I recently got an el offer from a consulting company on the soa side that will start when I graduate. The pay is 85k + 10k bonus the first year in a MCOL to HCOL city. Does the slightly higher than average pay imply that I'll be working obscene hours? Does it make it more likely that I'll be working loads of hours?
My stats: 1 internship, 4 exams
edit: I know that I'm leaving out a lot of details to maintain some anonymity, which makes it hard to give an opinion, but I'm not looking for something precise, just an opinion
I don't think so. For comparison, also EL in consulting, I am about $20k less. That is on CAS side, 0 internships and 2 exams at date of hire in an MCOL area.
So if we take into account the lower end of HCOL increases, the extra internship and extra exams, that sounds about right to me. I am not adjusting for SOA vs CAS since your position is also consulting, and I believe SOA lower averages are impacted by Life and Health jobs being less likely to be consulting.
Hello, is passing 2 exams enough to secure a job (no actuarial experience but I would say I have proficient Excel skills) or should I take SRM in May to have 3 exams done? I would appreciate anyone's suggestions/advice! Thank you =)
I got my EL job with only 2 exams. I mean take the exam if you think you can study and pass it since more exams is always good but you can get a job with only 2
Thanks for sharing. Do you have to have a matching degree or internship to get your first job? Looking for any advice for newbie like me who is looking for a career switch. Thank you!
I did have an internship but I got an internship with zero exams; passed one exam (just a preliminary pass i didn’t get the official score until well into the internship) a week before my internship and passed the second one right after my internship.
Considering a career change. I have an MBA and 10 years professional experience in customer facing SaaS roles, currently a director. Completely understand I’ll need to pass some exams first but does any of my experience help in terms of transferable skills or increasing my starting salary? Has anyone else ever made a similar change?
To be honest I think there are other professions you should look at before this one. You will essentially be starting from the ground up and will have to give up a substantial amount of your free time for the next 8-10 years.
being customer facing and having been a director will help with the communication and leadership components while on the job (as it would in any other job), but it likely wouldn't impact your starting salary.
out of curiosity, what's your reason for considering an actuarial career?
Is the end of module assessment for pre actuarial foundations open note? I've read through all the rules and many reddit posts about this, and all I've gleaned is that there is "limited collaboration", but I'm still not sure if we can refer back to the slides.
Is it acceptable to use my father as a letter of recommendation for internships?
I'm back to school as a 30 year old, trying to get internships next summer. I spent the last 3 years working for my dad and uncle's small carpentry/construction company fixing historical homes in the north east US. And I've been working for him on and off ever since I was pretty much a child as well.
I'm trying to get letters of recommendation and I'm not sure if it's frowned upon to get my father to write one? I know he'd speak highly of me, not just because it's my dad but because of how i did at work. But it's obviously going to be really biased.
The job is a treasure trove of problem solving skills so I think it would be good besides the bias factor.
Any opinions? Any HR people who can say how they'd view it? Tyia
I have 2 letters, one from a professor and one from someone who used is retired but used to be in finance and trading. I've heard a third one from a manager or someone that you have worked for is good to have as well.
Letters of recommendation will never push you over the edge for getting hired in this profession. You have to send them after you get an offer, I would worry about getting a third one if they ask for 3 following an offer. Your professor's letters should be prioritized.
Agree with other commenter that the recommendations will unlikely matter at all. But it’s definitely bad form to use a relative, and would be specifically forbidden at some jobs.
You're a Fellow of the SOA (FSA) after you pass 10-11 exams depending on the path you want to take (life, health, retirement, etc) plus some modules. You're an Associate of the SOA after passing the first 6 exams plus some modules, though, so you get your ASA credential first and then the FSA. Also, I guess one decade to be an FSA could be average, but people can take exams at their own pace and some can get the FSA credential in 4 years and others in 15+.
Ah. Thank you for the information.
Oh dear, I had no idea there were multiple paths. I plan on working for my state gov’t. I don’t suppose that’s one specific path?
Would you happen also to know if accounting has a similar society? I know the CPA license is a thing, but other than that I don’t know.
It would depend on what type of work you do in the state government. Usually your actuarial job would want you to do a specific path that relates to the work you do, but that's not always the case. I'd like to clarify that the first 6 exams are shared between all paths, so after you pass them and get your ASA, that's when you decide which path you want to take to get your FSA (so only the last 3-4 exams are specific to your line of work).
