Actuary Career Information
Explore a career in finance as an actuary.
What Do Actuaries Do?
Actuaries are at the heart of the insurance industry. Experts in statistics, business and finance, actuaries use their knowledge to assess risk in order to formulate policies and minimize costs of risk for the insurance industry.
Data is the essence of the job of an actuary, as they gather, assemble and analyze information to estimate the probability and likely costs of events such as death, sickness, injury, disability, or loss of property. Those choosing an actuary career use their data in various fields, such as pension and other retirement asset management; home, automobile and other areas of the insurance industry; and the financial industry. Their expertise is essential in helping insurance companies design coverage plans, and in helping a wide spectrum of companies decide if and how they should invest their assets in order to maximize returns and minimize risks to those investments.
Successful actuaries love information and data. They produce probability tables that analyze the likelihood that a potential event will generate a claim. For example, an auto industry actuary calculates the expected number of claims resulting from automobile accidents, using variables such as the insured person's age, gender, driving history and type of car. This information is used to determine how premiums should be priced and what claims should be covered. Actuaries also work within the health care insurance industry, analyzing health-related data including birth rates, life expectancy and disease and they help insurance companies determine how to manage their premium structure, claims and coverage.
Although 60 percent of actuaries work in the insurance industry, some work for financial institutions, corporations managing financial asset investments, and the government, managing the Medicare, Medicaid and other insurance programs. Others are consultants, who may work on a contract basis in any of these fields.
Actuary Career Path
| Entry Level | Mid Level | Senior Level | |||
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| Types of Roles | Actuary, data analyst, life or health insurance underwriter |
| Chief risk officer, chief financial officer | ||
| Experience | 0 – 4 years | 5 – 9 years | 10+ years | ||
| Getting There |
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| Salary* | $51,950 – $70,203 | $71,919 – $103,226 |
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* Depends on company size, specific job and location
Sources: Payscale.com, 2009; Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009
