What is an Actuary?
Actuaries are the financial engineers of the
insurance industry, specializing in either life and health insurance or
property and casualty insurance. Basically, they formulate probability tables
or employ highly advanced dynamic modeling methods that predict the probability
that a potential event will generate a claim. From these tables, they ascertain
the amount of money needed for claims payouts.
Different actuaries have different roles and may
work for insurance companies or consulting firms, as well as in other
businesses. They may be involved with devising a new retirement program for a
company or even calculating the impact of laws banning car-cellphone use in
automobile losses and determining suitable rate discounts. For instance, in
property insurance, property and casualty actuaries compute the number of
claims likely to result from natural catastrophes. The actuaries take into
account the property's location, construction and several other factors before
determining the premium.
Similarly, the figures calculated by actuaries
ensure that insurance companies charge enough for premiums to cover predicted
costs. In addition, actuaries have to make sure that the premium charged for
that insurance is competitive with that charged by competing insurance
companies. (For more on insurance, see Extended Warranties: Should You Take The
Bait?)
Educational Background
If you are interested in becoming an actuary, you
are required to earn an undergraduate degree in statistics, mathematics,
finance or actuarial science. There are many schools and colleges that offer
programs in actuarial science.
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