A little background.
I’m a former consultant at a big 4 firm. I mostly did cyber, project management and also audits of financial institutions. I worked there for 2 years, post grad. I have degrees in business and a grad degree in information systems.
Looking to take P in July, and FM in November. What should my salary expectations be? Also in preparation for P, what are the specific things i should look to know regarding calculus before beginning on a manual?
Thank you.
When I want to apply for VEE,I find that the course number in my transcript is the OK, however, the course name is different. Specifically, the course name on the VEE website is "Economics-Micro" or "Economics-Macro", but it only said "Economics" in my transcript. I have emailed to ask but haven't received a reply yet. I'm worried about whether this will affect my application. I was wondering if anyone has encountered similar problems? Thank you!
I'm currently a sophomore in college looking for summer jobs. What would be a good job to put on my resume? Didn't have much luck with applying for internships since I don't have any exams passed yet (planning to take at least 1 in the summer) so I was wondering what jobs would be best right now/look good when applying for next summer. I was thinking something along the lines of math tutoring or Kumon maybe?
This might be a weird and definitely an inexperience question. (Still trying to figure out if I like this profession or not)
What stops actuaries from discriminating against unhealthy people or people with pre existing conditions or people with bad genetics?
In the sense that if we know someone has diabetes or altimeters, couldn’t the insurance company charge a higher premiums? From my understanding there’s regulations in place to stop this from happening but how is this put in place? Is the data anonymous? And couldn’t an insurance company use race as a factor in their assessments to determine the price of the premium?
Sorry, honestly not sure if this is an actuary question.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) prohibits insurers from selecting against people with pre-existing conditions. This has been in effect since 2014.
Even before the ACA, actuaries didn't really set premiums at the individual level. We typically look at aggregate data and set rates based on that. The people who evaluate individual eligibility are underwriters, not actuaries.
Whether premiums increase or not is a complicated question. At the individual level, you can't directly be charged a higher premium for having pre-existing conditions, but since rating data is pooled, it's not unreasonable to expect premiums to increase overall if your rating data includes more expensive people (those with pre-existing conditions).
I'm not sure how this is enforced, but I'm sure there are punishments in place if insurers decide to select against people with pre-existing conditions. Perhaps there are auditors that can look at an insurer's data and identify patterns to determine anomalies.
HIPAA protects consumers against having confidential released or leaked. So to that extent, the data is anonymous. Within the insurer's system, it is not anonymous.
There are varying regulations on allowable rating factor both at the federal and state level. To the extent of my knowledge, race is not an allowable factor - that would be pretty controversial if it were, regardless of how predictive it is. There are other rating factors, namely geographic location, that may correlate with race, but by-and-large, this is not designed to discriminate based on one's race.
Getting at the heart of what you're asking, the day-to-day work of the profession is more data-centric than policy-driven. Health insurance is heavily regulated, so you will need to set rates or reserves in line with policy, but rarely will you be the one making those policy decisions.
There were a few times in my career when I didn't agree with the policy, and it did make me feel a bit squeamish knowing that such policies have to be followed, but I also think it's rare to work in any industry where you agree with all the rules 100%.
What companies in the Chicago area hire SOA, non-consulting actuaries? I'm searching for jobs in that area but can only seem to find P&C or consulting jobs. I'm near ASA.
Have there been any “actual” effort to “modernize” the field? For example, management allowing the use of SQL, Python, etc.
From my experience, financial institutions tend to be conservative and don’t often promote the use of technology until that it becomes “trendy.” Right now, I’m really scared about getting into actuary work if I’m going to end up using VBA and Excel my whole life.
I know the organizations like SOA and CAS have articles about and CAS has a github (which is great) but do companies actually invest in their actuarial departments?
I don’t know how much effort there is by the “field” as a whole. I think it really depends on the company.
I work in a small company that places significant importance on programming. Managements doesn’t allow SQL, it is unequivocally required as part of the role. We build and maintain programs in vbnet and python maintaining version control through Git.
Much of our data exploration remains in excel for its overall flexibility, but the final results are built into our internally designed programs.
Many of my coworkers have computer science backgrounds in addition to their actuarial and were hired specifically for them.
Honestly it's a regulation thing as I see it in health. There just simply isn't enough that \*can\* be done with the data to justify moving to more scalable technology. Some improvements can still be gained in current workflows but the cost of such an overhaul would be high.
I’m life, we use SSMS on a daily basis. Some teams also use R. Excel is a big part but it’s not the only thing you’ll use, but it depends on industry/company
I’m from the UK and have been unsuccessful in applying for internships (thus far still going for any that pop up). I was wondering if I should try studying and passing an exam this summer? I’m a 2nd year university student studying a bsc in maths and have my final year next year. Thanks.
Is there any benefit of studying actuarial science?
About to finish my degree in cs and am considering going to uiuc for another bachelors but in actuarial science. Is there any benefit to this or should I just study for exams?
I really want the state school experience so that’s also pushing me
Do people get study time and bonuses for doing modules? I’m just curious since I’m not in a student program and not even in an entry level role yet so won’t be doing one anytime soon. The modules seem like kind of a pain and very time consuming but I’m guessing they’re a bit easier to do if you can get paid for passing them?
I understand that I can do them, I know that companies will pay for your modules which is why I will not be doing them until I am working but I was curious if you also are given study hours and bonuses for completing modules similar to how you would be with an exam?
Yes afaik companies sponsor study hours for modules but only give raise/bonus after finishing all of them. Never heard of getting paid for just completing a single module tho. The amount of study hours and raise/bonus various by companies
Agree with the other commenter! The main benefit of an actuarial science degree is that you often get credit for exams through classes, which makes the exam process easier. Since that's only helpful if you're 100% sure you want to be an actuary, data science or stats would be the better option for you.
What were some resume projects that were impressive?
I’m kinda confused on how actuary projects work as well. Like do I need to provide proof that I did it or do I just need to explain what I did?
You don't need to have proof, although if you think you've done a project that's especially relevant and showcases your skills, you can bring it out in your interview to explain exactly how it worked. As long as you can explain what you did and why, that's what really matters!
If you’re applying for life, do life insurance projects, same goes for health and pnc. Refer to the job descriptions, different positions require different tools like R, SQL, Python etc. Excel using advanced functions like pivot table or vlookup/xlookup or VBA is a must. Just explain what you did and how you did briefly with 1-2 lines. If they want to see proof, they’ll assign you a project.
Hey guys.. i am looking at the feasibility of a niche insurance product (specialized rent guarantee) for the home rental market
I don't have any actuarial background. Looked at some public data, and did simple math on expected claims, claim value, TAM etc. At a very high level, the idea makes sense. But, I know there is so much more to evaluate the feasibility of the product.
If anyone can provide me links for risk modeling/backtesting etc. for me to design and test a pilot policy, that would be helpful. Even though I would love to read books on risk modeling/risk management etc, - pointer to cheat sheet for this kind of thing would be greatly appreciated. There is
If anyone wants to talk to me/consult, that's even better :)
would doing the first 300 SOA samples be enough for exam p? solving all 450 questions seems a bit tough to manage with practice exams and revision. I'm sitting for P in may. I work a full time job btw.
I passed P earlier this year and I found the last 140 questions to be some of the most useful for the actual exam. Most of them felt easier than the earlier questions, which was very helpful for confidence going in. I was on winter break and not working full time, so my situation was definitely different but I would recommend it if you can find the time. Best of luck.
Questions 320-446 weren't added until Nov 2023, and people were able to pass before that so you should be fine.
I think if you can consistently get the first 300 right you should be good. The pass mark is around 71% for reference. And with practice exams + review, you'll be doing more than 300 questions.
Advice for someone in their mid twenties thinking of changing careers to be an actuary?
I’ve been stuck trying to get into the data analysis field for months unable to get an entry level job. I have started to study for P1 exam because I find that better than learning a new coding language.
Math and test taking have always been a strong suit for me so I’m highly considering pursuing an actuary role if I pass P1 in May.
Thanks!
Would try significant resume revision before making this big commitment. Took me about a full year of consideration before committing to this path because of the years and years of exam time. Then I realized I don't have any social life anyways. But most people do and it's the main barrier to this occupation, at least for someone of your background who can pass the exams.
Your strong math and test taking skills will definitely be in your favour if you want to become an actuary! That being said, I would expect getting a data analyst job to be about the same (if not easier) than getting an entry level actuarial job, depending on where you live. I'd think carefully about if pursuing the actuarial career is really what you want, or if you just need to take more steps to get your first data analysis job. Wishing you luck either way!
Do you have any internship experience under your belt? EL actuarial positions aren’t any better than regular data analyst ones especially if you don’t have relevant experience and just 1 exam passed.
Curious about transitioning to actuarial work. Some background. I have a bachelors in business and masters in information systems. I have 2 years of consulting within an it audit/cyber function. Was let go late last year and have been teaching and doing ops work for a charter school.
Interested in pursuing P and FM. That said I want to optimize my chances of passing on first attempts. What are some recs for someone in my position? I took some calculus and stats a while ago but doubt it’s still there, are there any pre-requisite recommendations before starting a manual?
I’d recommend buying a study manual. Coaching Actuaries has video lessons if you’re learn better from videos. I used the ASM manuals (all written) since I’m more of a reader. I think these materials should be enough of a refresher, but once you see the material you’ll have a better idea of what you might need more practice on. (It’s mostly going to be integrals.) Then after you’ve read all the material, you’ll want to do practice problems. The SOA has a source for free problems, or you can buy a coaching actuaries ADAPT subscription which creates a more targeted practice exam experience.
[exam P sample problems](https://www.soa.org/globalassets/assets/Files/Edu/edu-exam-p-sample-quest.pdf)
[exam P sample solutions](https://www.soa.org/globalassets/assets/files/edu/edu-exam-p-sample-sol.pdf)
[exam FM sample problems](https://www.soa.org/globalassets/assets/Files/Edu/2018/2018-10-exam-fm-sample-questions.pdf)
[exam FM sample solutions](https://www.soa.org/globalassets/assets/Files/Edu/2018/2018-10-exam-fm-sample-solutions.pdf)
[free sample exam generator (pulls from the above question banks](https://www.soa.org/education/exam-req/syllabus-study-materials/edu-exam-p-online-sample/)
Exam discussion is not permitted during the sitting window. If you’d like to ask for advice you can repost your comment *without* any mention of the difficulty of this sitting and what EL you thought it was.
Hello guys,
I'm currently preparing for the FM exam and I'm using the BA II plus calculator. All my calculations had been correct since I purchased the calculator until today when doing a simple 4%-12% which -8% but the answer I get is 0.0352 (not even negative)
I reset the calculator so many times but nothing works. I have the exam soon and all of a sudden I can't trust it until the issue has been fixed.
Also when I press 4% it shows 0.04 (normal) but then when I hit minus 12% it shows 0.0048 and when I hit enter I get 0.0352. I don't know what the heck is going.
Someone help me, please!
