I am working in a Big 4 and recently was asked if I am interested in joining the actuaries (investments) team. Let me put it out clearly that initially I had never planned to study Actuarial Science. So after the offer, I did a research and found that its a pretty demanding field with lots of exams to be cleared. Now that’s the part which scares me the most. So I want to know what are the exit opportunities after few years of experience?
Now the obvious response will be that I have gone crazy and why the hell would I want to work in actuaries when I am not even sure of going through all those exams or don’t even know if I want a career in it.
But hear me out first please. I desperately want to shift jobs. My work responsibilities in the current team is pretty lousy. The learnings are not that good. So I figured if at least through an internal transfer I’m able to move to a better team or type of work then that’s the best of the current situation I’m in. I want to shift jobs anyways but with current situation (pandemic) it seems difficult. I am planning to complete CFA so an added benefit will be exemptions given by IFoA (UK). And who knows I may end up liking the work and may get motivated to complete all the actuarial exams.
But how are the exit options for a person with actuarial experience? Lets say if I work in it for few years, complete my CFA and decide to switch careers. Does that sound like a good back plan or am I nuts.
i know this is not the answer you are looking for, but you may be better off asking actual, fully qualified actuaries working in the industry on the reddit board or actuarial forums.
I’ve said it elsewhere in AF and I will say it again: Take the actuarial exams only if you really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really want to become an actuary.
what if you like actuarial so much that you have a portrait of the actuarial table, a wallpaper of excel spreadsheet, and has named your children ‘Singh’ and ‘Maddala’ with a pet named Weibull?
just for the record, i was half-joking. (im writing in the most neutral tone possible because i have no idea if Bread is referring to me or op and in the event Bread was just referring to op, my post will not be as awkward)
I’ll be honest and admit that I have no idea what this team would do in an accounting firm, but I’m guessing it’s not fun.
Would it be this?
Actuary accounting, or actuarial accounting,
is the use of statistical analysis based on accounting systems.
Because it’s primarily used in the insurance business
actuary accounting is often called insurance accounting.
Actuary accounting is also used in the assessment of risks in financial investments,
management of government regulated pension plans,
and the creation of various financial products.
I’m guessing you might be able to transfer to risk management (middle office) in a bank/fund company, but that’s not managing money, that’s checking models and checking VaR limits each and every day, and so on, and you would likely need to build up your quant skills.
The people most likely to hire actuaries are other actuaries.
I would bet that he meant accounting firms. In that context, the ‘Big 4’ refers to the four biggest global accounting firms. They are: Deloitte, EY (Ernst & Young), KPMG, and PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers).
