I'm an actuary

[DadDadDad]

This is a bit niche, but a MNetter did PM me because their DS is interested in an actuarial career. So I'll watch this thread should anyone else want to ask.

Being an actuary is a (financially and intellectually) rewarding career if you are good at Maths (numerate degree) and have some interest in finance, economics and insurance (although all those you can learn on the job). Main employers are insurance companies and consultancies (including specialist pension scheme actuaries, the Big 4 accountancy firms).

And of course, you shouldn't put much trust in an anonymous stranger on the internet, but if I'm not genuine, you'd have to wonder why I've kept up this rather niche impersonation on MN for so many years. (Do an advanced search on actuary and my username!).

Anyway, here's a photo I took this morning - my actuarial qualification proudly hanging in the downstairs loo!

God bless S2! That's an uplifting thought for an actuary on a Sunday.

Not just Solvency II. I entered the profession the year Equitable Life blew up, and out of that flowed ICA and realistic balance sheets for With Profits, and I rode that wave for much of my career.

I'm not very blown away by the bonuses being mentioned. I think you've mistaken us for the city bankers - oh wait, they're probably too busy running the universe to come and talk to us normal people on MN.

It’s not investment banking.

Similar to mumoftwo we have a better than average lifestyle but not excessive.

It allows me to earn above average while working part time, with the flexibility to pick my kids up from school several days a week.

Yeah I miss those SII retention bonuses! I had 4 years in a row with double bonus.

Why is it so flexible compared to other professions?

I don’t think it necessarily is more flexible than other professions, it’s more that you are paid a salary level that wouldn’t normally be associated with flexible part time working.

What trixy said.

Plus other thoughts I had (note this is insurance actuaries - consultancies are a very different world)....

Generally not dealing directly with clients so no external pressure
Office work so no horrible shifts (I have doctor friends)
Often do project work so don’t need to be there every day
Often big companies so have good IT etc meaning working from home / flexible working is possible
There is generally a shortage of qualified actuaries (which varies between “vague” and “desperate” depending on what is going on) and senior actuaries are generally logical intelligent people and have worked out if you let someone work part time then your chances of retaining them are really high
Actuaries have similar skills / backgrounds to investment bankers but we chose to be actuaries. There is a reason we turned down all that money!

Not sure if all / any of them are correct but that is all I can think of.

Just thought I’d chip in since I am also an actuary! I work in a consultancy (pensions) -our salary and bonuses are in line with the numbers quoted in this thread so far at lower levels (first 10 years or so) but there are higher levels available which I understand maybe aren’t as available elsewhere. The hours can be quite tough at times but the work is very interesting.

Plus, I have a maths degree but a 2.1 and most people I know in my team have 2.1s not firsts. I also know several people with non-mathsy degrees (eg geography) who got in fine (though the exception rather than the rule).

Sorry I didn't mean to offend with my bonus comment OP!!!

Just trying to think trough if it would be possible financially to go back to the start, adding a 5% bonus on to £32k doesn't really add much. The bonuses for lower levels aren't great.

Good info tho and helps me make an informed decision so thank you to all that shared the info.

@milienhaus that's interesting, I read somewhere a 1st was necessary but obviously that's not the case. Phew! I 'only' have a 2:1!

I think it was a fair comment PLMS. Some finance jobs do have huge bonuses and it’s not immediately obvious why actuarial work wouldn’t be amongst them, but alas no. They’re substantial enough that you can’t recruit anyone in March though. Everyone’s always waiting for their bonus before they hand in their notice .

I look at a lot of graduate cvs and I don’t shred the ones with 2:1s though they do have to compete with a lot of people with firsts. I did ditch the one which didn’t mention his degree class at all, after checking back with the agency who confirmed that yes the candidate had thought that if he didn’t mention his third we wouldn’t notice. It wasn’t so much the grade, it was the insult to my intelligence that annoyed me.

😂😂😂 that's hilarious! @MsWarrensProfession I'll be sure not to do that!

PleaseLet - I wasn't offended by your remark about bonuses, but it did come across as a bit rude. My response maybe was a bit snarky, but was meant in good humour.

It's been enjoyable sharing this topic with you and wonderful to see MNetting actuaries popping up here too. Back to the working week now, so no more (lengthy) posts from me.

Thanks, everyone!

Good question - keep them coming, it's just I won't have time to reply for a while. Maybe someone else will respond - keep watching!

