Most actuaries work for insurance companies. Although most work full time in an office, some actuaries who work as consultants travel to meet with clients. Free resources for actuaries and actuary students. I emphasize “metropolitan areas” because often these companies are located in the suburbs of major cities and not in downtown areas.
The two largest markets, New York and Chicago, are very good examples of this geographical dispersion. Actuarial employment in the suburbs of these two cities is much higher than in the cities themselves. If your city doesn't appear in the list above, don't despair. If your city has a “major professional sports team,” it's likely that it also has a somewhat smaller but prosperous actuarial labor market.
Examples include Cincinnati, Charlotte, Houston, Denver, and Indianapolis. Finally, as explained in more detail in Achieving Your Pinnacle, A Career Guide for Actuaries, pension actuaries tend to have greater geographical flexibility than most other actuaries. If you have to work in a small town like Syracuse, Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, or Knoxville, you're much more likely to find employment at a small benefits consulting firm than at an insurance company. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
The most important area of practice in which actuaries work is the life insurance and pension sector, which represents almost 50% of the actuarial workforce. Actuaries who work in general insurance will be employed to help with financial management and can also be found working in reinsurance and brokerage transactions. Entry into the profession is highly competitive and success in the field requires commitment and hard work during college and the few years after graduation, when actuarial exams are taken. Actuaries use statistical techniques to analyze substantial amounts of data, which are then used to qualify risks and ensure that claims reserves are adequate to cover insurance claims.
In addition to the courses required to graduate, students should carefully consider electives that will be coordinated with an actuarial career. Actuaries are also now found in retail banks, as is greater demand for actuaries by investment banks that offer hedging products. Potential employers suggest that the minimum requirements for hiring are a GPA of 3.2 or higher and at least one actuarial exam. Experts in statistics, business and finance, actuaries use their knowledge to assess risk in order to formulate policies and minimize risk costs for the insurance industry.
Mergers between life insurance companies are becoming more frequent, although when this occurs, you tend to realize that actuaries are hired by both parties (one of the many benefits of being an actuary is job security, you can read more benefits here). The American Society of Pension Actuaries is the organization of actuaries working in the pension field, in particular, those actuaries that certify to the federal and state governments that pension plans are sound. Actuaries describe their work as challenging and interesting and generally enjoy a good work environment. Actuaries are very popular in the pension sector and, as the pension sector becomes more complex, there is an increasing demand for specialists to advise on pension plans.
Like actuaries in other industries, an actuary working at Lloyd's of London will manage large amounts of data. Actuaries will develop models for companies to minimize future risk, which they must then explain to the company so that they can fully utilize them. Actuarial Science students take a considerable number of courses in mathematics and statistics, as well as courses that cover actuarial topics and some courses in the School of Management. .
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