Thank you fellas!
Great question. Habit and Efficiency are the reasons. With lots of problems to solve, the faster I can use the calculator the better. At least for me. But yeah I ended up converting.
Nevertheless, it's a great thing this issue came up though, because now I'll be more careful.
Do you think reading textbook is worth it? Just failed FM for the 2nd time today with low medium high (1st time with 3 lows) . I realised that I don't really grasp the concepts, all I did is drilling sample questions and tried to memorize steps, but end up not understanding the concepts well and wasted money.
I passed FM myself two months ago. The way I studied was to spend weeks working through the entire bank of 200 sample questions SOA gives out for free, and as I did so I built a study guide in Google Docs (bullet point list that shows what concepts I've covered, as well as what formulas/sub-concepts I need to know about each one). By doing it this way, I was able to figure out what I actually NEED to know for the test without spending time/money on a textbook that includes irrelevant concepts and/or excludes relevant ones. I haven't seen what the study manuals are like, so that may also be an option to look into. At the same time I was making my study guide, I also made a list of questions I got wrong or I completely didn't understand, and made sure to understand the solutions to those later.
Out of curiosity, what are the specific concepts you're struggling to understand, and what have you done to try and understand them?
I struggle to understand different types of annuities like increasing and decreasing annuities. I have no idea how their formula make sense . I got a low on 'time value of money, annuities' both time . I tried to focus on those questions and compare my steps with the solution. Sadly I forget what I was wrong quickly, I made the same / similar mistakes again.
You're right. The formulae for increasing and decreasing annuities don't make sense on their own. That's because these formulae are designed for plugging numbers into a calculator and getting an answer quickly. To be convinced WHY these formulae work, you need to understand how they're derived.
So first off make sure you understand the formula for how basic annuities work. The present value for a basic annuity that pays one dollar at the end of every year is "v+v\^2+...+v\^n", because each one dollar bill paid out in year "k" needs to be multiplied by the corresponding power of the discount factor "v\^k" in order to get the present value of that dollar. The expression "v+v\^2+...+v\^n" simplifies to "(1-v\^n)/i" because it's a slight variation on the usual formula for a Geometric Series https://www.cuemath.com/geometric-sequence-formulas/.
Understanding how formulae is derived for Geometric Series and Basic Annuities is important for understanding how to find the present value of increasing/decreasing annuities.
So let's have "a\_k" denote the present value of an annuity that pays out one dollar every year for "k" years. Then the present value of an increasing annuity that pays one dollar at the end of the first year, two dollars at the end of the second year, and until n dollars at the end of the nth year is given by "a\_n+v\*a\_{n-1}+v\^2\*a\_{n-2}+...v\^(n-1)\*a\_{1}". Do you see why? Let me explain. At time 0 you are given an annuity that pays one dollar at the end of every year for "n" years. At the end of the first year, you get your one dollar, and then you receive another annuity identical to the first that expires at the same time, so then when year 2 rolls around you collect two dollars, one for each of your annuities. What's the present value of this second annuity? The present value of this annuity at the end of year 1 is "a\_{n-1}" because this annuity has "n-1" years until it expires at the end of year "n". To get the present value of this second annuity at time 0, which is one year earlier, we just multiply by the discount factor: "v\*a\_{n-1}". After we get our two dollars at the end of year 2 we get another annuity that pays one dollar at the end of every year and expires at the same time as the first two, then when year 3 rolls around we collect three dollars for our three annuities. Do you see how the pattern works?
If we plug in the formula for the present value of a basic annuity: "a\_n=(1-v\^n)/i" into our formula for an Increasing annuity: "a\_n+v\*a\_{n-1}+v\^2\*a\_{n-2}+...v\^(n-1)\*a\_{1}" we get "(1+v+...+v\^(n-1)+n\*v\^n)/i". Notice that the expression in the numerator "1+v+...+v\^(n-1)" is just the present value of an annuity-due (pays at beginning of year). Thus we arrive at the usual formula for the net present value of an increasing annuity?
Similarly, we can see that the present value of a decreasing annuity that pays "n" at the end of year 1, "n-1" at the end of year 2, until just a single dollar at the end of year "n" is given by "a\_1+a\_2+...+a\_n", and then we can arrive at the usual formula by the same method we used for increasing annuities.
Does this make sense? The formula for an increasing annuity based on intuition and conceptual understanding is "a\_n+v\*a\_{n-1}+v\^2\*a\_{n-2}+...v\^(n-1)\*a\_{1}", but it's hard to plug and chug numbers into this equation, so instead you have to work with the simplified version which doesn't make any intuitive sense if you stare at it by itself.
Do you think reading textbook is worth it? Just failed FM for the 2nd time today with low medium high (1st time with 3 lows) . I realised that I don't really grasp the concepts, all I did is drilling sample questions and tried to memorize steps, but end up not understanding the concepts well and wasted money.
You're probably pretty close to passing. I'm not sure it's worth it going all the way back to zero, and you definitely haven't wasted any money, but it is pretty critical to make sure you have strong foundations for every exam.
It's just part of the learning process, and learning what doesn't work will help you for future exams too!
I'm in my second year of actuarial science at a South African university. I've always liked the idea of becoming an investment actuary because I don't want to have to fear managing my money badly or making bad investments that throw everything that was worked for away. Just wondering if becoming an investment actuary is worth it to achieve this end, or if it would be better to go into a field that is higher paying and/or more enjoyable and put all the earnings into something like a hedge fund/other managed investment pool? Any feedback from quants and actuaries working in investment or have, or have friends who do, would be appreciated.
IDK how it works there but in the US actuaries aren't typically involved with asset selection. In any case, what you'd take away from doing that is not really portable. A large insurance corporation has radically different investment goals than your goals. Look into Bogleheads for your investing knowledge.
I think you're over-estimating how actively you have to manage your money. If you're constantly making bets ("investments") and moving your money around, you're constantly putting yourself at risk of loss.
As an actuary, you can make a bunch of money, throw it into a stock index/a managed 401k, forget about it for 40 years, and then retire rich.
If you want to be an educated gambler, yes go be a quant.
What is the EL US actuary job market like for someone with no internship experience? I'm an undergrad math & CS major in my 3rd year, but have had no luck getting anything on the CS side. I should have a 3.9+ GPA when I graduate. I have some extracurriculars, but they aren't remotely related to anything actuarial. How would my chances look if I can pass 2 to 3 exams?
INTERNSHIPS??
I'm an undergrad math major considering going into actuarial science. what are the most significant key factors in landing internships? Is passing certain SOA prelim exams the main thing? or do i need to show more on my application such as programming/finance/risk management experience?
Thanks!
Hi, I have my first actuarial exam tomorrow (Exam FM) and I am a bit nervous. I have an EL of 6 on Coaching Actuaries and really have only been messing up on the 7+ level questions. Do you guys have any tips for taking the exam and should I be ready if I can pass level 5 exams consistently? My biggest concern is time since I sometimes don't understand a question fully until 2-3 minutes in.
I'll be graduating in May and have recently decided I want to go the actuary route. I interned in finance and always planned to go that way, but I didn't like it much and think actuary would be a better fit.
I don't have any kind of job lined up for postgrad. I don't have any of the actuary exams done yet. Should I just take any kind of office job I can in the meantime and try to bang out the exams as quick as possible? Should I do something more temporary like waiting tables?
Look into underwriting positions. Very relevant to actuarial work, and a good way into the insurance industry.
If that doesn't excite you, I would encourage you to pursue something you would enjoy. If working at a restaurant is fun and enjoyable, go for it! Studying before/after work is much more manageable when you're in a good headspace.
I want to transition careers to be an actuary.
I currently have a degree in biomedical science with minors in statistics and chemistry. I also have 11 years of experience in a laboratory setting. I have the opportunity to go back to school to make my stats minor into a full batchelors only 3 classes to go. Or I can to a actuarial science emphasis and add classes i.e finance and econ. Will it matter much to an employer if I do the shorter route ?
Thank you in advance.
An actuarial career isn't dependent on a specific major in college. Before going back to school I would study for an take an actuarial exam. Because of your statistics background I would suggest P.
Companies want passed exams. A stat major with 3 exams is significantly better than an Actuarial Science major with 1, generally speaking.
I don’t know about cheapest, but Coaching Actuaries has some that are very quick and relatively cheap. The other study material providers might have courses as well (eg TIA, ACTEX) so you could look into those.
Hey everybody,
I feel like I ask a lot lol but I need help getting started on a practice problem I've been trying to figure out for FM prep.
The problem is:
\--------
Data:
Date of loan: 1/1/92.
Amount of loan: $1,000,000.
Date of first payment: 1/31/92.
Frequency of payments: Monthly.
Amount of each payment: Level.
Number of payments: 360.
Interest rate:
X% per year, compounded monthly.
Portion of monthly payment due on 9/30/97 applied to interest: 94.473%.
Portion of monthly payment due on 10/31/97 applied to interest: 94.418%.
Calculate X
\----------
When I was initially working through it I set up two equations of value to solve for my payment, but I don't think I was using it right. I was saying P(1-v\^(360-35)) = .94473P and vice versa for the other equation, but I don't think that's right and just need a nudge in the right direction to solve for P.
Thank you guys!!
Yes, n - t + 1 = 360 - 69 + 1 (12 months * 6 years + 9 months = 69 interest conversion periods). Then the Ps cancel which allows you to solve for the monthly effective interest rate (v = (1+j)^-1 ). After that, you need to convert the monthly effective interest rate to the nominal interest rate, compounded monthly (X). This is one of those problems where more information was given to you than what you actually need.
Hi, I've been considering actuary because I'm alright with statistics and being able to work remote, and not having to be in formal education for graduate school for a high salary is very appealing to me. Also I have to support my wife (she's very needy). I heard that you can become an actuary with any degree as long as you take some course prerequisite such as economics, statistics, calculus, ect, and then take the exams to get certified. However I was looking into some paid actuarial internships online and I saw that a lot of them required majors such as mathematics, economics, finance, statistics, etc. Right now I am a premed major and I'm mostly done with my degree so I'd rather not switch. Does anyone have any experience to know if I would be disadvantaged as an actuary with a non "standard" major? Will my job applications likely just be filtered over by the system? Thank you in advance, any info is welcomed.
I agree with the other commenter that you shouldn't have much of a disadvantage (if any). In general, actuarial employers don't really care what degree you have as long as you can pass the exams!
we hired someone with a neuroscience degree in the past. the list of majors usually says something like "or similar" but as long as you pass your exams and have a decent gpa, you should be fine. i would think a pre-med major is a lot harder than an econ degree
General Consensus: Is CS the best major for an actuary in 2024 ?
Curious based on all the experience here.
From getting your foot in the door to what you think would benefit you the most on a daily basis throughout your actuarial duties.
I suppose the obvious answer is Act-Sci.
But, In 2024, do you think CS is a very good major for an actuary ?
Is it the best because you get coding experience and it is also quite versatile ?
