Okay, I posted a thread inquiring about actuarial jobs a while ago and someone mentioned that a lot of actuarial jobs include dealing with interest a lot. Can someone confirm or deny that?
Thankoo!
Acturials deal with long term risk analysis such as what you would do in insurance companys. So you are trying to figure out what to charge a person for $1,000,000 life insurance you would be talking to an acturial. That does mean you deal with interest directly, but you are advicing people based on risks+pofits you want to make.
If its any help:
1) They are highly quantitative and very well paid
2) There are a range of jobs you can aim for from the insurance side to just plain financial risk analysis as you would in an investment bank.
actuaries can get into areas where interest is a major part, because if you move from analysis to recommendation and plannign aspect, interest is a daily thing. exampes could be pension adminstration, whether defined contribution or defined benefit..but especially in defined benefit, you will have to factor in investment options which ionclude interest bearing vehicles to build the appropriate portfolios for your company/clients etc.
a good source for this would be ASPA, american society for pension actuaries.
insurance is a lil different but still, how you assess risk, and what your steps are to manage the risk pull in interest again e.g. if i am an insurance provider providing insurance to a high risk group, how do i invest the proceeds to make it worth my while, whether it is at the insurance company's level or the reinsurers area.
I suppose if I had done some research before typing this up here, i would have gotten the answer myself :)
From what I have gathered from online sites, it depends on the field you work in. And its all about risk analysis. So if you work in the insurance industry, banks etc ofcourse you would deal with interest directly. And thats where most of the actuaries work. Other fields of work include but not limited to:
Insurance companies
Consulting firms
Government insurance departments
Colleges and universities
Banks and investment firms
Large corporations and public accounting firms
It feels kinda dumb to ask a question and answer it myself too but oh well :)
Thanks for the info hmcq and Fraudz :)
I think faudia would back me up on this but one of the best places to start out and actually figure out what kinda work you like is in consulting cause you can get into a fairly wide range of projects and also makes for good training for the future in actual companies :).
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Ira: *
Other fields of work include but not limited to:
Insurance companies
Consulting firms
Government insurance departments
Colleges and universities
Banks and investment firms
Large corporations and public accounting firms
[/QUOTE]
Ira
as an actuary pretty much any role that you have will deal with interest. because risk analysis is just one end of the formula, the second part, which is just as important is, okay so now what. To move up in any actryarial career you will have to be dealing with both sides. if interest is a major roadblock then I would recommend that you pursue another career, because it will become major glass celing very quickly otherwise.
and I do agree with hmc1, consulting is a great launching pad. def tougher and riskier than industry jobs but the experience and exposure is much better and more varied.