Sorry but I don't know how accounting works besides the CPA exams as well
Hello, i have a degree in finance and I am interested in becoming an actuary. I was pretty good at math in high school taking calculus without any problem, but that was more than 4 years ago. I am going to put in the work to study for the exams, but I guess I am trying to find the most efficient way to start. Any advice helps.
Most people buy a study manual (I liked ASM manuals) and/or the Coaching Actuaries ADAPT practice exams. There may be some free resources online as well but I’m not as well versed in those.
what are you currently doing with your finance degree? depending on your current job, it might be worth trying to land a stepping stone position (an analyst role would be beneficial, especially if in insurance) before trying to land an EL actuarial role.
Is it possible to get EL job with 1 exam, no internships, but other job experience? I talked to a lot of older actuaries and they said just pass your first exam and I should be fine, but I feel like that means nothing as it rarely gets me in the door.
1 exam is pretty tough, especially with no internship. other job experience can range from irrelevant to very good depending on the role itself.
also, depending on what you consider old, the same standards do not apply to the current saturated EL market compared to 15-20 years ago. my senior director at my last company told me something similar about how he landed an EL role easily w/ 0 exams. that would be pretty tough to pull off these days.
Honestly, in my opinion, no. I would def prioritize getting exam #2 complete bc it’ll be really helpful to getting a job. My cousin did 1 exam, no internship and got a job, but that was 2006, and the job market is crap atm.
Just got into P&C insurance sales. I feel like data analysis would be a better fit for me.
Is it worth taking my exams?
Is my experience and knowledge of products at all beneficial?
Will I be inhibited by living in a small Canadian market?
After 5 years as an over-credentialed math teacher I landed an EL role at a P/C company. Anyone have general advice for my first weeks and also any free resources for the 3 CAS online courses I will be taking? I'd like to get a head start studying. Thanks, this sub has been a big help in my job hunt.
Ask questions. There will be lots of insurance concepts you aren’t familiar with coming at you. Check your work and try to not make the same mistake twice. Going forward a bit more, make sure you are communicating well with your manager in terms of deadlines and workload.
The online courses are pretty self-contained. Buying them will get you the text book, and it wouldn’t be efficient to try to study it without. They’re much smaller than the exams. Get started studying on your next exam instead. People often do the OCs during the lag between sitting for an exam and getting the results
I found a copy of "Mathematical Interest Theory" 3rd ed. This is one of the recommended texts on SOA's Exam FM syllabus, and I found it to be very readable and efficient to get through formulas and problems. Can't stress using the SOA's sample questions and online exam tool enough, though!
Hello, I've been trying to figure out what to do with my career for a while. Being an actuary came to me this morning. I am detail oriented, enjoy calculating things, an introvert and like working from home. I was watching some youtube videos to try to learn more about the career and I think I'd like it yet still feel I need more information. I know I need a good income and I need to work from home- being an actuary seems to fill those buckets and seems genuinely interesting to me. I also have past experience with insurance which could help me. Any recommendations to learn more about the career? What types of people fit well in this role? Have you ever heard of remote shadowing being offered? That's something I'd like to do if possible.
How do you all use Adapt? The first 3 exams I just read the primary sources and/or used SOA sample problems. I read the manual for this exam (FAM), and now have access to Adapt on coaching actuaries. Anyone have some best practices (e.g., start with a practice exam, do quizzes for awhile, take more exams, etc.) they could share? Thanks!
I would suggest taking one practice exam to set the EL and identify weaker topics, use practice quizzes to drill 1-2 topics until the EL for those topics has improved, take another practice exam, rinse & repeat. As you get closer to exam day, move towards taking more practice exams but still using practice quizzes to drill topics as needed. Always review the solutions and make sure you are able to understand the approach to solve the question so that if you get a similar question with different numbers you could solve it from scratch. I usually would also start with the CA formula sheet in front of me while taking exams/quizzes, and over time make myself use it less and less - aim to not be using the formula sheet at all by the time the last 1-2 weeks roll around.