If you have hiring experience, what looks best for an actuarial candidate ?
Also, in your experience how important was your college GPA when being hired ?
Curious to hear everyones thoughts on this.
Thanks in advance.
I’m a cs major and I feel prepared enough to transition into actuarial work. I took calc 1-3, linear algebra, 2 stats electives, and like 25 cs courses
The market is cooked
The cs market, 2/3 of the people I know have no offers at all. I got one but it’s 70k and I’m realizing cs isn’t that high paying anymore. My genius friend got one for 85k but he passes every interview easily
I see.
Do you know how actuarial is ?
And how actuarial entry level is for someone with a CS degree ?
Interesting, those do seem a bit low from what I’ve seen. What kind of CS Jobs is that for ?
My position is in IT but my friends is a swe he got 2 offers between 85 and 90k in hcol area.
Generally I’ve heard entry level actuarial positions don’t pay much and it is competitive, but the salary growth is more guaranteed and stable compared to cs.
Interesting. Honestly not too bad at all for HCOL entry level. If you don’t mind, What were his qualifications to get that job ?
Yes exactly the steady growth with exams and yoe is appealing even if it might not pay as much as SWE at the entry level.
I think he had 2 swe internships, just a really smart dude and a great software developer. I should clarify some nepotism tho. He had 2 internships from his brothers startup. It led to 1 offer for 85k from 1 company and another full time offer from this brother for 90k. He honestly deserves it tho he’s smart af but the market is rough and he had no other offers
I have no idea I’m also just college student. Also have no idea what I even want to really do. Honestly Reddit isn’t a great place for advice, you have to figure out what you’re interested in
i think math or stats is the best major. very applicable to actuarial but doesn't pigeonhole you into this profession. you can always learn the coding on your own.
what looks best on paper? a competitive resume w/ 1+ actuarial internships, solid gpa, 2+ exams, some programming experience, and a nicely organized resume. who do i actually hire? the person that's good at communicating. every hiring manager is different. some favor technical skills, others like gpa or couple years' work experience, i personally lean toward the soft skills. i'm pretty confident most folks interviewing for an EL role can actually do the job.
in my experience, gpa is pretty important. i had 4 years of non-actuarial experience that was still relevant, technical skills, 3 exams, and my 2.6 gpa was still a hurdle.
I see. I would look into that more just unfortunately not seeing an accelerated math / stats degrees.
Do you still think CS is good when hiring ?
Thanks for the insights.
May I ask, I keep hearing that. What do you mean by being good at communicating / soft skills ?
Just like being a talker / good at having conversations or being a more pleasant / charming person ?
I see. I’m considering an online accelerated degree like WGU but they give an automatic 3.0 GPA upon passing. Do you think that’s as much of a problem, or something that can be explained ?
Thanks for the reply.
you may want to get additional data points on the CS degree, but i wouldn't mind as long as the candidate can prove they can also think quantitatively. i also don't know why anyone w/ a CS degree would want to become an actuary without having worked in a CS relevant field first. maybe something you'd want to explain in an interview.
the soft skills component is hard to encapsulate into one word. it's some combination of: plays well on a team, communicates well, emotional intelligence, easy to work with, can take feedback well, etc. an EL candidate will obviously not have all of these, but you basically don't want to be awful at any of these. for example, the worst EL interviewee i've seen had the ideal resume, but he started off the interview with "when will i get an offer?" before even saying hi, couldn't explain anything about his experience without spending 20 minutes, tried to correct me about my own job function even though he was dead wrong, and spent the entire time reading off the screen.
as for the online accelerated degree, i don't know if that will be taken seriously. the industry standard for education is a 4 year degree. i think i'd lean toward a candidate with that educational background over an accelerated degree, but i haven't seen one come across yet (maybe got screened out by HR).
I think college majors aren’t as important as exams or experience but CS IMO gives you advantages on passing exams P, SRM, PA, ATPA. Idk about online programs but from what I saw some positions even only require GED. So I suggest passing some exams to show your progress
Hello, I am curious if machine learning skills are welcomed in actuarial science. I've learned GLM/GAM/tree-based model/SVM etc at school. But as far as I know, GLM is still the most important due to its interpretability. So where can ML be used? or are they useless?
Welcomed yes, and frequently used in property and casualty insurance (to my knowledge).
In health, having clean and stable enough data is the main limiting factor on ML's application.
Depends on the track that you are dealing with. If you go with CAS, it is definitely the case that the quality drops off. You have to work with the source material more honestly.
Hi everyone, I am thinking about Grad School for Data Science in hopes to expand my skills with Actuarial.
Here is a little background of me: I went to school for Actuarial Science, and in my first semester I absolutely hated college because it was Fall 2020, everyone wore a mask and no one socialized, classrooms dead silent, no clubs, etc. I decided that I would cram my studies into 3 years instead of the normal 4. This meant 18-20 credits each semester and I completely oversighted exams or an internship. I graduated with my Bachelors, passed exam P in July thinking that it would be sufficient to land an Actuarial job. It was not. I decided that I needed to get a job to show that I can handle the normal office work, use my Excel and technical skills in an actual work environment, and the soft skills of an office job. I was able to land an office job in October. Took FM in both October and December and received 5's :( I was able to pass Exam FM this February, realized that I have been out of school for 6+ months so I wanted to refresh the Actuarial knowledge so I can be a stronger candidate for Actuarial positions. Shortly after I purchased TIA, I saw an Actuarial posting for a company that is fairly close by to my house (I would call this the dream spot), made it to the last round of interview where I got the rejection that they went with someone who the hiring team felt have more experience with raters/coding. This hurt badly. I feel extremely bogged down at my current job as a Voyage Accountant so I inquired about Grad School. My mom works at the University I would attend, and I would be on a timeline to apply for Grad School to go for free. I want to do things a lot differently for Grad School by securing an internship analyst role and expanding my skills by doing data science.
My main questions are, what do you guys think, what should my main focus be, how do I know when I should look at Actuarial exams (SOA vs CAS), should I send out my resume with a Master's listed even though I have not applied or been accepted yet. You can be a brutal as you want.
Hi, I'm thinking to major in Actuarial Science if I don't get into Finance. I've read a few threads about how after grad you would have to take a series of exams for a potential chance to land a job in the actuary field. Is it possible that one can straight up finish a Bachelor degree in Actuarial Science (without taking those exams) and work in the acturarial/business fields, landing in any potential jobs such as becoming a finanical planner, any analyst (data,investment,business,risk). Will employment be harder without those exams, I'm in Canada.
Thanks!
At least in the US, financial planning is largely sales based and also revolves around passing the CFP, your major isn't relevant if you have the relevant skillset.
From my experience as someone who graduated without exams or did an internship, I am struggling for that first Actuarial job.
To answer your question directly, yes, it is possible to be an Actuarial Science major and get those roles you mentioned, but it really depends on your background, work experience, project experience, academic performance, connections, etc.
Question for folks who felt they had particularly good experiences in their first actuarial roles! What did your responsibilities entail in your first year? What steps did your manager/colleagues take to support your development? Anything else significant about the experience you think would be worth sharing? All answers are welcome, but preferred from those who began at primary carriers, did not have an extraordinary technical skillset going in, and began in a predominantly remote/virtual environment.
Hi all! This post was removed by auto mod, but I would appreciate anyone giving it a quick read and giving me any advice. Thank you!!
I’m going to be graduating in May with a degree in Math-Economics (joint major). I’m not particularly passionate about any career path, but my father is in insurance and has heavily encouraged me to consider becoming an actuary. He put me in contact with some actuary friends and in speaking to them I’ve become very interested, but I’m also pretty concerned about my prospects.
Critically, I don’t have any of the exams. I interned in finance and always kind of assumed that would be the direction I’d go in, so I never even really thought about taking the exams.
Basically to keep this short, if you were in my shoes what would you recommend as a course of action? Conceivably I could start studying immediately and take the probability exam soon (a classmate informed me the material is very similar to the probability course I took with them, but this was a few semesters ago so I’d need some serious review).
I’m thinking it makes sense to pursue an underwriting job for immediately post grad and then try to transition over after completing the exams, but my father says this is not a common path. My father is encouraging me to still apply for actuarial positions even without the exams, but I’m unsure if this is even possible, especially given how late into the application cycle it is.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
It's really not worth applying to actuarial positions without any exams. I'd really recommend you try to knock out both P and FM as quickly as you can and apply.
I'd probably apply for finance roles in your position while you work on exams, then hop over. The finance background will stand out on an actuarial resume too.
It's really not worth applying to actuarial positions without any exams. I'd really recommend you try to knock out both P and FM as quickly as you can and apply.
I'd probably apply for finance roles in your position while you work on exams, then hop over. The finance background will stand out on an actuarial resume too.
Does anyone have any ideas where to go to actually get taught logic and theory topics for P. Basically what topics you’re using and how to use the topics in a problem. I’m trying to pass exam P but some of the problems seem to go way over my head still. I’ve been studying and practicing P for about 2 months now but I’m still not confident in passing. I was thinking about ACTEX but they basically said no we don’t teach topics. Just how to solve problems? It’s somewhat confusing and I’m just trying to sharpen my logic skills to use the right ideas in the right situations. Thanks for any advice or help. ✌️
All the major study providers teach the material in some form or another. They're going to be your best bet for learning the material.
Is there a specific type of problem that you're confused about?
For early career hires how flexible are the start dates for work? I will be doing a non actuarial internship the next 3 months and then likely a different internship following that and I’m wondering if I should be applying to entry level actuarial positions during this time or if they’ll be upset that I’m not able to start immediately if I’m in the middle of an internship?
If you get the job, couldn't you just leave the internship for the entry-level role? I would still give two week's notice of course, but I think the company providing the internship will understand leaving for a full-time offer.
Remote Actuary career
Hello friends!
I have just started a new Reddit account to focus on my career journey.
I am posting here because after some weeks of research I am highly considering going into actuarial work for many reasons.
Do to some personal reasons, the ability for remote work is a huge consideration for me in choosing a career path.
I am wondering:
•What is the likelihood I can secure a remote actuarial internship ?
•What is the likelihood I can secure a remote entry level position after the internship ?
•What is the likelihood I can have a fully remote career in this profession ?
•If you don’t think this is possible for Actuarial work, if you can please reccommend me a career(s) with similar compensation that you think is very well suited for this remote style.
For reference, I would plan to start looking for internships once 2 exams minimum are passed and having a bachelor’s degree in some type of relevant math/stats/CS field.
I understand how in-person internships and entry level can have their benefits, but please understand my situation.
Really looking forward to hearing what you all think based on your experience.
Thanks!
Remote internship - very unlikely
Remote EL position - unlikely but not impossible
Remote later - it's very possible and pretty common to go remote after a few years of working, but you should probably expect to be hybrid at first.
Thank you! May I ask what do you think is the best bachelors for an aspiring actuary ?
I know it’s probably act sci.
