What exactly does an actuary do??

[MaybeYesMaybeNo]

I am so glad I found this forum. Actuarial is deinitely a brandnew name for me and I am eager to know more about it. I wonder being an actuary, what exactly the job is? Can any actuary here describe what you do everyday? I would appreciate it! Thank you very much.

[wat]

I am so glad I found this forum. Actuarial is deinitely a brandnew name for me and I am eager to know more about it. I wonder being an actuary, what exactly the job is? Can any actuary here describe what you do everyday? I would appreciate it! Thank you very much.

I can only speak as an actuarial student. I'm not an actuary yet (the generally accepted qualification for this is obtaining your credentials from an actuarial society), but I'm studying to become one.

Right now, exams are one of the highest priorities on my to do list. Other than that, I work in Excel and Access to help with financial reporting and a little bit of modeling. Essentially, actuaries manage risk. We look at data and try to predict (to a certain extent) what our future losses might be like and determine the status of the company. At least, that's what I tell people.

www.beanactuary.org has pretty good information about the profession in general.

[MaybeYesMaybeNo]

It sounds very interesting and seems to have a lot of responsibilities. How many exams have you taken?

[wat]

It sounds very interesting and seems to have a lot of responsibilities. How many exams have you taken?

3 so far. Studying to take M this upcoming spring, and partially preparing for Course 5 in the fall. Right now, I'm delving deeper into the Exam M material.

Being an actuary does come with a significant amount of responsibilities. If you are the chief actuary for a company, you are required to "sign off" on financial statements - essentially, you are saying that the reserves that your actuarial department has calculated are accurate and reflect your company's current business. If your company starts seeing some horrible losses, it could be your job on the line.

[Quirk]

I can give you some background from a Health Care consulting standpoint. I serve as a health care expert and advisor to several large companies. I price all of their medical plans including dental, pharmacy, and dissability for their active and retired employees. I also do retiree medical valuations (FAS 106 and FAS 132) to determine their expense that they have to book each year. I also design new healthcare programs and project potential savings. I also consult on the new Medicare part D and determine Actuarial Equivalence for my clients. My client contacts are usually VP's of HR and CFO's of which I talk to frequently and give presentations to.

To give some background on myself,I graduated from college 2 years ago and I am writing Course 6 for my ASA.

[joeorez]

Here is a web page which provides a few words on what actuaries do:


http://users.aol.com/fcas/advice.html