Any actuaries here? Need information if you've got it.

[Zenmervolt]

Doing some background digging for my job and need information regarding actuarial services. If anyone's in the industry and can either give me the info or point me to the places I might find it I would be very grateful. The questions:

How are actuarial fees assessed for larger funds (mutual funds, pension funds, etc)? Are they charged on a flat rate, based on assets under management, or on some sort of heuristic derived from fund complexity?

Outside of general risk management and forecasting, what services do actuarial firms typically provide to their clients? Are there sub-services?

Is this service typically outsourced by the fund managers or do they often have in-house departments?

Who are the major providers and how large is the industry? I alredy know of some of the big guns like Towers Perrin, PricewaterhouseCoopers, T. Rowe Price, and Watson Wyatt & Co, but I'm wondering about other firms.

ZV

 

[z0mb13]

I heard actuaries are not very social people..

<--- interested in the answers as well

 

[maziwanka]

i interned at watson wyatt one summer and didn't like it. sorry. that has nothing to do with your question.

 

[marcello]

I'm interested too.

www.actuary.com

That's all I know, but I'm going to take the first test in January probably

 

[Bulldog13]

How does a career in actuarial science compare to an engineering degree ?

I'm graduating as a senior in software engineering, but sometimes think I should have gone the other way and done actuarial science.

Any actuaries who can give us an opinion ?

 

[marcello]

Originally posted by: Bulldog13
How does a career in actuarial science compare to an engineering degree ?

I'm graduating as a senior in software engineering, but sometimes think I should have gone the other way and done actuarial science.

Any actuaries who can give us an opinion ?

Actuary is a math field using statistics and probability. So I think it's very different.

 

[Zenmervolt]

It's a statistical field that uses mathematical modeling to forecast results based on a myriad of probability distributions and sampling methods. It is, quite simply, a thing of beauty. It's also what I need to get a practical bead on for my boss who wants some basic overview info on it to help us figure out how to reduce the costs associated with the mutual and pension funds we manage.

ZV

 

[Bulldog13]

Originally posted by: marcello

Originally posted by: Bulldog13
How does a career in actuarial science compare to an engineering degree ?

I'm graduating as a senior in software engineering, but sometimes think I should have gone the other way and done actuarial science.

Any actuaries who can give us an opinion ?

Actuary is a math field using statistics and probability. So I think it's very different.

Math is math, no ?

I was just debating on taking the tests on the side.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Bulldog13

Originally posted by: marcello

Originally posted by: Bulldog13
How does a career in actuarial science compare to an engineering degree ?

I'm graduating as a senior in software engineering, but sometimes think I should have gone the other way and done actuarial science.

Any actuaries who can give us an opinion ?

Actuary is a math field using statistics and probability. So I think it's very different.

Math is math, no ?

I was just debating on taking the tests on the side.

Statistics is math, but it's definitely not going to appear all that related to engineering math. I've taken both. Took Calc up through differential equations. Statistics isn't quite the same animal. More often than not, statistics is completely counter-intuitive. You might make it, you might not. If you're really interested, I would suggest a course in stochastics.

ZV

 

[DrPizza]

I leaned away from actuarial science because of a hatred toward statistics.

 

[CPA]

Try PMing ActuaryTM.

 

[marcello]

Originally posted by: CPA
Try PMing ActuaryTM.

He never answered me a few months ago

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Doing some background digging for my job and need information regarding actuarial services. If anyone's in the industry and can either give me the info or point me to the places I might find it I would be very grateful. The questions:

How are actuarial fees assessed for larger funds (mutual funds, pension funds, etc)? Are they charged on a flat rate, based on assets under management, or on some sort of heuristic derived from fund complexity?

Outside of general risk management and forecasting, what services do actuarial firms typically provide to their clients? Are there sub-services?

Is this service typically outsourced by the fund managers or do they often have in-house departments?

Who are the major providers and how large is the industry? I alredy know of some of the big guns like Towers Perrin, PricewaterhouseCoopers, T. Rowe Price, and Watson Wyatt &amp; Co, but I'm wondering about other firms.

ZV

We use Hewitt Associates. They are big on the Health &amp; Welfare side of actuarial accounting.

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: marcello

Originally posted by: CPA
Try PMing ActuaryTM.

He never answered me a few months ago

hmmm....you might want to try again, he's responded to me in the past.

 

[rob3rt]

hi,

i'm an entry level actuarial student at a large p&amp;c firm. we have an in-house actuarial department. since most of your questions pertain more to consulting, i recommend you ask your questions on these forums:

Rebel Forums

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: rob3rt
hi,

i'm an entry level actuarial student at a large p&amp;c firm. we have an in-house actuarial department. since most of your questions pertain more to consulting, i recommend you ask your questions on these forums:

Rebel Forums

Thank you, and CPA, very much. I have to love how ATOT can be such a great resource.

And yeah, my questions pertain to how fees are assessed for mutual funds and pensions since that's what the investment company I work for manages.

ZV