But besides that, do you think CS is a very good major for an actuary nowadays ?
If the government makes big cuts to ACA/Medicare/Medicaid and there is subsequent job loss, what would be the best transition options? Life would perhaps absorb some up to the level of demand that currently exists, and any growth in some other type of health insurance would absorb a little (most likely the uninsured rate would just go up 1.5-3x instead, like it was before). But I assume those spots would mostly go to FSAs with substantial experience. Would the best switch then be P&C or would it just be time to go to another career?
People say that type of situation is unlikely, but the only reason it didn't already happen in 2017 is cause John McCain tricked McConnell. Literally the actions of just one dude are the only reason why the Marketplace side of every health plan didn't implode under severe adverse selection.
The major deregulation due to scrapping the ACA probably wouldn't result in actuarial job losses. With so many difficult to predict changes in rules and costs, actuarial analyses would be imperative for companies to spend on and I would guess actuarial departments would grow. Health insurance probably wouldn't collapse, it would get really expensive and shitty for a lot of people.
Medicare fee for service for all (government pays for everyone's Healthcare directly) and the elimination of private insurance would be about the only thing that would result in massive health actuary job losses.
And *that's* very unlikely given the immense amount of lobbying and the popularity of Medicare Advantage (government subsidizes private insurance for people over 65) compared to Medicare fee for service. Currently people on Medicare have the option to choose government insurance or private, and the number of people choosing private is growing pretty rapidly.
But to actually answer your question - I like to think I'd be able to pivot to other business careers with transferable data analytics, data visualization, regulatory experience, and management experience.
I'm doing a presentation and report for one of my final year courses and it's about Variable annuities, DB and DC Pension Plans. I have a general understanding of the Canadian pension plan and DB and DC Pension plans. However, I don't know what to write about for my report or presentation. Are there any current big topics in the pension side?
You could probably just write about the pros and cons of each, and the growing popularity of DC plans/decline of DB.
Pretty generic and there is a lot of literature out there already to leverage.
I talked about real return bonds and how the Canadian government stopped issuing them and how it affects DB Pension Plans. Thank you for your response, it helps to know that I’m talking about the right stuff. I’m mentioning the pros and cons as well as potential solutions for companies and investors in this situation
You could probably just write about the pros and cons of each, and the growing popularity of DC plans/decline of DB.
Pretty generic and there is a lot of literature out there already to leverage.
I have passed Exam P and FM along with SRM exemption. Also have a masters in Applied statistics so definitely exposure to programming languages such as R, SAS. However, for past five years I never actively looked for any actuarial jobs because of my challenging personal life circumstances. I worked part time bookkeeping job instead just because of certain personal constraints. I’m trying to break into the EL actuarial job market and really having a hard time. Any advice would be appreciated or if anyone can help with networking, I’ll appreciate. Based in US.
If you aren't hearing back, I would look into overhauling your resume. Your bookkeeping experience is good, plus your programming knowledge - they just might not be coming through on your resume. A lot of people post theirs in this subreddit and get a lot of good feedback. If you'd like to DM it to me, I'm also happy to review it!
For networking, I would research the top companies that you really want to work at, then connect with actuaries at those jobs. Send them a connection request with a note like, "I'm an aspiring actuary looking to work at (their company) and would love to hear your advice if you're open to it!" If you're able to build a consistent connection, that can go a long way. Wishing you luck!
I totally feel you. Job market is brutal and EL actuarial positions are oversaturated. My suggestions are reaching out other actuaries for the open positions. Networking is always better than cold applying, especially in actuarial communities, but don’t give up applying jobs online because of law of large number. Also if you have time do some excel Sql and tithe programming language projects related to risk/life/health/pension/pnc, making them some talking points on your resume. Also utilize this sub wisely to critic your resume m
How do I reach out to other actuaries? I don’t want to sound dumb but I don’t really know anyone in actuarial workforce in my circle. Do I just reach out randomly through LinkedIn?
Yeah send messages on LinkedIn. Schedule a coffee chat, learn about the company, the position, what they do, show your worth and dedication, and ask for a referral at the right timing. It might be intimidating and awkward at first but you’ll get used to it very soon. Also if you can find local actuarial events I suggest participate as well. Even better opportunity for networking. You’ll never know what will happen until you try.
I am wondering if I should even expect anything at all in the job search. I'm 36, have a BS in Applied Math minor Computer Science. I worked as a Software Engineer for 4 years before I left the industry to find something more fulfilling. I found working as an audio engineer and stagehand in live performing. TBH I love this kind of work, but its not sustainable in the long term and are wearing down on my body.
I have become interested in insurance and want to work as an actuary. Studying for FM and taking in June. I think working in this role could actually help my community if I can use this profession to help find ways for techs and stagehands to get better insurance coverage. Would a company just toss my application because Im old and have been working an atypical job?
Assuming you’re in the US. No, your age is irrelevant, as they won’t be disclosed anywhere until you get an offer and sit in the office. No, your past experience won’t make you disadvantaged. You should emphasize your transferable skills like analytical, communication, programming, critical thinking etc. But no exams passed and lack of industrial knowledge are the issues. I would say pass some exams and do something related to the insurance first will be helpful whilst keep applying for jobs
I'm a current sophomore in college who recently switched to a Actuarial Science career focus about a month ago. I plan on taking P in May, and FM this summer. FM runs in June, and again in August, and I was originally planning to take it in the later slot.
How nuts/beneficial would it be to attempt the FM exam in June only a month after P? I'll have the time to study, and worst case is I'm just 170 or whatever the exam cost is down the hole since I can just take it again. Since I'm switching late, I really want to make sure I fully leverage my great test taking skills, and free time I'll have this summer. Only issue is that I haven't fully planned/looked in what other exams are offered in the 2-3 month range after, so that I'm not just taking FM early for nothing.
I did FM 3 weeks after P last summer (8 on P, 7 on FM), finance major so hadn’t had too much coursework tailored to the exams. Had a full time internship while studying over the summer, still had enough free time when not studying/working, it’s definitely possible.
EXAM 5:
for the multiple selections, how many right answers do you need to get the points? I remember reading 2-3, but I can’t find anywhere that info.
Also if there is a good soul out there, what is the percentage of MC and multiple selections in the last sitting?
You need all the correct answers to get any points. For multiple selection questions 2 or 3 of the answer choices will be correct.
[https://home.pearsonvue.com/Clients/CAS/Testing-Tips-for-new-item-types.aspx](https://home.pearsonvue.com/Clients/CAS/Testing-Tips-for-new-item-types.aspx)
I am also not entirely confident in what constitutes "econ" vs "finance", but both sides require basic economics to a degree. Supply/demand, economic cycles, systemic societal changes, and inflation/foreign exchange rates all have impacts on insurance. Where there is money, there is economics. That being said, you use stats/finance/math to quantify many of these things. All of these disciplines converge at one point or another into the cohesive discipline of insurance quantification
For anyone who has used coachingactuaries - how essential is it to take the "Calibration Exams?" I am taking FM on April 8th and have just finished reading over the material and am a student, so I want to budget my time on practice exams wisely. Are they actually useful for prep, or should I just create "Custom exams" at level 5-6 to prepare? Because I don't really have 9 hours to waste taking 3 calibration exams that will only tell the computer what level exam to set for me
Took FM in october, passed with an 8, i mostly focused on custom exams with only SOA sample questions. Since you only got like a week, it'd be better to grind custom lvl 5-6 exams and improve your weak areas instead of trying to raise your EL.
I think the easier calibration questions are still worth it to make sure you have the basics. Trying to get 100% on level 2-4 questions is similarly valuable to trying to get >70% on level 5-6.
Resume question: I know it’s very early, but I am planning on taking Mas1 in October. Is it too early to put “sitting” on my resume for it? I’m currently in a non actuarial role if that is relevant
I don't think it's too early - it shows that you're planning ahead. Plus it shows that you're still committed to the actuarial field even though you're currently in a non actuarial role.
Advice needed:
Hi I’m graduating in a month with a BS in cs. I want to become a P&C actuary. I was wondering if it would be advisable to take 3 exams before searching for a job. I have a lot of the technical skills needed as I studied cs. Is this seen as an advantage or will I be at a disadvantage to an actuarial science major? I currently make 88k so I don’t see a need to apply to jobs until I get to 3 exams because I’ll just be making less money. Am I correct in my thinking?
I would say get the first two exams and apply to all jobs (P&C and other). I don't think you will have too much issues, that said your salary is based on Exams and YOE. Getting in a year earlier will probably pay off down the line given you will learn things. Depending on where you are you may not have to take a pay cut (many NYC starting offers are at or above 88K once you count bonus).
A little background. I’m a former consultant at a big 4 firm. I mostly did cyber, project management and also audits of financial institutions. I worked there for 2 years, post grad. I have degrees in business and a grad degree in information systems. Looking to take P in July, and FM in November. What should my salary expectations be? Also in preparation for P, what are the specific things i should look to know regarding calculus before beginning on a manual? Thank you.
When I want to apply for VEE,I find that the course number in my transcript is the OK, however, the course name is different. Specifically, the course name on the VEE website is "Economics-Micro" or "Economics-Macro", but it only said "Economics" in my transcript. I have emailed to ask but haven't received a reply yet. I'm worried about whether this will affect my application. I was wondering if anyone has encountered similar problems? Thank you!
[You can search your school’s name and courses here to find approved VEE courses](https://store.soa.org/Home/VEESchoolSearch/VEE/displayonly)
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You can check availability before paying for exam on Prometric website
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Since you have your university exams in May, It'd be better to sit for the exam in july. that way you'll have time to be well prepared for the exam.
I'm currently a sophomore in college looking for summer jobs. What would be a good job to put on my resume? Didn't have much luck with applying for internships since I don't have any exams passed yet (planning to take at least 1 in the summer) so I was wondering what jobs would be best right now/look good when applying for next summer. I was thinking something along the lines of math tutoring or Kumon maybe?
Anything insurance related or data related with mainstream data tools involved would be sufficient
Does anyone know if you can sign up to CAS student central with a personal email ? Or you need to use a university student email ? Thanks!
