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As a foreword, I decided I wanted to try making this thread but I'm traveling so for now this isn't formatted, on Sunday I'll be at a computer and I'll make it better (insert images instead of just a link, bold sections, etc). Sorry in advance y'all but I'm drunk at the airport before getting on a plane to LGA so you get what you get, if you're curious what an actuary does for fun I'm switching between reading an E&Y white paper on ASU 2018-12 AKA LDTI and playing stardew valley I've performed a gross posting valuation on the forums and while our post count is sufficient we have some posting followed by nonposting; to ensure sufficiency until the end of the forum's expected life I'm establishing a new thread. Welcome to the actuary (hopefully mega)thread, I'm going to cover everything I can think of but hopefully some more actuaries come through and correct/supplement my knowledge. I'll update this whenever new people and info pop up. Let's start with the cast: Hoshi - GAAP Reporting, pre-ASA What is an actuary? Actuaries are professionals that develop and manage insurance products. There are three industries they fall into: Property and Casualty (P&C), Life and annuities (Life), and healthcare. I've had exposure to the first two so for now this thread will focus on those. Actuaries pass a series of professional exams according to their industry to obtain a credential, at which point they are a member of a professional organization. This is a critical aspect of the job as it's the basis for our self-regulation. There's also pension actuaries, but it's a dying field that's almost all consultants now and is being eaten up by a new kind of annuity business called Pension Risk Transfer. Finally it would be wrong of me not to mention reinsurance, where an insurer cedes a portion of its business to another company. There are many reasons a company may do this - to free up capital is one, or the reinsurer may feel they have the underwriting or investment experience to purchase the business and make a profit, just to name some. This is distinct from the work people do at direct insurers, even though at the end they might both technically be in the same industry. Where do actuaries work? You'll find postings in most major insurance markets - Hartford, NYC, Chicago, Toronto, Des Moines, and some places in Texas are hotspots. There are other places but those are the largest ones by far in North America What organizations do they belong to? NB: I'll cover the international orgs I know but this will be heavily biased toward the US. UK: IFoA - The International Faculty of Actuaries, they have their own exam structure that I'm not familiar with, but they have reciprocity with American organizations Canada: CIA - The Canadian Institute of Actuaries, their exam structure is tied much more closely to the US ones US: CAS - The Casualty Actuary Society, the one responsible for credentialing P&C Actuaries SOA - The Society of Actuaries, the one responsible for credentialing Life and Health Actuaries (there's a general insurance track that's supposed to contend with the CAS but it hasn't gotten traction and I don't have any reason to believe it will) AAA - The American Academy of Actuaries, gives people the MAAA which is necessary for certain regulatory hurdles, like signing off on rates. Merely requires membership in either the SOA or CAS, and of course some nominal annual dues The Credentialing Process In the US there are two levels of credentials - Associateship and Fellowship - which require a rigorous series of exams. Some of these are passed during college, and new college graduates may have anything from 2 exams to their Associateship, depending on their internship experience and their university's actuarial science program. Once you enter the workforce companies generally give you a fair amount of paid study time to take for every exam attempt, plus they pay the exam expenses. To cover the US options the credentials are: ASA - Associate of the Society of Actuaries ACAS - Associate of the Casualty Actuary Society FSA - Fellow of the Society of Actuaries FCAS - Fellow of the Casualty Actuary Society That's way more tests than a CPA, why would anyone do that? Actuaries generally enjoy great professional autonomy and whatever work/life balance they choose once they are established in the profession. There's also the pay: https://www.dwsimpson.com/salary Alright I'm sold, sign me up! Hold on there buckaroo, it's not that easy. The entry level market is oversaturated, there are a few things you'll need to even be considered: - a four year quantitative degree with a GPA of at least 3.2 - at least two exams passed on your own or in school (while people may even graduate with their ASA, what really matters is the ability to pass exams, all entry level are equally useless) - some amount of internship experience, the closer to insurance the better I tried writing more but I found myself getting into a lot of minutia that no one may care about, so at this point I think it'll be easier to proceed by seeing what questions people have and what any other actuary posters want to contribute. As it says at the top I'm pre-ASA, so while I have a few years of experience under my belt it's really only in annuity valuation (with some P&C knowledge from an internship), I'm not sure I've seen anyone post about being an actuary before so hopefully some people come out of the woodwork to participate. In closing I want to emphasize that this is an exceedingly small profession, please post responsibly. Let's have fun, commiserate, joke around, but there are lines you know better than to cross, I'll use doxxing as an obvious example but goons are creative so I'm not going to try to outline every possible scenario, just use your best judgement.
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Nov 27, 2019 20:53
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| # ¿ May 12, 2024 12:05 |
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Sorry I've been neglectful of this thread but my new year's resolution is to really get it into shape. Watch this space y'all, my reporting for the year is basically done so I have hours to fill. I'll post a more dedicated analysis of the US market based on my experience so far later but generally people in this day and age are expected to get their FSA. The days of terminal associateships are over, at least if you're going to remain in a proper actuarial role.
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Jan 20, 2020 22:28
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SiGmA_X posted:Ha nice! My friends in [external] financial reporting and investment accounting are all at work today, on a holiday. Lucky them! But they only had to work a little on Saturday because of the extra day of work provided by the holiday, so...it's a win? This post is coming from inside the office That I only worked five hours this past weekend is a testament to my process design, it's very validating to see things run like the well oiled machine you tried to put together
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Jan 20, 2020 22:42
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