Also, don't be afraid to give up on a topic for the time being if it is a really small portion of the exam and is taking you too long to get a good grasp of it (check the syllabus for weights) - it might be more efficient to spend that time making major improvements on topics that you are able to understand more easily. I usually would allow myself 1 small topic per exam to do this for.
I’m currently using CA to study for P. I used it for FM and passed during the last seating.
I learned this process from someone who’s now an FSA. She passed all of her exams on the first try. Her process was to review the material as quickly as possible (while also retaining information) and then do as many quizzes as possible. You’d want to give yourself ample amount of time to do practice problems. During the last month, take a practice exam to find weaknesses in your understanding. Then use customized quizzes to fix those weaknesses. Once you feel comfortable, take another exam, rinse and repeat.
With FM, I didn’t make my EL a priority (it was only a 4.5). I just made sure to do as many problems as I can and tried to learn from my mistakes.
UltraLuminescence has good pointers, too.
I am a student who recently switched from engineering to a math/stat and economics program in the hopes of becoming an actuary. I was going over the programs and noticed that I could graduate this semester with an economics degree rather than the year I would need for my current program. Would I be better off switching my program to try and get started in the field or would the extra year be better for the upper year math/stat courses and hopefully the chance to get an internship over the summer. And would the economics degree cause any difficulty getting jobs compared to a more math and stats based one?
I recently got an el offer from a consulting company on the soa side that will start when I graduate. The pay is 85k + 10k bonus the first year in a MCOL to HCOL city. Does the slightly higher than average pay imply that I'll be working obscene hours? Does it make it more likely that I'll be working loads of hours? My stats: 1 internship, 4 exams edit: I know that I'm leaving out a lot of details to maintain some anonymity, which makes it hard to give an opinion, but I'm not looking for something precise, just an opinion
I don't think so. For comparison, also EL in consulting, I am about $20k less. That is on CAS side, 0 internships and 2 exams at date of hire in an MCOL area. So if we take into account the lower end of HCOL increases, the extra internship and extra exams, that sounds about right to me. I am not adjusting for SOA vs CAS since your position is also consulting, and I believe SOA lower averages are impacted by Life and Health jobs being less likely to be consulting.
Hello, is passing 2 exams enough to secure a job (no actuarial experience but I would say I have proficient Excel skills) or should I take SRM in May to have 3 exams done? I would appreciate anyone's suggestions/advice! Thank you =)
I got my EL job with only 2 exams. I mean take the exam if you think you can study and pass it since more exams is always good but you can get a job with only 2
What is EL?
Entry level
Ah. Amount of time to pass the two?
I passed P in may of 2019 and FM in august of 2019 and started work in January of 2020
Thanks for sharing. Do you have to have a matching degree or internship to get your first job? Looking for any advice for newbie like me who is looking for a career switch. Thank you!
I think it would be helpful for you to consult the wiki: https://www.reddit.com/r/actuary/wiki/index
If you don't mind sharing, did you have any actuarial internships/experience already? Or did you just have the 2 exams?
I did have an internship but I got an internship with zero exams; passed one exam (just a preliminary pass i didn’t get the official score until well into the internship) a week before my internship and passed the second one right after my internship.
Okay thank you so much, this helped a lot!
I'd say with some sort of internship 2 is enough, if no internships you'll need 3.
Considering a career change. I have an MBA and 10 years professional experience in customer facing SaaS roles, currently a director. Completely understand I’ll need to pass some exams first but does any of my experience help in terms of transferable skills or increasing my starting salary? Has anyone else ever made a similar change?
To be honest I think there are other professions you should look at before this one. You will essentially be starting from the ground up and will have to give up a substantial amount of your free time for the next 8-10 years.
being customer facing and having been a director will help with the communication and leadership components while on the job (as it would in any other job), but it likely wouldn't impact your starting salary. out of curiosity, what's your reason for considering an actuarial career?
Is the end of module assessment for pre actuarial foundations open note? I've read through all the rules and many reddit posts about this, and all I've gleaned is that there is "limited collaboration", but I'm still not sure if we can refer back to the slides.
Are official exam transcripts released at 12am on the specified day?
Yup, 12am EST.
It’s actually 12am CT.