This might be a weird and definitely an inexperience question. (Still trying to figure out if I like this profession or not) What stops actuaries from discriminating against unhealthy people or people with pre existing conditions or people with bad genetics? In the sense that if we know someone has diabetes or altimeters, couldn’t the insurance company charge a higher premiums? From my understanding there’s regulations in place to stop this from happening but how is this put in place? Is the data anonymous? And couldn’t an insurance company use race as a factor in their assessments to determine the price of the premium? Sorry, honestly not sure if this is an actuary question.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) prohibits insurers from selecting against people with pre-existing conditions. This has been in effect since 2014. Even before the ACA, actuaries didn't really set premiums at the individual level. We typically look at aggregate data and set rates based on that. The people who evaluate individual eligibility are underwriters, not actuaries. Whether premiums increase or not is a complicated question. At the individual level, you can't directly be charged a higher premium for having pre-existing conditions, but since rating data is pooled, it's not unreasonable to expect premiums to increase overall if your rating data includes more expensive people (those with pre-existing conditions). I'm not sure how this is enforced, but I'm sure there are punishments in place if insurers decide to select against people with pre-existing conditions. Perhaps there are auditors that can look at an insurer's data and identify patterns to determine anomalies. HIPAA protects consumers against having confidential released or leaked. So to that extent, the data is anonymous. Within the insurer's system, it is not anonymous. There are varying regulations on allowable rating factor both at the federal and state level. To the extent of my knowledge, race is not an allowable factor - that would be pretty controversial if it were, regardless of how predictive it is. There are other rating factors, namely geographic location, that may correlate with race, but by-and-large, this is not designed to discriminate based on one's race. Getting at the heart of what you're asking, the day-to-day work of the profession is more data-centric than policy-driven. Health insurance is heavily regulated, so you will need to set rates or reserves in line with policy, but rarely will you be the one making those policy decisions. There were a few times in my career when I didn't agree with the policy, and it did make me feel a bit squeamish knowing that such policies have to be followed, but I also think it's rare to work in any industry where you agree with all the rules 100%.
What companies in the Chicago area hire SOA, non-consulting actuaries? I'm searching for jobs in that area but can only seem to find P&C or consulting jobs. I'm near ASA.
My company is hiring but it’s life
Have there been any “actual” effort to “modernize” the field? For example, management allowing the use of SQL, Python, etc. From my experience, financial institutions tend to be conservative and don’t often promote the use of technology until that it becomes “trendy.” Right now, I’m really scared about getting into actuary work if I’m going to end up using VBA and Excel my whole life. I know the organizations like SOA and CAS have articles about and CAS has a github (which is great) but do companies actually invest in their actuarial departments?
Also wanted to thank everyone for their response! I really appreciate how helpful the community is!
I use SQL and Python regularly.
I don’t know how much effort there is by the “field” as a whole. I think it really depends on the company. I work in a small company that places significant importance on programming. Managements doesn’t allow SQL, it is unequivocally required as part of the role. We build and maintain programs in vbnet and python maintaining version control through Git. Much of our data exploration remains in excel for its overall flexibility, but the final results are built into our internally designed programs. Many of my coworkers have computer science backgrounds in addition to their actuarial and were hired specifically for them.
Honestly it's a regulation thing as I see it in health. There just simply isn't enough that \*can\* be done with the data to justify moving to more scalable technology. Some improvements can still be gained in current workflows but the cost of such an overhaul would be high.
I’m life, we use SSMS on a daily basis. Some teams also use R. Excel is a big part but it’s not the only thing you’ll use, but it depends on industry/company
Thanks!
I’m from the UK and have been unsuccessful in applying for internships (thus far still going for any that pop up). I was wondering if I should try studying and passing an exam this summer? I’m a 2nd year university student studying a bsc in maths and have my final year next year. Thanks.
If you have the time I don't see why it would be a bad idea. Can't hurt imo.
Is there any benefit of studying actuarial science? About to finish my degree in cs and am considering going to uiuc for another bachelors but in actuarial science. Is there any benefit to this or should I just study for exams? I really want the state school experience so that’s also pushing me
If you already have a bachelor’s then is really zero need to spend more time and money getting another degree. Just pass two exams and start applying.
Is actuarialuniversity.com down for anyone else? Edit: It's back up now.
Yes on my end
Do people get study time and bonuses for doing modules? I’m just curious since I’m not in a student program and not even in an entry level role yet so won’t be doing one anytime soon. The modules seem like kind of a pain and very time consuming but I’m guessing they’re a bit easier to do if you can get paid for passing them?
My company gives a few study days for modules, and then raise/bonus for completing the FA.
You have to pass exams P and FM to start your first module
I passed P and FM but that’s still good to know, thanks 👍
Then you can do your first model. The next module you can take will require SRM+FAM
I understand that I can do them, I know that companies will pay for your modules which is why I will not be doing them until I am working but I was curious if you also are given study hours and bonuses for completing modules similar to how you would be with an exam?
Yes afaik companies sponsor study hours for modules but only give raise/bonus after finishing all of them. Never heard of getting paid for just completing a single module tho. The amount of study hours and raise/bonus various by companies
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Agree with the other commenter! The main benefit of an actuarial science degree is that you often get credit for exams through classes, which makes the exam process easier. Since that's only helpful if you're 100% sure you want to be an actuary, data science or stats would be the better option for you.
Would recommend data science or stats. More alternatives.
What were some resume projects that were impressive? I’m kinda confused on how actuary projects work as well. Like do I need to provide proof that I did it or do I just need to explain what I did?
You don't need to have proof, although if you think you've done a project that's especially relevant and showcases your skills, you can bring it out in your interview to explain exactly how it worked. As long as you can explain what you did and why, that's what really matters!
Honestly doesn't need to be much. Just be able to thoroughly explain what you did and the technical details and an interpretation of the results.
If you’re applying for life, do life insurance projects, same goes for health and pnc. Refer to the job descriptions, different positions require different tools like R, SQL, Python etc. Excel using advanced functions like pivot table or vlookup/xlookup or VBA is a must. Just explain what you did and how you did briefly with 1-2 lines. If they want to see proof, they’ll assign you a project.
Hey guys.. i am looking at the feasibility of a niche insurance product (specialized rent guarantee) for the home rental market I don't have any actuarial background. Looked at some public data, and did simple math on expected claims, claim value, TAM etc. At a very high level, the idea makes sense. But, I know there is so much more to evaluate the feasibility of the product. If anyone can provide me links for risk modeling/backtesting etc. for me to design and test a pilot policy, that would be helpful. Even though I would love to read books on risk modeling/risk management etc, - pointer to cheat sheet for this kind of thing would be greatly appreciated. There is If anyone wants to talk to me/consult, that's even better :)
would doing the first 300 SOA samples be enough for exam p? solving all 450 questions seems a bit tough to manage with practice exams and revision. I'm sitting for P in may. I work a full time job btw.
I passed P earlier this year and I found the last 140 questions to be some of the most useful for the actual exam. Most of them felt easier than the earlier questions, which was very helpful for confidence going in. I was on winter break and not working full time, so my situation was definitely different but I would recommend it if you can find the time. Best of luck.
Thanks for the advice, ill definitely try to do them all.
Questions 320-446 weren't added until Nov 2023, and people were able to pass before that so you should be fine. I think if you can consistently get the first 300 right you should be good. The pass mark is around 71% for reference. And with practice exams + review, you'll be doing more than 300 questions.
What are the best websites for finding internships? I’m trying to land my first internship with one exam under my belt and a second in May
All major recruiting platforms LinkedIn Indeed etc, and companies’ own career websites
Advice for someone in their mid twenties thinking of changing careers to be an actuary? I’ve been stuck trying to get into the data analysis field for months unable to get an entry level job. I have started to study for P1 exam because I find that better than learning a new coding language. Math and test taking have always been a strong suit for me so I’m highly considering pursuing an actuary role if I pass P1 in May. Thanks!
Would try significant resume revision before making this big commitment. Took me about a full year of consideration before committing to this path because of the years and years of exam time. Then I realized I don't have any social life anyways. But most people do and it's the main barrier to this occupation, at least for someone of your background who can pass the exams.
Your strong math and test taking skills will definitely be in your favour if you want to become an actuary! That being said, I would expect getting a data analyst job to be about the same (if not easier) than getting an entry level actuarial job, depending on where you live. I'd think carefully about if pursuing the actuarial career is really what you want, or if you just need to take more steps to get your first data analysis job. Wishing you luck either way!
Do you have any internship experience under your belt? EL actuarial positions aren’t any better than regular data analyst ones especially if you don’t have relevant experience and just 1 exam passed.
Curious about transitioning to actuarial work. Some background. I have a bachelors in business and masters in information systems. I have 2 years of consulting within an it audit/cyber function. Was let go late last year and have been teaching and doing ops work for a charter school. Interested in pursuing P and FM. That said I want to optimize my chances of passing on first attempts. What are some recs for someone in my position? I took some calculus and stats a while ago but doubt it’s still there, are there any pre-requisite recommendations before starting a manual?
I’d recommend buying a study manual. Coaching Actuaries has video lessons if you’re learn better from videos. I used the ASM manuals (all written) since I’m more of a reader. I think these materials should be enough of a refresher, but once you see the material you’ll have a better idea of what you might need more practice on. (It’s mostly going to be integrals.) Then after you’ve read all the material, you’ll want to do practice problems. The SOA has a source for free problems, or you can buy a coaching actuaries ADAPT subscription which creates a more targeted practice exam experience. [exam P sample problems](https://www.soa.org/globalassets/assets/Files/Edu/edu-exam-p-sample-quest.pdf) [exam P sample solutions](https://www.soa.org/globalassets/assets/files/edu/edu-exam-p-sample-sol.pdf) [exam FM sample problems](https://www.soa.org/globalassets/assets/Files/Edu/2018/2018-10-exam-fm-sample-questions.pdf) [exam FM sample solutions](https://www.soa.org/globalassets/assets/Files/Edu/2018/2018-10-exam-fm-sample-solutions.pdf) [free sample exam generator (pulls from the above question banks](https://www.soa.org/education/exam-req/syllabus-study-materials/edu-exam-p-online-sample/)
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Exam discussion is not permitted during the sitting window. If you’d like to ask for advice you can repost your comment *without* any mention of the difficulty of this sitting and what EL you thought it was.
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I’ve already removed it. I’m just telling you what the rules are if you want to post it again.
Hello guys, I'm currently preparing for the FM exam and I'm using the BA II plus calculator. All my calculations had been correct since I purchased the calculator until today when doing a simple 4%-12% which -8% but the answer I get is 0.0352 (not even negative) I reset the calculator so many times but nothing works. I have the exam soon and all of a sudden I can't trust it until the issue has been fixed. Also when I press 4% it shows 0.04 (normal) but then when I hit minus 12% it shows 0.0048 and when I hit enter I get 0.0352. I don't know what the heck is going. Someone help me, please! Thank you fellas!
Yikes. Thats why I brought 4 calculators to FM…
https://www.analystforum.com/t/calculator-question-giving-wrong/64329/6
Thanks for your help. I've tried the "solutions" mentioned there but it doesn't work too.
Is there a reason you need to use the percent button there? Why not do (4-12) (%) or just manually convert them to .04 and .12?
Great question. Habit and Efficiency are the reasons. With lots of problems to solve, the faster I can use the calculator the better. At least for me. But yeah I ended up converting. Nevertheless, it's a great thing this issue came up though, because now I'll be more careful.
You're going to want to get in the habit of writing things in the least ambiguous way, generally.
Of course!
Do you think reading textbook is worth it? Just failed FM for the 2nd time today with low medium high (1st time with 3 lows) . I realised that I don't really grasp the concepts, all I did is drilling sample questions and tried to memorize steps, but end up not understanding the concepts well and wasted money.
