Actuary
Using their extensive knowledge of statistics, finance, and business, actuaries help design insurance policies, pension plans, and other financial strategies in a way that helps ensure the plans remain on a sound financial footing.
Actuaries also deal with financial matters, including those related to the level of pension contributions needed to produce a certain level of retirement income and how a company should invest resources to maximize return on investment in light of potential risks.
Most actuaries work in the insurance industry, specializing in life and health insurance or property and casualty insurance. They prepare probability tables, which determine the likelihood that a potential future event will result in a claim. Based on these tables, they estimate the amount a company can expect to pay in claims. For example, property and casualty actuaries calculate the expected amount of claims resulting from car accidents, which varies depending on the policyholder's age, sex, driving record, type of car, and other factors.
Actuaries make sure that the price, or the premium charged for that insurance, allows the company to cover claims and other expenses. This premium must be profitable, but competitive with other insurance companies. Within the fields of life and health insurance, actuaries are helping to develop long-term care insurance and annuity policies, the latter a growing investment tool for many individuals. They also handle the investments of life insurance companies, for example, investing money in government securities, mortgage bonds, common and preferred stocks, properties, and other securities. A considerable amount of time is devoted to evaluating a company's liability with respect to all policies. Actuaries in other financial services industries manage credit and help set the price of companies' securities offerings. They also devise new investment instruments to help their companies compete with other financial services companies. The duties of most consulting actuaries are similar to those of other actuaries. Some help companies reduce their insurance costs by lowering the level of risk companies take on. For example, they may advise on how to decrease the risk of injuries at work, which would reduce workers' compensation costs. Consulting actuaries sometimes testify in court about the value of the potential lifetime earnings of a person disabled or killed in an accident, the present value of future retirement benefits (in divorce cases), or other values arrived at through complex calculations. Some work in reinsurance, a field in which one insurance company agrees to share a large future liability policy with another insurance company, in exchange for a percentage of the premium.
Actuaries are experts in the theory and practice of statistics and, in particular, in mortality, illness, retirement, and unemployment. They work primarily with numbers and figures. They design, compile, and develop insurance policies; pension and health care plans and perform other specialized functions mainly in the insurance sector. Actuaries have office jobs and their offices are usually comfortable and pleasant. They often work at least 40 hours a week. Some actuaries, particularly consulting actuaries, may travel to meet with clients. Consulting actuaries may also experience more erratic employment and are sometimes expected to work more than 40 hours per week.