What is an actuary?
In this last part, we were supposed to interview someone who has been involved in a career for several years. Well, I decided to ask my dad. He has been an actuary for several years now. At first, I didn't even know what an actuary does, but if we didn't have them, there would be a big loss in the insurance business.
First of all, an actuary uses mathematics to calculate financial information connected with life insurance and {accident and health insurance} (all one thing). They are also involved in the drafting if insurance regulations.
Working Conditions
My dad told me that most actuaries work indoors and frequently alone in an office, but sometimes with others. He believes that there will be many jobs in the future because it's very technologically advanced and the world is getting a lot more complicated theses days.
Salary
The salaries they pay actuaries ranges from around $50,000 to over $1 million dollars a year!! My father explained to me that the people who received that much money were chairmen of the board of successful companies.
Careers Simalar to an Actuary
Careers similar to actuaries are accountants and investment analysts. Accountants are like actuaries because actuaries, just like accountants, measure financial information. Actuaries are like investment analysts because they also make judgements about investments. The difference between actuaries and accountants is the fact that actuaries are involved in the measurement of risk and accountants don't. Actuaries are different from investment analysts because actuaries project investment data but are not usually involved in the actual management of assets and portfolios.
College Education An actuary usually graduates from college with a degree in business, finance, or mathematics. In addition to a college education, an actuary must pass a series of rigorous examinations including calculus, statistics, demography, risk theory, law, accounting, and other insurance related concepts. This usually takes 6 to 9 years to pass all of them. When you pass all of the exams, you become a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, or an FSA.
A few years ago a publication rated actuaries as the number one profession based on working conditions, earning potential, and levels of stress in the working place.
FSU is one college that you can get a degree in actuarial science. Some others are Georgia Tech, Drake University, and some others in the United States. FSU (Florida State University) is located in Tallahassee, Florida and is home to about 100,000 people. Georgia Tech is also in the heart of a capital city, Atlanta. Atlanta has well over 100,000 people and that college is a great school if you're interested in math or science. Not many colleges offer a degree in actuarial science. You have to get a math, business, or a finance degree.
More Information
For more information about actuaries, go to
-www.soa.org (Society of Actuaries)
-www.actuary.org (American Academy of Actuaries)
If he were to choose this job again
My dad said that if he were to have a choice to pick the same career, he would because he was successful at passing all of the tests and because of the job satisfaction. He also said that he likes working with numbers.
Web Sites That I Used