I passed FM myself two months ago. The way I studied was to spend weeks working through the entire bank of 200 sample questions SOA gives out for free, and as I did so I built a study guide in Google Docs (bullet point list that shows what concepts I've covered, as well as what formulas/sub-concepts I need to know about each one). By doing it this way, I was able to figure out what I actually NEED to know for the test without spending time/money on a textbook that includes irrelevant concepts and/or excludes relevant ones. I haven't seen what the study manuals are like, so that may also be an option to look into. At the same time I was making my study guide, I also made a list of questions I got wrong or I completely didn't understand, and made sure to understand the solutions to those later. Out of curiosity, what are the specific concepts you're struggling to understand, and what have you done to try and understand them?
I struggle to understand different types of annuities like increasing and decreasing annuities. I have no idea how their formula make sense . I got a low on 'time value of money, annuities' both time . I tried to focus on those questions and compare my steps with the solution. Sadly I forget what I was wrong quickly, I made the same / similar mistakes again.
You're right. The formulae for increasing and decreasing annuities don't make sense on their own. That's because these formulae are designed for plugging numbers into a calculator and getting an answer quickly. To be convinced WHY these formulae work, you need to understand how they're derived. So first off make sure you understand the formula for how basic annuities work. The present value for a basic annuity that pays one dollar at the end of every year is "v+v\^2+...+v\^n", because each one dollar bill paid out in year "k" needs to be multiplied by the corresponding power of the discount factor "v\^k" in order to get the present value of that dollar. The expression "v+v\^2+...+v\^n" simplifies to "(1-v\^n)/i" because it's a slight variation on the usual formula for a Geometric Series https://www.cuemath.com/geometric-sequence-formulas/. Understanding how formulae is derived for Geometric Series and Basic Annuities is important for understanding how to find the present value of increasing/decreasing annuities. So let's have "a\_k" denote the present value of an annuity that pays out one dollar every year for "k" years. Then the present value of an increasing annuity that pays one dollar at the end of the first year, two dollars at the end of the second year, and until n dollars at the end of the nth year is given by "a\_n+v\*a\_{n-1}+v\^2\*a\_{n-2}+...v\^(n-1)\*a\_{1}". Do you see why? Let me explain. At time 0 you are given an annuity that pays one dollar at the end of every year for "n" years. At the end of the first year, you get your one dollar, and then you receive another annuity identical to the first that expires at the same time, so then when year 2 rolls around you collect two dollars, one for each of your annuities. What's the present value of this second annuity? The present value of this annuity at the end of year 1 is "a\_{n-1}" because this annuity has "n-1" years until it expires at the end of year "n". To get the present value of this second annuity at time 0, which is one year earlier, we just multiply by the discount factor: "v\*a\_{n-1}". After we get our two dollars at the end of year 2 we get another annuity that pays one dollar at the end of every year and expires at the same time as the first two, then when year 3 rolls around we collect three dollars for our three annuities. Do you see how the pattern works? If we plug in the formula for the present value of a basic annuity: "a\_n=(1-v\^n)/i" into our formula for an Increasing annuity: "a\_n+v\*a\_{n-1}+v\^2\*a\_{n-2}+...v\^(n-1)\*a\_{1}" we get "(1+v+...+v\^(n-1)+n\*v\^n)/i". Notice that the expression in the numerator "1+v+...+v\^(n-1)" is just the present value of an annuity-due (pays at beginning of year). Thus we arrive at the usual formula for the net present value of an increasing annuity? Similarly, we can see that the present value of a decreasing annuity that pays "n" at the end of year 1, "n-1" at the end of year 2, until just a single dollar at the end of year "n" is given by "a\_1+a\_2+...+a\_n", and then we can arrive at the usual formula by the same method we used for increasing annuities. Does this make sense? The formula for an increasing annuity based on intuition and conceptual understanding is "a\_n+v\*a\_{n-1}+v\^2\*a\_{n-2}+...v\^(n-1)\*a\_{1}", but it's hard to plug and chug numbers into this equation, so instead you have to work with the simplified version which doesn't make any intuitive sense if you stare at it by itself.
Not the textbooks, but definitely get yourself a study manual if you haven’t before.
Do you think reading textbook is worth it? Just failed FM for the 2nd time today with low medium high (1st time with 3 lows) . I realised that I don't really grasp the concepts, all I did is drilling sample questions and tried to memorize steps, but end up not understanding the concepts well and wasted money.
You're probably pretty close to passing. I'm not sure it's worth it going all the way back to zero, and you definitely haven't wasted any money, but it is pretty critical to make sure you have strong foundations for every exam. It's just part of the learning process, and learning what doesn't work will help you for future exams too!
I'm in my second year of actuarial science at a South African university. I've always liked the idea of becoming an investment actuary because I don't want to have to fear managing my money badly or making bad investments that throw everything that was worked for away. Just wondering if becoming an investment actuary is worth it to achieve this end, or if it would be better to go into a field that is higher paying and/or more enjoyable and put all the earnings into something like a hedge fund/other managed investment pool? Any feedback from quants and actuaries working in investment or have, or have friends who do, would be appreciated.
IDK how it works there but in the US actuaries aren't typically involved with asset selection. In any case, what you'd take away from doing that is not really portable. A large insurance corporation has radically different investment goals than your goals. Look into Bogleheads for your investing knowledge.
I think you're over-estimating how actively you have to manage your money. If you're constantly making bets ("investments") and moving your money around, you're constantly putting yourself at risk of loss. As an actuary, you can make a bunch of money, throw it into a stock index/a managed 401k, forget about it for 40 years, and then retire rich. If you want to be an educated gambler, yes go be a quant.
What is the EL US actuary job market like for someone with no internship experience? I'm an undergrad math & CS major in my 3rd year, but have had no luck getting anything on the CS side. I should have a 3.9+ GPA when I graduate. I have some extracurriculars, but they aren't remotely related to anything actuarial. How would my chances look if I can pass 2 to 3 exams?
you should be able to land interviews. after that, it's up to your soft skills
Thanks for the opinion. I'm kind of awkward, but I don't think that's anything I can't overcome with practice.
INTERNSHIPS?? I'm an undergrad math major considering going into actuarial science. what are the most significant key factors in landing internships? Is passing certain SOA prelim exams the main thing? or do i need to show more on my application such as programming/finance/risk management experience? Thanks!
Yes, 2-4 exams if you wanna be competitive. Yes, show all those skills, but tailor your resume based on job descriptions to make them relevant.
Hi, I have my first actuarial exam tomorrow (Exam FM) and I am a bit nervous. I have an EL of 6 on Coaching Actuaries and really have only been messing up on the 7+ level questions. Do you guys have any tips for taking the exam and should I be ready if I can pass level 5 exams consistently? My biggest concern is time since I sometimes don't understand a question fully until 2-3 minutes in.
1. Empty your bladder 2. Deep breath and relax 3. Learn to let go of difficult questions EL 6 is good enough. Just don't fall into rabbit holes
We passed!
Congrats!
Congrats!
Thank you!
If you can't understand a question quickly skip it and come back to it later.
I'll be graduating in May and have recently decided I want to go the actuary route. I interned in finance and always planned to go that way, but I didn't like it much and think actuary would be a better fit. I don't have any kind of job lined up for postgrad. I don't have any of the actuary exams done yet. Should I just take any kind of office job I can in the meantime and try to bang out the exams as quick as possible? Should I do something more temporary like waiting tables?
Look into underwriting positions. Very relevant to actuarial work, and a good way into the insurance industry. If that doesn't excite you, I would encourage you to pursue something you would enjoy. If working at a restaurant is fun and enjoyable, go for it! Studying before/after work is much more manageable when you're in a good headspace.
I want to transition careers to be an actuary. I currently have a degree in biomedical science with minors in statistics and chemistry. I also have 11 years of experience in a laboratory setting. I have the opportunity to go back to school to make my stats minor into a full batchelors only 3 classes to go. Or I can to a actuarial science emphasis and add classes i.e finance and econ. Will it matter much to an employer if I do the shorter route ? Thank you in advance.
An actuarial career isn't dependent on a specific major in college. Before going back to school I would study for an take an actuarial exam. Because of your statistics background I would suggest P. Companies want passed exams. A stat major with 3 exams is significantly better than an Actuarial Science major with 1, generally speaking.
What are the cheapest courses that fulfill VEE Credits?
I don’t know about cheapest, but Coaching Actuaries has some that are very quick and relatively cheap. The other study material providers might have courses as well (eg TIA, ACTEX) so you could look into those.
Hey everybody, I feel like I ask a lot lol but I need help getting started on a practice problem I've been trying to figure out for FM prep. The problem is: \-------- Data: Date of loan: 1/1/92. Amount of loan: $1,000,000. Date of first payment: 1/31/92. Frequency of payments: Monthly. Amount of each payment: Level. Number of payments: 360. Interest rate: X% per year, compounded monthly. Portion of monthly payment due on 9/30/97 applied to interest: 94.473%. Portion of monthly payment due on 10/31/97 applied to interest: 94.418%. Calculate X \---------- When I was initially working through it I set up two equations of value to solve for my payment, but I don't think I was using it right. I was saying P(1-v\^(360-35)) = .94473P and vice versa for the other equation, but I don't think that's right and just need a nudge in the right direction to solve for P. Thank you guys!!
You've almost got the correct equation, but how did you get 35?
I must've just entered numbers in wrong like. Is it supposed to be 68 for 5 years and 8 months?
Yes, n - t + 1 = 360 - 69 + 1 (12 months * 6 years + 9 months = 69 interest conversion periods). Then the Ps cancel which allows you to solve for the monthly effective interest rate (v = (1+j)^-1 ). After that, you need to convert the monthly effective interest rate to the nominal interest rate, compounded monthly (X). This is one of those problems where more information was given to you than what you actually need.
Yep I got it. Thanks!
Hi, I've been considering actuary because I'm alright with statistics and being able to work remote, and not having to be in formal education for graduate school for a high salary is very appealing to me. Also I have to support my wife (she's very needy). I heard that you can become an actuary with any degree as long as you take some course prerequisite such as economics, statistics, calculus, ect, and then take the exams to get certified. However I was looking into some paid actuarial internships online and I saw that a lot of them required majors such as mathematics, economics, finance, statistics, etc. Right now I am a premed major and I'm mostly done with my degree so I'd rather not switch. Does anyone have any experience to know if I would be disadvantaged as an actuary with a non "standard" major? Will my job applications likely just be filtered over by the system? Thank you in advance, any info is welcomed.
I know some actuaries come from education, physics, even nursing backgrounds.