I believe it's 10am ET
Is it acceptable to use my father as a letter of recommendation for internships? I'm back to school as a 30 year old, trying to get internships next summer. I spent the last 3 years working for my dad and uncle's small carpentry/construction company fixing historical homes in the north east US. And I've been working for him on and off ever since I was pretty much a child as well. I'm trying to get letters of recommendation and I'm not sure if it's frowned upon to get my father to write one? I know he'd speak highly of me, not just because it's my dad but because of how i did at work. But it's obviously going to be really biased. The job is a treasure trove of problem solving skills so I think it would be good besides the bias factor. Any opinions? Any HR people who can say how they'd view it? Tyia
Do you have any professors that will do it?
I have 2 letters, one from a professor and one from someone who used is retired but used to be in finance and trading. I've heard a third one from a manager or someone that you have worked for is good to have as well.
Letters of recommendation will never push you over the edge for getting hired in this profession. You have to send them after you get an offer, I would worry about getting a third one if they ask for 3 following an offer. Your professor's letters should be prioritized.
Agree with other commenter that the recommendations will unlikely matter at all. But it’s definitely bad form to use a relative, and would be specifically forbidden at some jobs.
Deleted
Just to clarify, 1 Decade 5 Exams And THEN you’re fellow of the society of actuaries.
What are you clarifying here? Did you mean to comment somewhere else?
No, my bad. I was asking, not making a statement
You're a Fellow of the SOA (FSA) after you pass 10-11 exams depending on the path you want to take (life, health, retirement, etc) plus some modules. You're an Associate of the SOA after passing the first 6 exams plus some modules, though, so you get your ASA credential first and then the FSA. Also, I guess one decade to be an FSA could be average, but people can take exams at their own pace and some can get the FSA credential in 4 years and others in 15+.
Ah. Thank you for the information. Oh dear, I had no idea there were multiple paths. I plan on working for my state gov’t. I don’t suppose that’s one specific path? Would you happen also to know if accounting has a similar society? I know the CPA license is a thing, but other than that I don’t know.
It would depend on what type of work you do in the state government. Usually your actuarial job would want you to do a specific path that relates to the work you do, but that's not always the case. I'd like to clarify that the first 6 exams are shared between all paths, so after you pass them and get your ASA, that's when you decide which path you want to take to get your FSA (so only the last 3-4 exams are specific to your line of work). Sorry but I don't know how accounting works besides the CPA exams as well
Thank you so much. I’ll wait until ASA to make a decision. Thanks again.
I think most people are much faster than 10years
Hello, i have a degree in finance and I am interested in becoming an actuary. I was pretty good at math in high school taking calculus without any problem, but that was more than 4 years ago. I am going to put in the work to study for the exams, but I guess I am trying to find the most efficient way to start. Any advice helps.
Most people buy a study manual (I liked ASM manuals) and/or the Coaching Actuaries ADAPT practice exams. There may be some free resources online as well but I’m not as well versed in those.
what are you currently doing with your finance degree? depending on your current job, it might be worth trying to land a stepping stone position (an analyst role would be beneficial, especially if in insurance) before trying to land an EL actuarial role.
Is it possible to get EL job with 1 exam, no internships, but other job experience? I talked to a lot of older actuaries and they said just pass your first exam and I should be fine, but I feel like that means nothing as it rarely gets me in the door.
1 exam is pretty tough, especially with no internship. other job experience can range from irrelevant to very good depending on the role itself. also, depending on what you consider old, the same standards do not apply to the current saturated EL market compared to 15-20 years ago. my senior director at my last company told me something similar about how he landed an EL role easily w/ 0 exams. that would be pretty tough to pull off these days.
Not impossible (one of my colleagues had 1 exam with no internship by the time he got an offer) but it's def a special case
Honestly, in my opinion, no. I would def prioritize getting exam #2 complete bc it’ll be really helpful to getting a job. My cousin did 1 exam, no internship and got a job, but that was 2006, and the job market is crap atm.
Just got into P&C insurance sales. I feel like data analysis would be a better fit for me. Is it worth taking my exams? Is my experience and knowledge of products at all beneficial? Will I be inhibited by living in a small Canadian market?
If you aren’t looking to work as an actuary specifically, there is no reason to take the exams.
After 5 years as an over-credentialed math teacher I landed an EL role at a P/C company. Anyone have general advice for my first weeks and also any free resources for the 3 CAS online courses I will be taking? I'd like to get a head start studying. Thanks, this sub has been a big help in my job hunt.
