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Anyone an actuary?

I

invidia

Platinum Member
I have being job hunting for a bit and an actuary position just came to mind. I just got my degree in physics so I'm obviously good at math. Not just calc, linear algebra, and diffy equations, but also statistics and probability. couldn't get a math minor because I hated writing proofs.

But I have no experience in economics and business. Nor financial courses taken. Not even an intro to macro/micro ecomonics for a general education requirement (I took history instead of an economics class). How much of that stuff is involved with being an actuary?

Is becoming an actuary just passing a bunch of incredibly hard exams, nonetheless of what your college education is? Do I need prior experience in something to become one?
 
Originally posted by: invidia
I have being job hunting for a bit and an actuary position just came to mind. I just got my degree in physics so I'm obviously good at math. Not just calc, linear algebra, and diffy equations, but also statistics and probability. couldn't get a math minor because I hated writing proofs.

But I have no experience in economics and business. Nor financial courses taken. Not even an intro to macro/micro ecomonics for a general education requirement (I took history instead of an economics class). How much of that stuff is involved with being an actuary?

Is becoming an actuary just passing a bunch of incredibly hard exams, nonetheless of what your college education is? Do I need prior experience in something to become one?
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you need to be good in stats/probabilities. All the people I talked to just look/crunch numbers all day. mind numbingly boring work but pays decent.

this is all heresay.
 
I think there's quite a bit of variation, it's easy to read what one person does all day and forget that there can be lots of different duties for other actuaries.

having some classes in economics or finance probably would have left you with a few more options more widely open.

qualifying will be a lot of exams, though you might be able to get a few exemptions with the right degree from the right uni's. you probably wont with physics, but sometimes it's better to start at the bottom and get some grounding anyway.

personally I'd agree with Ns1, most of the jobs sound incredibly boring but pay is pretty good.
 
Originally posted by: LS21
that was just my rearry, rearry bad joke 😛
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yeah, i can't even ask the blatantly obvious question because i've already thrown my slur-of-the-day out 😉
 
my best friend is one, went to school for actuarial sciences. Usually does mostly math related stuff during the day. Using line of business applications and plugging figures and formulas into it to deduce rates. Overall he is disattisfied somewhat with his job but the money can be good to great. Also, if you go into this field you need to realize that you get to different levels mostly by passing actuarial exams.
 
My GF has become somewhat interested in actuarial work as well. Her primary field is math, and is interested in Stats. We have a semi-retired friend who is an actuary, and he told us that all you really have to do is take the actuary exams to be certified, IIRC. What I do know is that he has made tons of money...
 
I have a bunch of friends that are actuaries. math/stats is the key. calc is very helpful apparently. there is a finance theory actuarial exam but i'm not sure which one it is. I know many insurance companies have a research group that is made up of math, finance, econ, natural science majors, and cs majors too. They just want people with an analytic background.
 
Study for exam P (probability), and try to find a job at an insurance company or an actuarial consulting company. After that they'll provide you with study materials and an hour or two per day to study at work. That's probably the easiest route. I have an AS degree, but the exams were too much of a commitment for my lazy butt. 😉
 
There are plenty of positives about being an actuary but the biggest negative I see is that once you're committed you're committed. After passing a few exams and being promoted, it'll be very difficult to enter a new field and make an equivalent amount of money or have the same "prestige" in your job once you're there already..so if you're willing to commit, I say go for it.
 
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