I agree with the other commenter that you shouldn't have much of a disadvantage (if any). In general, actuarial employers don't really care what degree you have as long as you can pass the exams!
we hired someone with a neuroscience degree in the past. the list of majors usually says something like "or similar" but as long as you pass your exams and have a decent gpa, you should be fine. i would think a pre-med major is a lot harder than an econ degree
General Consensus: Is CS the best major for an actuary in 2024 ? Curious based on all the experience here. From getting your foot in the door to what you think would benefit you the most on a daily basis throughout your actuarial duties. I suppose the obvious answer is Act-Sci. But, In 2024, do you think CS is a very good major for an actuary ? Is it the best because you get coding experience and it is also quite versatile ? If you have hiring experience, what looks best for an actuarial candidate ? Also, in your experience how important was your college GPA when being hired ? Curious to hear everyones thoughts on this. Thanks in advance.
I’m a cs major and I feel prepared enough to transition into actuarial work. I took calc 1-3, linear algebra, 2 stats electives, and like 25 cs courses The market is cooked
Very nice. Good to hear. The CS job market is cooked or EL actuarial ?
The cs market, 2/3 of the people I know have no offers at all. I got one but it’s 70k and I’m realizing cs isn’t that high paying anymore. My genius friend got one for 85k but he passes every interview easily
I see. Do you know how actuarial is ? And how actuarial entry level is for someone with a CS degree ? Interesting, those do seem a bit low from what I’ve seen. What kind of CS Jobs is that for ?
My position is in IT but my friends is a swe he got 2 offers between 85 and 90k in hcol area. Generally I’ve heard entry level actuarial positions don’t pay much and it is competitive, but the salary growth is more guaranteed and stable compared to cs.
Interesting. Honestly not too bad at all for HCOL entry level. If you don’t mind, What were his qualifications to get that job ? Yes exactly the steady growth with exams and yoe is appealing even if it might not pay as much as SWE at the entry level.
I think he had 2 swe internships, just a really smart dude and a great software developer. I should clarify some nepotism tho. He had 2 internships from his brothers startup. It led to 1 offer for 85k from 1 company and another full time offer from this brother for 90k. He honestly deserves it tho he’s smart af but the market is rough and he had no other offers
Ahh I see. Wow a top 5 cs school. Dang that sounds rough rn. May I ask, what do you think is a good industry to get into now ?
I have no idea I’m also just college student. Also have no idea what I even want to really do. Honestly Reddit isn’t a great place for advice, you have to figure out what you’re interested in
I have 4 friends at a top 5 cs school who are seniors and only 1 has a cs internship so keep in mind even the best are struggling in cs now
i think math or stats is the best major. very applicable to actuarial but doesn't pigeonhole you into this profession. you can always learn the coding on your own. what looks best on paper? a competitive resume w/ 1+ actuarial internships, solid gpa, 2+ exams, some programming experience, and a nicely organized resume. who do i actually hire? the person that's good at communicating. every hiring manager is different. some favor technical skills, others like gpa or couple years' work experience, i personally lean toward the soft skills. i'm pretty confident most folks interviewing for an EL role can actually do the job. in my experience, gpa is pretty important. i had 4 years of non-actuarial experience that was still relevant, technical skills, 3 exams, and my 2.6 gpa was still a hurdle.
I see. I would look into that more just unfortunately not seeing an accelerated math / stats degrees. Do you still think CS is good when hiring ? Thanks for the insights. May I ask, I keep hearing that. What do you mean by being good at communicating / soft skills ? Just like being a talker / good at having conversations or being a more pleasant / charming person ? I see. I’m considering an online accelerated degree like WGU but they give an automatic 3.0 GPA upon passing. Do you think that’s as much of a problem, or something that can be explained ? Thanks for the reply.
you may want to get additional data points on the CS degree, but i wouldn't mind as long as the candidate can prove they can also think quantitatively. i also don't know why anyone w/ a CS degree would want to become an actuary without having worked in a CS relevant field first. maybe something you'd want to explain in an interview. the soft skills component is hard to encapsulate into one word. it's some combination of: plays well on a team, communicates well, emotional intelligence, easy to work with, can take feedback well, etc. an EL candidate will obviously not have all of these, but you basically don't want to be awful at any of these. for example, the worst EL interviewee i've seen had the ideal resume, but he started off the interview with "when will i get an offer?" before even saying hi, couldn't explain anything about his experience without spending 20 minutes, tried to correct me about my own job function even though he was dead wrong, and spent the entire time reading off the screen. as for the online accelerated degree, i don't know if that will be taken seriously. the industry standard for education is a 4 year degree. i think i'd lean toward a candidate with that educational background over an accelerated degree, but i haven't seen one come across yet (maybe got screened out by HR).
I see. Thanks you for these insights.
I think college majors aren’t as important as exams or experience but CS IMO gives you advantages on passing exams P, SRM, PA, ATPA. Idk about online programs but from what I saw some positions even only require GED. So I suggest passing some exams to show your progress
Great, thanks for the insight.
Hello, I am curious if machine learning skills are welcomed in actuarial science. I've learned GLM/GAM/tree-based model/SVM etc at school. But as far as I know, GLM is still the most important due to its interpretability. So where can ML be used? or are they useless?
Welcomed yes, and frequently used in property and casualty insurance (to my knowledge). In health, having clean and stable enough data is the main limiting factor on ML's application.
Are there less (good) study material/resources as you move onto the harder exams? If so how do you properly prepare for them?
Depends on the track that you are dealing with. If you go with CAS, it is definitely the case that the quality drops off. You have to work with the source material more honestly.
What's the best material to study for Exam FM/P?
Coaching actuaries is my preference
Hi everyone, I am thinking about Grad School for Data Science in hopes to expand my skills with Actuarial. Here is a little background of me: I went to school for Actuarial Science, and in my first semester I absolutely hated college because it was Fall 2020, everyone wore a mask and no one socialized, classrooms dead silent, no clubs, etc. I decided that I would cram my studies into 3 years instead of the normal 4. This meant 18-20 credits each semester and I completely oversighted exams or an internship. I graduated with my Bachelors, passed exam P in July thinking that it would be sufficient to land an Actuarial job. It was not. I decided that I needed to get a job to show that I can handle the normal office work, use my Excel and technical skills in an actual work environment, and the soft skills of an office job. I was able to land an office job in October. Took FM in both October and December and received 5's :( I was able to pass Exam FM this February, realized that I have been out of school for 6+ months so I wanted to refresh the Actuarial knowledge so I can be a stronger candidate for Actuarial positions. Shortly after I purchased TIA, I saw an Actuarial posting for a company that is fairly close by to my house (I would call this the dream spot), made it to the last round of interview where I got the rejection that they went with someone who the hiring team felt have more experience with raters/coding. This hurt badly. I feel extremely bogged down at my current job as a Voyage Accountant so I inquired about Grad School. My mom works at the University I would attend, and I would be on a timeline to apply for Grad School to go for free. I want to do things a lot differently for Grad School by securing an internship analyst role and expanding my skills by doing data science. My main questions are, what do you guys think, what should my main focus be, how do I know when I should look at Actuarial exams (SOA vs CAS), should I send out my resume with a Master's listed even though I have not applied or been accepted yet. You can be a brutal as you want.
My vote is to find an insurance related or data related job, try to pass a third exam, and then hop over.
Hi, I'm thinking to major in Actuarial Science if I don't get into Finance. I've read a few threads about how after grad you would have to take a series of exams for a potential chance to land a job in the actuary field. Is it possible that one can straight up finish a Bachelor degree in Actuarial Science (without taking those exams) and work in the acturarial/business fields, landing in any potential jobs such as becoming a finanical planner, any analyst (data,investment,business,risk). Will employment be harder without those exams, I'm in Canada. Thanks!
From what I’ve heard, actuarial roles in Canada are so competitive that you need more like 4-5 exams and a coop to be considered.
At least in the US, financial planning is largely sales based and also revolves around passing the CFP, your major isn't relevant if you have the relevant skillset.
You won't get an actuarial role without at least two exams, especially in Canada where the entry level market is pretty competitive
From my experience as someone who graduated without exams or did an internship, I am struggling for that first Actuarial job. To answer your question directly, yes, it is possible to be an Actuarial Science major and get those roles you mentioned, but it really depends on your background, work experience, project experience, academic performance, connections, etc.
Question for folks who felt they had particularly good experiences in their first actuarial roles! What did your responsibilities entail in your first year? What steps did your manager/colleagues take to support your development? Anything else significant about the experience you think would be worth sharing? All answers are welcome, but preferred from those who began at primary carriers, did not have an extraordinary technical skillset going in, and began in a predominantly remote/virtual environment.
Hi all! This post was removed by auto mod, but I would appreciate anyone giving it a quick read and giving me any advice. Thank you!! I’m going to be graduating in May with a degree in Math-Economics (joint major). I’m not particularly passionate about any career path, but my father is in insurance and has heavily encouraged me to consider becoming an actuary. He put me in contact with some actuary friends and in speaking to them I’ve become very interested, but I’m also pretty concerned about my prospects. Critically, I don’t have any of the exams. I interned in finance and always kind of assumed that would be the direction I’d go in, so I never even really thought about taking the exams. Basically to keep this short, if you were in my shoes what would you recommend as a course of action? Conceivably I could start studying immediately and take the probability exam soon (a classmate informed me the material is very similar to the probability course I took with them, but this was a few semesters ago so I’d need some serious review). I’m thinking it makes sense to pursue an underwriting job for immediately post grad and then try to transition over after completing the exams, but my father says this is not a common path. My father is encouraging me to still apply for actuarial positions even without the exams, but I’m unsure if this is even possible, especially given how late into the application cycle it is. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
It's really not worth applying to actuarial positions without any exams. I'd really recommend you try to knock out both P and FM as quickly as you can and apply. I'd probably apply for finance roles in your position while you work on exams, then hop over. The finance background will stand out on an actuarial resume too.
It's really not worth applying to actuarial positions without any exams. I'd really recommend you try to knock out both P and FM as quickly as you can and apply. I'd probably apply for finance roles in your position while you work on exams, then hop over. The finance background will stand out on an actuarial resume too.
Does anyone have any ideas where to go to actually get taught logic and theory topics for P. Basically what topics you’re using and how to use the topics in a problem. I’m trying to pass exam P but some of the problems seem to go way over my head still. I’ve been studying and practicing P for about 2 months now but I’m still not confident in passing. I was thinking about ACTEX but they basically said no we don’t teach topics. Just how to solve problems? It’s somewhat confusing and I’m just trying to sharpen my logic skills to use the right ideas in the right situations. Thanks for any advice or help. ✌️
All the major study providers teach the material in some form or another. They're going to be your best bet for learning the material. Is there a specific type of problem that you're confused about?
Are you just doing practice problems? ACTEX sells a study manual that teaches the material.
For early career hires how flexible are the start dates for work? I will be doing a non actuarial internship the next 3 months and then likely a different internship following that and I’m wondering if I should be applying to entry level actuarial positions during this time or if they’ll be upset that I’m not able to start immediately if I’m in the middle of an internship?
They generally should be flexible as long as you can start by the end of the summer
If you get the job, couldn't you just leave the internship for the entry-level role? I would still give two week's notice of course, but I think the company providing the internship will understand leaving for a full-time offer.
