actuary | Imamother

amother

Mon, May 21 2007, 12:26 pm

is anyone an actuary? it's something I'm considering but I have some questions:

-how does the job fit into the frum/mom lifestyle?
-what are the salaries like?
-do you think having a lib. arts major in college will hurt my chances of getting a job even if I pass the first exam by the time I look for jobs?
-do most companies pay for study time?

tx for any replies.

DesignMommy

Mon, May 21 2007, 12:55 pm

My Husband is an actuary, so I can answer some of this!
His hours are not great, but he has friends in different actuarial fields whose hours are very good.
The salaries are B"H great. The more exams you pass the better, and the best paying field is Property and Casualty.
I will ask him about the BA, but I know that his BA is a double major of Math and Economics with a minor in programming
Every company that he has worked for has given at least 15 paid study days.
It is a great field- he loves his job and is well paid. The exams are tough, he has IY"H one left, but definitely do-able as long as you have will power!
Feel free to pm me if you have any other specific questions.

bashinda

Mon, May 21 2007, 1:00 pm

DH is a pension actuary. The hours are not that bad, it's just a bit crazy around Sukkos time but otherwise it's not that bad.

The tests are horrifying however. A lot of people in his company aren't actuaries but pension administrators because the tests are very difficult to pass. DH is so close to getting his next designaton but it's taking a long time.

Most of the people in his company tend to have math backgrounds but it's not strictly necessary I don't think. They just tend to go together.

A lot of big companies like Mercer I do believe pay for the study time (not DH's company but they're tiny)

Hope this helps!

amother

Mon, May 21 2007, 1:07 pm

I am an actuary and I can tell you that for a frum mom it's THE WORST job - the hours are long and the test are extremely time consuming. Imagine you get home at 6, do the dinner-bath-read-good-night etc routine with your kids (I only have 1 baby now but I only see him for a little over an hour after I get home before I put him in....my babysitter is at my house for 10.5 hours), clean up from dinner, make dinner for the next day, clean up after kids etc etc and then you finally sit down and....you have to study. And I beg to differ with the poster above me who said the exams are "doable as long as you have willpower" they are EXTREMELY difficult and just because you put in many many many hours you are not guaranteed passing - unless you are brilliant in which case they are not a big deal....

I feel very strongly about this. I think for a frum man who is very bright it's a good job because it does pay well and he doesnt need to be a mom but for a woman, I would strongly discourage you. Yes

I would prefer to stay anon so any questions you have , please post here. Hatzlacha with your decision.

bashinda

Mon, May 21 2007, 1:19 pm

DH thinks it's not such a bad field for a mom but it does depend on what area you're in probably.

I will agree with the actuary amother who says the tests are horrible. My husband is extremely sharp and he dreads these tests. He does extremely well on all standardized tests, and considers these worse than any of the ones he's taken. Worse than MCATS.

bashinda

Mon, May 21 2007, 1:31 pm

I don't think he was being specific but being that he's a pension actuary that obviously colors his opinion so maybe that area. It has flexibility because you can also become a pension administrator through ASPPA and the tests are not nearly as bad as the Society of Actuaries.

amother

Mon, May 21 2007, 1:36 pm

Sorry OP to hijack your thread - I am the actuary amother who is desperate to figure out a solution before we IYH have more kids . I already invested so much into this (up to my test #3) and would hate to drop it now but I also can't go on like this for much longer. BasHinda, I work in life&health consulting so the hours are pretty bad - I usually get in around 830 or so and sneak out at 5:10. When wokring in pensions - does your DH have a lot of pressure to take/pass exams? That was the impression I got....

amother

Mon, May 21 2007, 1:46 pm

OP here, no problem amother.

That's why I was asking about paid study time, because I wouldn't want take too much time from my children. I'm finishing school now, and I hated having to devote every evening to classes.

Is it possible for you to look for a place that offers paid study time? Or is this a joke and no matter how much time you get, you still need to study on your own every night?

amother

Mon, May 21 2007, 1:53 pm

I do get paid study time but yeah it's a drop in the bucket in terms of study time. I get 3 study days per hour of exam plus the exam day (so most exams are 4 hours long so I get 12 days+exam day). For me personally it's definitely not enough and I need to study at night and on motz"sh/sunday. It's miserable...

bashinda

Mon, May 21 2007, 2:18 pm

amother wrote:

Not for his job. He wants to be an FSA though so it's internal pressure. I don't think it's as stressful for him though. Tons of people get in at 8:30 and 2/3 are gone by 5:30! I know this as I worked there for a period.

He's in a small firm though which probably also has something to do with it. To refer to you're later post 12 hours is really a fraction of the time DH has spent. That does seem frustrating.

DesignMommy

Mon, May 21 2007, 2:32 pm

To the amother who is an actuary- I am so sorry, I didn't mean to trivialize the exams in the least- they ARE horrible. DH's studying literally takes over our lives and are a tremendous stress- but with a lot of will power (to take the time to study properly) it is do-able, certainly for a frum man. For a frum women, esp one with kids already- I can't imagine! I could never do it! I think for the hours, pensions are the best, and they care the least about passing the exams.
As for the study time, DH is B"H extremely brilliant, but in order to pass the exams he calculated that he needs about 300 hours of real study time. So, in addition to the 15 days paid from his company, he studies every single Sunday, starting 3 months before the exam, plus a couple of hours each night. Between the studying and his learning every day, I do not see him at all for 3 months before the exam.
But, it is a well paying job that is in demand.

Chani

Tue, May 22 2007, 3:40 am

One thought for the actuary amother...

I have a few P&C exams. When I had children it became too much. The company I was with was acquired at the same time by a major (top 5) auto insurer which did not offer any study time, so that was the end of exams for me.

In the P&C field, you should realize that there are companies which don't really care about exams except if you're doing loss reserving. In the company where I am product management and product r&d has very few actuaries. Mostly it is MBA's from top tier schools (Harvard, Wharton, MIT) with an undergrad in statistics or mathematics or engineering. The analysts tend to be MBA's from less well known schools (although there are exceptions both ways). Having a few exams would be considered a plus (objective proof that you're smart enough to get through a few exams) but not necessary.

Being at a company as opposed to consulting probably provides an easier work environment for a mother on the whole. I was a product manager for several years and didn't find it too bad. I did have some travel a couple of days a month, but on the whole it was quite flexible 40 hour a week kind of job. If the kids were sick, I could work out of my house, etc.. I even know of a couple of product managers who are part-time (although working that arrangement out may be a challenge!)

Anyhow, GL, and feel free to PM me if you have any questions or if I can be of any help.