Math Majors and money

You can make very good money as a math major.

-You've already listed actuary

-Investment banker, management consultant: if you have good grades (check), well rounded (?) and have good analytical skills (not all math majors do), all the top consulting firms and investment banks will be interested despite the fact that you have not taken a single business class. If they like your skills and personality, they will make you take some business classes during the summer before you start in the fall. I can tell you that they absolutely like looking at non-business majors (math, philosophy, liberal arts, english) for the reason that many business majors have tunnel vision. That said, if you go this route, you will need to convince them of WHY you want to go into this profession. Moreover, you will work 70-100 hour weeks, but will be set for life with a high paying job.

You need to go to the business school and look at their job postings.

-If you are not well-rounded and are in every way a math geek or a savant, all is not lost. Every firm on Wall Street hires "quants." They make exceptionally good money, but you will use all of your high level math skills.

I am an actuary (actuarial student) and have been taking exams since I graduated in 2000.

It is not a very difficult job and I have never worked more than 45 hours in a week. However, the months before exams, I study 20-30 hours outside of work, so you could call that working.

There is nobody that has finished their exams and thought that the exam process is easy. I thought the first two exams were easy, but then they got more difficult.

The transition from college life to adult life is going to take its toll on your running if you decide to pursue being an actuary. If you want to run well after college, get a job at a shoe store.

To see how much actuaries make, check out dwsimpson.com, and look at the salary survey.

Nationwide teachers are not paid very much but in certain areas they do very well. In Scarsdale, NY many senior teachers make 100k/year! The average is something like 65k. I don't think they work 200 days/year - I think it's 180 or 185. Just saying don't rule out teaching right out of the box - look at your local market and see what it's like.

I-Banking is a VERY competitive business so not only will you likely work a ton of hours but you are hardly set up for life. You can read about the huge sucess stories in the paper but if you don't perform at a bank you will be out of a job.

For the most part, actuaries have a great gig - their hours are often 9-5, unless as someone else mentioned, you're on the consulting side. The tests do get a lot harder as you go on though.

So I could get through with all the exams to be an Actuary in only the amount of time that it takes to get a Ph D?

So 4 years of devoting 3 extra hours per day to studying and I could be making 100k/yr?

That's really not that bad when one considers how much time we waste every night watching TV.

I just needed to have an idea of where I'm heading in the next few weeks because I am NOT signed up to take our Prob-Stats course (it would be a major-elective, thus not required) and if I want to be an Actuary then I definitely need to sign up for it....not that it would be that hard anyway....

Otherwise, I'll stick with my theory math that I'm currently registered to take right now.

Thanks for the help, folks.

Keep it coming if you have more!

My father was an investment banker for 25 years. I rarely saw him growing up. He had more energy than the young guys he was charged to look after and they often left his team for cushy positions at other firms where they did less and got to rest on their degrees and experience at his bank (but they made a lot less money, too--they just didn't have to work at all). His team was grueling and demanding but they consistently reinvented how to restructure junk bonds and stopped a number of companies from firing half their workforce and going bankrupt. Interesting and non-discriminating line of work, too. You made money and you stayed. You failed to do that and you left. If you're smart and easy to work with it's a great line of work. If you don't want to live every minute of your life in a pressure cooker, perhaps a less stressful job is for you.

incredulous wrote:

BBT wrote:

The test process, however, is long and grueling. It takes as long as getting a Phd,

Becoming an actuary takes 4-6 years?

I was thinking the exact same thing! (not that i would want to be an actuary though)

Sounds cruel BUT if your low enough in self esteem to be taking advice from running hacks on an anonymous website you'll lack the confidence and personality required to 'make it' in investment-banking/money-management rolls. Forget wall street, actuarial work is your best option.

Like four eyes said, you can eventually (maybe 10 years or so?) make it into the 6-figures teaching hs in a very good district. Currently, teachers' with masters degrees (which you can do part time as you teach) can make low-mid 90s after 10-15 years in top districts. 10 years from now (when you'll be an experienced teacher) the salaries will be higher. Do note: if you want to be a good teacher, you'll be working alot more than 7 hours a day 190 days a year.

That said, if you want to make mad cash, teaching is not the way to go. Look into finance.

If you're good at math, you won't be studying 3 hours a day for the actuarial exams, not even close. When you have an exam coming up, you'll have to study a lot but ideally your company will give you a week off to do this - it's certainly not a year round thing though. It really depends on how good you are at math (and at taking tests). It's a good gig and much less pressure than banking and a much better lifestyle.

Major in math. Go to Carnegie Mellon for your MBA (very quantitative school...the business majors will be begging you for help), go to Wall Street..make millions per year.

Don't believe that shit that money can't buy happiness. Money is the only thing that can "buy" happiness.

Thanks for ALL of the replies and advice, folks.

If I can ask those who are Actuaries, how much are you making and how much experience do you have?

I appreciate it!!

Last I knew, the math on the first actuary exams is a lot of multi-variable calculus, linear algebra and probability. If you did well in these courses, and reason very well with SAT-like questions, then the exams are easy. On the other hand, if you are only good at math in the same sense that an accountant is (i.e., you are good at arithmetic), then you are in for a lot of studying and very marginal success on these exams.

I can kill some Calculus and I can do Prob/Stat stuff with relative ease. Linear Algebra seemed ok, but the professor was horrible and no one in the class made higher than a C+.....

Oh well, I think I would do well.

How far into the exam sequence would this elementary math take me?

money man wrote:

How far into the exam sequence would this elementary math take me?

I believe the first couple of exams. Beyond that, an actuary could give you some more complete advice.

A good friend of mine was a math major. She now works at a large engineering firm making very good money.

money man wrote:

I can kill some Calculus and I can do Prob/Stat stuff with relative ease. Linear Algebra seemed ok, but the professor was horrible and no one in the class made higher than a C+.....

Oh well, I think I would do well.

I believe my cousin got whacked in Calculus III, and now he is a Chemistry prof. at a fairly prestigious university. That's just the way it is, I guess. Anyway, there is likely to be some calculus, etc. on the actuary exams that were not covered in your college classes. The questions on the exams are not that hard, but they are not all routine, either, and usually require that a student learn some additional material that was not covered at their own college.

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Rex Kwon Do wrote:

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