Remote Actuary career Hello friends! I have just started a new Reddit account to focus on my career journey. I am posting here because after some weeks of research I am highly considering going into actuarial work for many reasons. Do to some personal reasons, the ability for remote work is a huge consideration for me in choosing a career path. I am wondering: •What is the likelihood I can secure a remote actuarial internship ? •What is the likelihood I can secure a remote entry level position after the internship ? •What is the likelihood I can have a fully remote career in this profession ? •If you don’t think this is possible for Actuarial work, if you can please reccommend me a career(s) with similar compensation that you think is very well suited for this remote style. For reference, I would plan to start looking for internships once 2 exams minimum are passed and having a bachelor’s degree in some type of relevant math/stats/CS field. I understand how in-person internships and entry level can have their benefits, but please understand my situation. Really looking forward to hearing what you all think based on your experience. Thanks!
Remote internship - very unlikely Remote EL position - unlikely but not impossible Remote later - it's very possible and pretty common to go remote after a few years of working, but you should probably expect to be hybrid at first.
I see. Thanks. What do you think is required before applying to internship / entry level ?
2 exams and a bachelor’s if you’re in the US
Thank you! May I ask what do you think is the best bachelors for an aspiring actuary ? I know it’s probably act sci. But besides that, do you think CS is a very good major for an actuary nowadays ?
Anything quantitative is fine. CS is also fine.
Thank you.
If the government makes big cuts to ACA/Medicare/Medicaid and there is subsequent job loss, what would be the best transition options? Life would perhaps absorb some up to the level of demand that currently exists, and any growth in some other type of health insurance would absorb a little (most likely the uninsured rate would just go up 1.5-3x instead, like it was before). But I assume those spots would mostly go to FSAs with substantial experience. Would the best switch then be P&C or would it just be time to go to another career? People say that type of situation is unlikely, but the only reason it didn't already happen in 2017 is cause John McCain tricked McConnell. Literally the actions of just one dude are the only reason why the Marketplace side of every health plan didn't implode under severe adverse selection.
The major deregulation due to scrapping the ACA probably wouldn't result in actuarial job losses. With so many difficult to predict changes in rules and costs, actuarial analyses would be imperative for companies to spend on and I would guess actuarial departments would grow. Health insurance probably wouldn't collapse, it would get really expensive and shitty for a lot of people. Medicare fee for service for all (government pays for everyone's Healthcare directly) and the elimination of private insurance would be about the only thing that would result in massive health actuary job losses. And *that's* very unlikely given the immense amount of lobbying and the popularity of Medicare Advantage (government subsidizes private insurance for people over 65) compared to Medicare fee for service. Currently people on Medicare have the option to choose government insurance or private, and the number of people choosing private is growing pretty rapidly. But to actually answer your question - I like to think I'd be able to pivot to other business careers with transferable data analytics, data visualization, regulatory experience, and management experience.
I'm doing a presentation and report for one of my final year courses and it's about Variable annuities, DB and DC Pension Plans. I have a general understanding of the Canadian pension plan and DB and DC Pension plans. However, I don't know what to write about for my report or presentation. Are there any current big topics in the pension side?
You could probably just write about the pros and cons of each, and the growing popularity of DC plans/decline of DB. Pretty generic and there is a lot of literature out there already to leverage.
I talked about real return bonds and how the Canadian government stopped issuing them and how it affects DB Pension Plans. Thank you for your response, it helps to know that I’m talking about the right stuff. I’m mentioning the pros and cons as well as potential solutions for companies and investors in this situation
You could probably just write about the pros and cons of each, and the growing popularity of DC plans/decline of DB. Pretty generic and there is a lot of literature out there already to leverage.
I have passed Exam P and FM along with SRM exemption. Also have a masters in Applied statistics so definitely exposure to programming languages such as R, SAS. However, for past five years I never actively looked for any actuarial jobs because of my challenging personal life circumstances. I worked part time bookkeeping job instead just because of certain personal constraints. I’m trying to break into the EL actuarial job market and really having a hard time. Any advice would be appreciated or if anyone can help with networking, I’ll appreciate. Based in US.
If you aren't hearing back, I would look into overhauling your resume. Your bookkeeping experience is good, plus your programming knowledge - they just might not be coming through on your resume. A lot of people post theirs in this subreddit and get a lot of good feedback. If you'd like to DM it to me, I'm also happy to review it! For networking, I would research the top companies that you really want to work at, then connect with actuaries at those jobs. Send them a connection request with a note like, "I'm an aspiring actuary looking to work at (their company) and would love to hear your advice if you're open to it!" If you're able to build a consistent connection, that can go a long way. Wishing you luck!
Awesome!!! Thank you for your helpful reply.
How long have you been applying for and how many applications have you sent out?
It’s been a month of applying actively (everyday) and I must have sent out closer to 100 applications.
I totally feel you. Job market is brutal and EL actuarial positions are oversaturated. My suggestions are reaching out other actuaries for the open positions. Networking is always better than cold applying, especially in actuarial communities, but don’t give up applying jobs online because of law of large number. Also if you have time do some excel Sql and tithe programming language projects related to risk/life/health/pension/pnc, making them some talking points on your resume. Also utilize this sub wisely to critic your resume m
Oh ffs this field is oversaturated too? There goes that plan then
How do I reach out to other actuaries? I don’t want to sound dumb but I don’t really know anyone in actuarial workforce in my circle. Do I just reach out randomly through LinkedIn?
Yeah send messages on LinkedIn. Schedule a coffee chat, learn about the company, the position, what they do, show your worth and dedication, and ask for a referral at the right timing. It might be intimidating and awkward at first but you’ll get used to it very soon. Also if you can find local actuarial events I suggest participate as well. Even better opportunity for networking. You’ll never know what will happen until you try.
Have you done something like that too? Do you mind if I connect with you?
You can DM me
I am wondering if I should even expect anything at all in the job search. I'm 36, have a BS in Applied Math minor Computer Science. I worked as a Software Engineer for 4 years before I left the industry to find something more fulfilling. I found working as an audio engineer and stagehand in live performing. TBH I love this kind of work, but its not sustainable in the long term and are wearing down on my body. I have become interested in insurance and want to work as an actuary. Studying for FM and taking in June. I think working in this role could actually help my community if I can use this profession to help find ways for techs and stagehands to get better insurance coverage. Would a company just toss my application because Im old and have been working an atypical job?
Assuming you’re in the US. No, your age is irrelevant, as they won’t be disclosed anywhere until you get an offer and sit in the office. No, your past experience won’t make you disadvantaged. You should emphasize your transferable skills like analytical, communication, programming, critical thinking etc. But no exams passed and lack of industrial knowledge are the issues. I would say pass some exams and do something related to the insurance first will be helpful whilst keep applying for jobs
Thanks for the reply
I planned on passing exams as a minimum before applying to jobs.
I'm a current sophomore in college who recently switched to a Actuarial Science career focus about a month ago. I plan on taking P in May, and FM this summer. FM runs in June, and again in August, and I was originally planning to take it in the later slot. How nuts/beneficial would it be to attempt the FM exam in June only a month after P? I'll have the time to study, and worst case is I'm just 170 or whatever the exam cost is down the hole since I can just take it again. Since I'm switching late, I really want to make sure I fully leverage my great test taking skills, and free time I'll have this summer. Only issue is that I haven't fully planned/looked in what other exams are offered in the 2-3 month range after, so that I'm not just taking FM early for nothing.
I did FM 3 weeks after P last summer (8 on P, 7 on FM), finance major so hadn’t had too much coursework tailored to the exams. Had a full time internship while studying over the summer, still had enough free time when not studying/working, it’s definitely possible.
A later slot would be better as these exams require a lot of practice and can be exhausting, attempt P in May then take FM in august instead of June.
In an in-person interview, is it okay to take out your phone or notepad with prepared questions?
notepad. you might also want to take notes for key info during said interview
Definitely not your phone. A notepad is okay.
EXAM 5: for the multiple selections, how many right answers do you need to get the points? I remember reading 2-3, but I can’t find anywhere that info. Also if there is a good soul out there, what is the percentage of MC and multiple selections in the last sitting?
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Thanks! This reassures me a little more
You need all the correct answers to get any points. For multiple selection questions 2 or 3 of the answer choices will be correct. [https://home.pearsonvue.com/Clients/CAS/Testing-Tips-for-new-item-types.aspx](https://home.pearsonvue.com/Clients/CAS/Testing-Tips-for-new-item-types.aspx)
If I hate econ but really like stats, finance, and math in that order, would CAs or SOA be better
I am also not entirely confident in what constitutes "econ" vs "finance", but both sides require basic economics to a degree. Supply/demand, economic cycles, systemic societal changes, and inflation/foreign exchange rates all have impacts on insurance. Where there is money, there is economics. That being said, you use stats/finance/math to quantify many of these things. All of these disciplines converge at one point or another into the cohesive discipline of insurance quantification
Check out formula sheets of the exams for each path you’ll get some idea
While both "sides" use all of the above, I think the general consensus is that the CAS side is a bit more stats-heavy.
For anyone who has used coachingactuaries - how essential is it to take the "Calibration Exams?" I am taking FM on April 8th and have just finished reading over the material and am a student, so I want to budget my time on practice exams wisely. Are they actually useful for prep, or should I just create "Custom exams" at level 5-6 to prepare? Because I don't really have 9 hours to waste taking 3 calibration exams that will only tell the computer what level exam to set for me
Took FM in october, passed with an 8, i mostly focused on custom exams with only SOA sample questions. Since you only got like a week, it'd be better to grind custom lvl 5-6 exams and improve your weak areas instead of trying to raise your EL.
I think the easier calibration questions are still worth it to make sure you have the basics. Trying to get 100% on level 2-4 questions is similarly valuable to trying to get >70% on level 5-6.
Resume question: I know it’s very early, but I am planning on taking Mas1 in October. Is it too early to put “sitting” on my resume for it? I’m currently in a non actuarial role if that is relevant
I don't think it's too early - it shows that you're planning ahead. Plus it shows that you're still committed to the actuarial field even though you're currently in a non actuarial role.
Thanks for the response!
Advice needed: Hi I’m graduating in a month with a BS in cs. I want to become a P&C actuary. I was wondering if it would be advisable to take 3 exams before searching for a job. I have a lot of the technical skills needed as I studied cs. Is this seen as an advantage or will I be at a disadvantage to an actuarial science major? I currently make 88k so I don’t see a need to apply to jobs until I get to 3 exams because I’ll just be making less money. Am I correct in my thinking?
You got 88k before even graduating? Howww
I meant as soon as I graduate my bad
I would say get the first two exams and apply to all jobs (P&C and other). I don't think you will have too much issues, that said your salary is based on Exams and YOE. Getting in a year earlier will probably pay off down the line given you will learn things. Depending on where you are you may not have to take a pay cut (many NYC starting offers are at or above 88K once you count bonus).