career path of an actuary? (1 Viewer)

[JustWin]

besides working in insurance, wat 'top positions' can u fill as an actuary? is it possible to get into investment banking, for example?

 

[ND]

By "actuary" do you mean FIAA or an actuarial grad?

If you want to do IB, i'm not sure why you'd want to go through the pain of becoming a fellow.

An actuarial undergrad degree is good for getting into IB.

 

[JustWin]

yea i meant undergrad.
is it more lucrative being a fellow or becoming an investment banker? and which is harder to do?

 

[lizbon]

If you become a fellow of the institute (i.e getting all the exemptions) then you're pretty much set(good pay, don't have to work nearly as hard as IB's), but i've heard it's really difficult and some actuary grads don't get their exemptions for years.

 

[JustWin]

do u get paid more as a fellow or as an IB?

 

[ND]

IB, by far.

 

[turtleface]

Yeah no legit job in Australia pays more than a top Investment banker

If you become a fellow of the institute (i.e getting all the exemptions) then you're pretty much set(good pay, don't have to work nearly as hard as IB's), but i've heard it's really difficult and some actuary grads don't get their exemptions for years.

I heard for good students it takes about 5 years+ due to the high failure rate

 

[JustWin]

is it better to get into IB through finance, accounting or actuaries?

 

[ND]

Depends - how good are you at maths? If you're good at it, it's probably best to do a quantitative degree (maths/actuarial/engineering) so you're not limited to the IBD. Otherwise, com/law would be the best for IBD.

 

[JustWin]

yea im pretty good at maths. expecting 98 for 4u, 99 for 3u. also im applying for co-op so i cant do com-law. so should i just do actuary rather than finance?

 

[ND]

If you get into coop (banking and finance right?), i don't think you really really need actuarial to get in as you'll be pretty much set. Then again, a finance degree by itself wouldn't be at all challenging, so that something to consider. Maybe look into finance/maths if you can do that with coop (and if you can take classes on stochastic processes/calculus and stats).

 

[:: ck ::]

chief actuary makes a $hitload

 

[lizbon]

well theres a oversupply of actuaries grads atm, so unless ur a co op in actuarial studies (shoe in), you should consider that actuarial jobs are at a premium. IB's definitely a good option as ND suggested though because of the quantitative skills actuarial grads possess.

Because the finance co op's at our uni cannot do a double major, they usually do an accounting or econometrics minor. personally, i think metrics is really useful if you wanna work as an IB.

 

[ND]

well theres a oversupply of actuaries grads atm, so unless ur a co op in actuarial studies (shoe in), you should consider that actuarial jobs are at a premium.

Getting an actuarial job is piss compared with getting into IB. This is mainly because most actuarial students are nerds that can't interview for shit.

chief actuary makes a $hitload

Not compared with an MD though (which i would guess is the equivalent position in IB).

 

[lizbon]

Getting an actuarial job is piss compared with getting into IB. This is mainly because most actuarial students are nerds that can't interview for shit.

LOL. Fair enough

 

[JustWin]

are u guys looking into getting in IB? wat courses are u doing in uni?

 

[ND]

Yep; sales and trading to be exact. I'm doing actuarial at MQ.

 

[lizbon]

lol ND's already got himself in the door with Goldman Sachs (congrats btw ND).

Personally i like to work in fund managment, the courses you do at uni (electives) are completely up to what you're interested in, i'm doing derivatives/risk managment atm, probabaly will be doing security analysis next sem.

 

[JustWin]

omg congratz ND. im aiming to work at Goldman as well. is it true wat the say about the hours u work? and did u get in through an interview process?

 

[ND]

Thanks guys. I haven't actually started yet (i start in december), but i'm working in fixed income structuring/DCM so the hours shouldn't be as bad as IBD (only around 13 hours most days).

Yeh i got in through the normal process.