What do actuaries do

As the world changes at an increasingly rapid pace, risk management expertise can help businesses navigate this evolving landscape. Discover your strengths and find out if you could become an actuary in our online personality quiz. Actuaries possess a unique mix of mathematical, analytical, communication and management skills. They apply their abilities to create social impact, inform high-level strategic decisions and have a significant impact on legislation, businesses and peoples' lives.

Find out more about where the actuarial profession can take you in our blog What actuaries actually do. John Townhill, Actuarial Consultant at Barnett Waddingham, discusses some misinterpretations of becoming an actuary.

I enjoy my job, in fact, I love my job! I first heard about the actuarial profession from my A level Mathematics teacher. Although actuaries are often associated with traditional fields such as life, pensions and insurance, there are an increasing number of actuaries moving into a hold range of new areas.

Health, banking and finance, technology and climate change are just some of the areas where you can now find actuaries. The rise of artificial intelligence and data science are challenging actuaries to think differently and are creating new opportunities that previously never existed. Whether you work in in-house within an organisation or in a consultancy firm supporting different clients, you will enjoy a financially rewarding career where can grow, develop and be challenged.

Take a look at our Employer Directory to discover more about where actuaries work. Chloe Hung, Amazon best-selling author, talks about some of the traditional and new industries you could work in as an actuary. Being an actuary means having the opportunity to apply highly valued mathematical skills and expertise in a diverse, exciting and challenging career that really makes a difference.

Our qualifications are internationally-recognised and will enable you to work in many countries around the world. The IFoA also has Mutual Recognition Agreements with overseas actuarial professional bodies, so once you have qualified, it is often easy to transfer to another professional body. Find out how you can become an actuary. Stay up-to-date with the latest news, activities and events to support you in your first steps in your actuarial career.

This practical course is aimed at actuaries at any stage of their career who want to develop their own growth mindset and apply it to their work setting and personal or professional lifelong learning. Join leading experts to discuss key issues, emerging ideas and new research across the general insurance sector. Join leading experts to discuss key issues, emerging ideas, and new research across the Life insurance sector.

The role of actuaries within the health sector varies considerably from one country to another, due to differences in the local evolution of health systems and the funding models for health services. This paper outlines key frameworks for reserving validation and techniques employed. Many companies lack an embedded reserve validation framework and validation is viewed as piecemeal and unstructured.

The paper outlines a case study demonstrating how successful machine learning techniques will become and then goes on to discuss implications. Inherently there are a lot of assumptions used in their work, so if there is any way for actuaries to make their predictions more accurate, they may do that. Insurance policies help to protect people against large financial losses that may occur in the future due to a random event such as an accident or death , so this is the perfect industry for actuaries to apply their skills.

So, where do actuaries work? Most actuaries work in insurance companies. Actuaries typically are in an office setting, working about 8 hours per day each weekday. There are some exceptions though, such as consulting actuaries. Consulting actuaries tend to have tight deadlines since they are working for clients that want their actuarial work done as soon as possible. The clients may also require that the consulting actuaries travels to them in order to fully understand the project and what needs to be done.

Working as an actuary is an interesting and challenging career that involves using math on a daily basis. Pricing actuaries tend to do a lot of project type work. Or, they may be involved in pricing new insurance products. Valuation work tends to be more repetitive. They often complete the same tasks every month, quarter, and year. Pricing work often involves starting from scratch each time.

Actuaries primarily use probability, statistics, and financial mathematics. Financial mathematics allows them to apply interest concepts to arrive at the amount of money that they need to set aside in order to pay for future losses. Actuarial exams, which are required to be passed in order to become a certified actuary, require more advanced math though.

An excellent understanding of calculus, algebra and advanced statistics is required to pass them. Overall, the Law of Large Numbers a mathematical concept is what makes actuarial math and insurance work. An actuarial career is both a challenging and rewarding one. A career as an Actuary is better described as a "business" career with a mathematical basis than as a "technical" mathematical career.

Actuaries describe their work as challenging and interesting and generally enjoy a good working environment. The Jobs Rated Almanac has consistently rated "Actuary" as one of the top two or three jobs on a variety of factors. According to several studies, the profession is more open than others to women and members of under-represented minority groups.

The salary increments are based both on experience and exams passed. The increments can be quite large and may actuaries earn in triple digits. Most "well qualified" graduates i. To become an "Actuary", you must become an Associate, and ultimately a Fellow, of one of the professional societies by passing a series of examinations administered by them. The largest of the professional groups is the Society of Actuaries SOA , the organization for actuaries working in life and health insurance, employee benefits, and pensions.

The Casualty Actuarial Society CAS is the organization for actuaries working in automobile, fire, and liability insurance and workers' compensation. The American Society of Pension Actuaries is the organization for actuaries working in the pension field, in particular, those actuaries who certify to the federal and state governments that pension plans are sound.