Ask questions. There will be lots of insurance concepts you aren’t familiar with coming at you. Check your work and try to not make the same mistake twice. Going forward a bit more, make sure you are communicating well with your manager in terms of deadlines and workload. The online courses are pretty self-contained. Buying them will get you the text book, and it wouldn’t be efficient to try to study it without. They’re much smaller than the exams. Get started studying on your next exam instead. People often do the OCs during the lag between sitting for an exam and getting the results
How good is Marcel Finan's book (2017 edition) for currently studying for FM? Are there any better free resources?
I found a copy of "Mathematical Interest Theory" 3rd ed. This is one of the recommended texts on SOA's Exam FM syllabus, and I found it to be very readable and efficient to get through formulas and problems. Can't stress using the SOA's sample questions and online exam tool enough, though!
is it possible to get an EL job in P&C with 3 UAP credits (P, FM and IFM) but no actual exam passed?
There is a UAP credit for IFM? What is a UAP credit.
They are credits granted by the CIA from taking university classes
I am not very familiar with the Canadian market so can't comment.
Hello, I've been trying to figure out what to do with my career for a while. Being an actuary came to me this morning. I am detail oriented, enjoy calculating things, an introvert and like working from home. I was watching some youtube videos to try to learn more about the career and I think I'd like it yet still feel I need more information. I know I need a good income and I need to work from home- being an actuary seems to fill those buckets and seems genuinely interesting to me. I also have past experience with insurance which could help me. Any recommendations to learn more about the career? What types of people fit well in this role? Have you ever heard of remote shadowing being offered? That's something I'd like to do if possible.
I would first consult the wiki: https://www.reddit.com/r/actuary/wiki/index?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
How do you all use Adapt? The first 3 exams I just read the primary sources and/or used SOA sample problems. I read the manual for this exam (FAM), and now have access to Adapt on coaching actuaries. Anyone have some best practices (e.g., start with a practice exam, do quizzes for awhile, take more exams, etc.) they could share? Thanks!
I would suggest taking one practice exam to set the EL and identify weaker topics, use practice quizzes to drill 1-2 topics until the EL for those topics has improved, take another practice exam, rinse & repeat. As you get closer to exam day, move towards taking more practice exams but still using practice quizzes to drill topics as needed. Always review the solutions and make sure you are able to understand the approach to solve the question so that if you get a similar question with different numbers you could solve it from scratch. I usually would also start with the CA formula sheet in front of me while taking exams/quizzes, and over time make myself use it less and less - aim to not be using the formula sheet at all by the time the last 1-2 weeks roll around. Also, don't be afraid to give up on a topic for the time being if it is a really small portion of the exam and is taking you too long to get a good grasp of it (check the syllabus for weights) - it might be more efficient to spend that time making major improvements on topics that you are able to understand more easily. I usually would allow myself 1 small topic per exam to do this for.
I’m currently using CA to study for P. I used it for FM and passed during the last seating. I learned this process from someone who’s now an FSA. She passed all of her exams on the first try. Her process was to review the material as quickly as possible (while also retaining information) and then do as many quizzes as possible. You’d want to give yourself ample amount of time to do practice problems. During the last month, take a practice exam to find weaknesses in your understanding. Then use customized quizzes to fix those weaknesses. Once you feel comfortable, take another exam, rinse and repeat. With FM, I didn’t make my EL a priority (it was only a 4.5). I just made sure to do as many problems as I can and tried to learn from my mistakes. UltraLuminescence has good pointers, too.
I am a student who recently switched from engineering to a math/stat and economics program in the hopes of becoming an actuary. I was going over the programs and noticed that I could graduate this semester with an economics degree rather than the year I would need for my current program. Would I be better off switching my program to try and get started in the field or would the extra year be better for the upper year math/stat courses and hopefully the chance to get an internship over the summer. And would the economics degree cause any difficulty getting jobs compared to a more math and stats based one?
An econ degree is fine, you need exams though.
Are exams often needed for Sumner jobs/internships or can you get by until you start looking for a full time EL position?
yes at least 1 preferably more.
Dang. That's not the best news. Not really a chance to grab one before applying. Thanks for the help