Don't blame it on a Grundy, don't blame it on Route B, don't blame it on Sean O'C, blame it on the badgers. Discuss The Archers of Prudhoe here.

[PseudoBadger]

basketz and mimsy - you really need a numerate degree and a good A level maths grade, but you don't need a maths degree.

Happy to have a go on questions about figures, but you might want to post your question on chat - there are other actuaries on MN and we can avoid hijacking this thread

Answer away DDD - I don't think I'd open a dedicated actuary thread but this is all v interesting!

I've just had to google what an actuary is

BitOut - I wouldn't blush at that - I am sure there are plenty of jobs and job titles that would mean little to those who don't work in the same sector.

What I really want to know is: are you any the wiser what it is actuaries do?

I think a thread in chat is a great idea! I bet it will stem a load of questions that were unforeseen!

Just title it something interesting (so not 'I'm an actuary and this is what I do')

I did a summer internship with a pair of actuaries - one was normal (for an actuary) and the younger one spent so much effort trying to be trendy and cool and 'I might be an actuary but I'm quirky me'. Didn't work.

......"keeping it in the family?"

Don't believe a word of it....wonder wot Eliz/Shula/Jill and Kenton will make of that...Rubbish about the teenagers - so unrealistic...Did love hearing Jim though.

They assess risk. In a nutshell. I think. And it's to do with insurance. I think.

I think Jim needs a spreadshit to challenge the council's projected traffic flow figures ...

DadDadDad my husband is also a reserving actuary and is a bit sniffy about pricing actuaries. He doesn't work for a consultancy.

The only reason I knew what an actuary was is because it was suggested as a career for me by one of those computerised graduate job tests. Sadly I was merely doing a management degree so it was never to be, although I did score reasonably well on the last financial economics paper DH marked.

I'd love an Archers thread in chat. I mostly lurk here because I only really started listening to it a year or two ago and you all seem so knowledgeable!

Helena - have you asked your dh if he posts on mumsnet under the name daddaddad??

I know he has a Mumsnet I'D and I'd be worried except I know that he had no chance at all to post anything after 20:15 when he got back from the conference.

It's a really small field though. A fairly high proportion of actuaries work in pensions, a few in general insurance which leaves about 1500 or so in Life Insurance. Once you get down to actuaries who are in reserving then it's quite probable that DadDadDad and my DH know each other!

So back to the archers

Why is it assumed Jenny would take on the bees? Surely Brian and Jenny will stay put and let Adam/whoever live at Brookfield.

Brookfield always struck me as being in need of renovation and not quite big enough. Couldn't bear another so doing kitchen type storyline!

And all te guff about Brian being like a fairy godmother. More stuff and nonsense.

And sw we get it - Peggy isn't well but doesn't want to admit to anyone.

Helena - does your dh like the archers?

I can see a whole sub-thread appearing now!

Yes he does. He got me into it!

Helena - oh, this is getting even more excruciating. If he works for an insurance company, there is maybe less chance that I know him (unless he works for the same one as me!). Does he work in London, or somewhere in East, South, North or West England?

And yes we can do without another loooong kitchen storyline.

BYOS you are right. It is the most ridiculous and poorly-plotted storyline in the history of TA. The only thing that keeps me listening is that I can't bear the thought of leaving this thread - I'd miss you all too much.

Okay, briefly, my question/s for actuarial professionals (Is that correct term?!) - if you are working out risks etc. associated with health, does an actuary who works in this area have access to medical advisors and/or lists of obscure diseases that few people have heard of? Are some people just uninsurable due to certain health problems? What if there are just not enough people with a particular condition/in a particular category? Is it ever just guess work or a case of lumping people/diseases together? my understanding being that you need a biggish sample in order to do the stats properly.

Reason I am asking is that I have a rare variant of an uncommon condition - when looking for travel insurance I had one of those silly conversations with a person ain a call centre who (after talking to her manager) put me down as having a related condition but one I don't actually have - and so it looks on paper as if I have a higher risk of an acute episode than I really have. And this pissed me off, but I haven't the will to argue the toss and will probably pay more in premiums than necessary. And that's why I was wondering how the sums are done.

And do actuaries like accountants always carry a calculator? My friend who is a CA reckons she and other accountants always have a calculator on them. Though I suppose the modern way would be to have a mobile with a calculator.

We used to live in the North West DadDadDad but we moved to the South a couple of years ago. We've also lived in Bristol.

I think it says everything about the current state of TA that we are finding it more interesting to discuss actuaries (there must be a joke about that - and also about what do you call a train full of actuaries as referenced by DDD last night)

I've still got the calculator I was issued with when I started training in 1984. It still works. It's the most unsophisticated calculator in the world but that suits me very well. Don't use it much nowadays, though, frankly, as my laptop has a calculator and Excel.

BTW, thanks for the offer, D3, but I really don't think my son will be looking for a career as an actuary. His degree is in History. Can't imagine he would stand much of a chance against people with more numerate degrees! He'll probably end up in Macdonald's.

My ds (7) loves history and explained the origins of the First World War to his friends today. Please don't tell me there's no future in it mimsy!!!

Yes the archers is depressingly painful. By the end of the next thread we will probably be discussing how long different brands of paint take to dry

(Im a ca an never carry a calculator!)

I think David's idea that JD might take on the bees was just a grasping at straws really. I can't imagine JD, being such a busy bee (sorry!), would want to have to travel back and forth between Home and B'field - I know Jill did it but she is/was retired till she moved back to Bf. I suppose JD has more people to look after and feed, and all those shoot lunches etc. I had to laugh at her commenting on Helen 'now having the time' (to do food for P's birthday) as probably Helen has less time than JD as she has a toddler at least part of the time.

I may put my question/s above on Chat too. Sorry of it annoys anyone being here. I think it's bedtime now anyway.

I have rather annoyingly mislaid my calculator. But I am neither an accountant nor an actuary, in fact I am probably on the employment scrap heap due to health problems. And have already done the career change malarkey so who knows what I can do now. But I do a lot of knitting. It's been missing for weeks and weeks and weeks.

My CA friend ( the one with a calculator in her handbag) did a history degree. I can still remember the day in the uni library she told me she was giving up the diss on Samuel Pepys and his many diaries and going off to do PG accountancy.