There are several career options available to actuaries. The role of an actuary can be expansive depending on the type of actuarial career that is chosen. Actuaries can be found in several sectors in the society, but their skills tend to fall within 5 major categories including Insurance, Pension, Finance and Investments, Risk and Resource & Environment.
Insurance Actuaries
Insurance Actuaries work within the insurance industry. They can work in life insurance, health insurance or general insurance roles. An actuary who works in the life insurance industry is basically engaged in estimating, with a high degree of accuracy, the most likely lifespan of a group of insureds based on such things such as lifestyle practices such as whether insureds smoke or not, the eating habits of insureds, the activity level of insureds and more. This analysis helps insurance companies to properly establish insurance premiums in order to ensure that the insurance company does not find itself in a position of loss.
Pension Actuaries
Pension Actuaries are in high demand all over the world. As the title suggests, these types of actuaries help to monitor various pension plans for different groups. They help to ensure that their clients are operating their pension plans in accordance with the stipulations of the law. These types of actuaries also ascertain how much employers should be contributing to the pension scheme in which they are involved. In addition, Pension Actuaries help to determine how much each eligible pensioner in a particular pension scheme is entitled to receive upon retirement.
Finance and Investment Actuaries
Most Finance and Investment Actuaries hold senior positions in large financial organizations. Their main task is to help to manage financial risks. This may involve things like the assessment of the risk involved in stock market investment, or the risks involved in a merger or acquisition operation. These actuaries use various statistical tools to make cash flow projections and more.
Risk Actuaries
In a world of uncertainty, Risk Actuaries help to assess, identify and mitigate financial risks. All actuaries may be considered as Risk Actuaries.
Resource and Environment Actuaries
The last major type of Actuary is the Resource and Environment Actuary. In some cases, these actuaries are known as Enterprise Risk Actuaries. The duties of this type of actuary include identifying and assessing the economic, financial and geopolitical environment for potential risks. They can work within private organizations or they can work within governmental organizations and these Actuaries help to develop strategies to combat any identified risks. The actuaries who work in the Federal government may be involved in such tasks as recommending courses of action regarding the Social Security program or the Medicare program.
Compensation
A career as an Actuary can be very rewarding financially with the median salary for an Actuary in 2017 standing at $101,560 per annum according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. To get into this field of work, at least a Bachelor’s degree is required. To become a fully certified actuary, one must pass a series of exams and acquire years of on-the-job training and experience.