't matter that much as long as you can pass exams. I think math (including actuarial science), stat, econ, finance, physics,computer science are all good majors to go. Taking more math and stat classes in college will help a lot in your later on career as an actuary.
As to the salary, it ususally stats around 50K as an entry level actuarial analyst. Your salary will increase with experience and exam passed. Fellow usually gets paid over 100K. The good thing is that you won't have a lot of student loan as most medical graduates do, although the final paid maybe a little less. There's also less stress as an actuary, and the work hours are regular. Its easy to find a job too, as long as you are willing to live in a big city. Small towns need doctors, but not actuaries.
I would suggest you go to this forum:
www.actuarialoutpost.com/actuarial_discussion_forum/You can find a lot of information related to actuarial career there.
Good luck!
snoresville.
Watch the Ben Stiller movie "Along Came Polly".
I believe the character he played was an actuary.
My friend is an actuary in Aruba and leads a great life. Great career, but this man is pure genius.
China Star wrote:
My friend is an actuary in Aruba and leads a great life.
My friend wanted to be an actuary but was hit by a bus when he was 26. Wow! What were the chances of that?
Wisenheimer wrote:
China Star wrote:My friend is an actuary in Aruba and leads a great life.
My friend wanted to be an actuary but was hit by a bus when he was 26. Wow! What were the chances of that?
Reasonably high if he was a runner in a large metropolitan area who ran on the roads.
I know some people who do it, and like it. It is not for everybody. There is demand for people though, and it will grow at a steady clip.
The higher up the feeding chain you get, the more interesting it becomes (as with most jobs).
At the most interesting level, you model "what if" scenarios for clients, as well as selling them products (they might not neccessarily need) based on your own "what if" projections. This is more for property and casualty.
Life & health is extremely predictable and moves much more slowly. If you want a wilder ride, go into p&c.
FCAS woman wrote:
I am an actuary working in the property & casulty side.
Good luck!
Actually you misspelled casualty.
First, I would say that if you're just starting college, don't worry about career choices yet. Good to keep them in mind, but things will change.
My dad's an actuary, in mergers and acquisitions. If you're terrific at math it'll be a low-stress, high-pay job. The exams aren't a big deal, I could pass the first couple when I was in high school, and they get harder and more specialized as you go through them but they give you time to study for them. The main thing is, is it a job that interests you, and do you really need the money if it isn't?
Thanks for all the great replies and advice. Some of it confirmed what I already thought about the job such as good money, high exam failure rate and working in a city.
I'm relieved to know that it is regular working hours so my running wouldn't suffer alot. I expected to get mostly troll responses but apart from tqx(put some ointment on that nasty burn you got) they were all really helpful... so maybe I'm not cut out to be an actuary after all!
Sorry tqx for calling you a troll. I just read your post again and it containd some pretty sound advice. I dont want to be a mindless LetsRun jerk hence the apology.
Scratchy Buttocks wrote:Funny, if your resume came to my desk with that statement, I'd proceed to immediately place it in the paper shredder. Apparently you are too ignorant to realize that many people in Europe refer to mathematics as maths.
Fail.