Actuaries don't tend to work in areas that can make huge profits for the companies they work for in the same way investment bankers can. We tend to perform regulatory functions and make them hold more reserves than they would like. In some ways I sometimes get the impression that they would rather not have to employ us!!!

That's why we don't get the big bonuses IMHO.

@HunkyDory69 that is a good question. Interested to hear responses on that one.

I was at a CPD session about the risk to actuaries jobs from AI a few months ago. It was a bit doom and gloom.

My opinion is that in the 20 years since I've been working, technology hasn't really moved on that much so I'm sceptical that things will move so quickly that it will have any impact on my job before I retire. There will likely be an impact in the future.

Actuaries are always going to be needed to interpret the output of any model no matter how fancy it is though. Our biggest issue is always the quality of the data that goes into our models, there are always manual adjustments needed for known issues. At the moment I can't see any computer replacing that knowledge so I'm not worried.

We have another question.

What sort of work experience is relevant. Especially if you live in an area that's not really rich in insurance companies.

Love that this thread has so many messages.

I look for something finance based. An accountants or an accounts department or anything really that means that he has used a spreadsheet in the world of work.

Re AI - I have total faith in the regulators and their ability to come up with more and more complex regulations that protect actuarial jobs until the end of time.

Late to the question re bonuses but just thought I'd report my experiences as a consultant all my working life in three different firms (big actuarial consultancy, big 4, small consultancy). Answer - rubbish bonuses. Think I might have got 4% once but frequently 1% or nothing. And I'm good at my job! Think they've always worked on the theory that we get paid enough already and any extra profits are purely for the partners' pockets.

Re work experience - there are lots of small pension consultants around the country in locations where you wouldn't find insurance companies or big consultancies - I worked at one between my second and third years at uni that was just in a small town local to home. There's also quite a lot of bigger consultancies and small insurance consultancies in towns around the south-east and in some small cities around the country. So worth checking as there may be some close to home that you didn't know about (DDD gave a link to a list earlier up the thread).

An actuary was always on my list of wannabe careers when I was at school. I just love numbers.
I did a pure maths degree but fell pregnant in my final year so missed quite a bit and although I managed to pass, it was only a 3rd class degree (am still v proud though and DS is worth it ).
As a result of shifting priorities as a new mum I decided to train as a maths teacher instead and really enjoyed that but now I'm looking for a change in career.
I'm 36...., is it too late for me? Would I be pipped to the post by all the whippersnappers straight out of uni with all that maths still fresh??

I went from teaching to actuarial work at 29.

If you've been teaching A-level so you can still do algebraic manipulation, calculus, adding geometric progressions, probability distributions, maybe statistical tests, then you'll be able to compete with those fresh-faced graduates.

You may need to work a little to convince an employer that you're a good bet, but use your life experience and your skills as a teacher in your favour: excellent communication skills, being able to explain complex ideas to the non-specialist, knowing how to work with others...

Look back through this thread where I recommend that you speak to specialist recruiter who will give you a realistic view of whether your CV will sell...

My DS is interested in becoming an actuary. He is very good at maths (doing A level at the moment), loves tables and spreadsheets of figures... strange boy.

He also loves languages (doing A level German), travel and money. Hence, he has found a actuarial science degree in The Netherlands which is only 5000 Euros in tuition fees rather than 27.5K, from a uni ranked highly in the world rankings. Is this a good option or a total waste of time?

www.uva.nl/en/programmes/bachelors/actuarial-science/actuarial-science.html?origin=0UW%2FNlzHRVCfgfmL3cdmVg

This is a really interesting thread. Thank you

As has been said upthread (I recommend browsing through as a number of actuaries have said things your son might find helpful), I'm dubious about doing a degree in actuarial science. It's not necessarily going to get you to working as an actuary any more easily than doing a more general degree.

And part of me thinks if you are good at maths, why not do a maths degree, or something of wider interest like economics, physics, etc. University is the best chance to study a purely academic subject in depth.

The career path for actuaries seems different in continental Europe compared with the UK, so he might want to check where a Netherlands course will take him. Do they info on where their graduates to on to? I'm probably being too negative and this course may be highly prestigious, opening doors to European insurers and making him very marketable. I have no direct experience so can only raise these questions to think about.

Can I just say - I have just received an offer for an actuary trainee position as a career change in my 30s (with kids), and this is one of the main threads that inspired me and gave me the confidence to even consider this! Thank you @DadDadDad and the others for this thread from almost 4 years ago! Still helping people out!