Відео

Hi! I took 3 exams within undergrad. I took P and FM through the SOA, and MAS-1 through the CAS.

Hi Riya! Great question 🙂 The SOA is the organization for actuaries mainly in the USA, whereas the IFoA credentials actuaries in the UK. Therefore, I can’t say that either is better than the other!

@Bella-the-Actuary but you tell me, is the actuaryal statistics worthy to pursue, is there any country preferences where actuaries are in demand. Hi , I'm from India, we do have our own organisation IAI, still people are very much inclined towards IFoA, As being a statistics grad student, finance and risk analysis are attracting me, so from where to start my journey in actuary??

Hi Rishma! Thank you 😊 During college, I took a few classes that gave us the opportunity to learn and use Python and/or R Studio through projects and assignments. I found it really helpful to take those classes in college because I could ask my professors for help and see real-life insurance applications. So far in my job, I use coding about 5% of the time. As I continue working on more projects and gaining experience, I expect to use it more. I would say that the type of coding you do and how much you do it depends on the company you work for, not necessarily what type of actuarial job you have! I’d definitely recommend gaining some experience with coding so you can understand how to do it, even if it’s at a basic level! Hope this helps 😃

@@Bella-the-Actuary thank you so much😁

Hi Lynn! Great question 🙂 Typically, employers care more about exams passed, but a masters degree in actuarial science can’t hurt!

Hi! I found the fastest time to FCAS to be 3.17 years here: www.actuarial-lookup.com/travel-times. If you click on the CAS button, you can see a lot of cool statistics!

@Bella-the-Actuary thanks for replying! but I wanted to know the name of the person(wanted to contact him)....I looked it up again(extensively) and discovered it wasn't publicly known , so probably not gonna find it on the net...am going to prob contact CAS...byeee!

Good luck with your internship! 😄

Hi! Great question 😀 I'd recommend looking at the universities that are recognized by the SOA as "Centers of Actuarial Excellence" (CAEs). You can find a list of all recognized universities here: www.soa.org/institutions/. Thanks for watching! 💗

​@@Bella-the-ActuaryThanks

In an actuarial internship, you’re doing the work and an internship is typically 8-12 weeks long. When you job shadow someone for a day, you get to see what they do for work and what a typical day looks like for them.

University of Wisconsin - Madison!

@@Bella-the-Actuary which company are u working

Hi! I’m not familiar with the IFoA process, so I probably won’t make a video about it soon. But maybe in the future!

Yes, you can! Anybody can take them.

Hi Lynn! Thank you 😊 I took my first exam the summer after my freshman year, and then my second one the fall of my sophomore year. I took my third exam in the last semester of my senior year. Plenty of people start taking actuarial exams their junior or senior year, so you’re not behind! You might have a harder time finding an actuarial internship, but as long as you have at least one exam (preferably two exams) passed by graduation, I’d say that’s a good spot to be in!

The answer to this will vary person to person! It depends on what you like and what you’re good at. Personally, I found exam P to be easier. You could look at each exam’s syllabus and see which one’s material you are more drawn to, because it is easier to study for things you’re especially interested in!

@Bella-the-Actuary Thanksss alot my degree in Act Sci is 3 years here im in my second year and currently doing Mathematics of Finance 1 and Probability Theory 1 and i do think Mathematics of Finance is harder imo😂

Hi! You can start by searching online for exam syllabi. For example, if you decide to start with exam P, you could google “exam P syllabus.” A document by the SOA will come up, and you can check out the resources section to see which textbooks the learning objectives come from. Some of those textbooks may be free! But personally, I’ve always used a paid study manual to study for my exams, like Coaching Actuaries. Another way to study for an exam is to take an actuarial-specific class in college! They’ll teach you about the concepts you need to know for exams. Hope this helps!

Hi! If you have questions specific to actuarial science I can try to help! I’d recommend talking to an advisor, mentor, or reaching out to industry professionals to learn more about their work so you can get a sense of what you like/dislike about their jobs. Considering market conditions is important, but so is considering your strengths and interests!

@@Bella-the-Actuary that's great advice,i dont anyone to tell me about actuary/cs but i want to ask from you as a professional,1 hows hard is actuary as a course and during work 2.is the market oversaturated? 3.how is the pay is after graduating and after gaining work experience?

1. The exams are hard, but there is good work-life balance in the actuarial career (especially when you’re done with exams) 2. I would say no, it’s not over saturated. But there is some nuance in the SOA (life/health) side. You can see projected actuarial job growth here: www.bls.gov/ooh/math/actuaries.htm#:~:text=in%20May%202023.-,Job%20Outlook,on%20average%2C%20over%20the%20decade. 3. Pay is pretty good after graduation. As long as you keep taking exams and do well at your job, your pay will increase. You can see salary surveys here: www.dwsimpson.com/salary.html/ I’d highly recommend researching more online about being an actuary!

Hi! I’m so glad you’re finding the videos enjoyable 😊 And thank you for the suggestion - I can definitely consider that for future videos!

Hi 😋 Thank you!

Congrats on your internship offer! 🥳 🎉 That’s awesome! If I remember correctly, the length of the onboarding process was somewhere in the middle, but it could have changed since a year and a half ago when I went through it. The office tour in the video is actually from their location in California! I’d definitely be curious to know if they have that coffee machine in Houston 😇

If it was a good comment, yes. If it was a dumb question… no 🥸

We usually have similar questions so thanks! I’m also taking MASII this sitting

I love that 🥹 Good luck!! 🍀

@@Bella-the-Actuary Thanks, you too! Gonna send u a follow on linked in

Hi Lynn! So cool you’re already studying to be an actuary. There technically aren’t any prerequisites for FM and P, but I would recommend a corporate finance class or similar finance class (that teaches bonds/annuities) for exam FM. For exam P, I think a general stats class would be good. I talk more about what classes I recommend here: ua-cam.com/video/L6T6jMfbW98/v-deo.html I’ve actually been using Coaching Actuaries to study for all of my exams so far! While there are more SOA exams on their website, they still have study materials for quite a few CAS exams and often add more. I know a few other popular exam study guides are The Infinite Actuary, Howard Mahler, Actex learning, and ASM. Hope this helps and thanks for watching!👋

You could become an actuary if you don’t LOVE math, but I don’t think you would have a great time. Actuaries have to pass around 5-9 exams outside of work, and each of these exams takes over 100 hours to study for. So while you probably won’t have to spend all of your time at your 9-5 actuarial job, you will have to spend a lot of your free time studying for those exams. It takes most people around 5 years to pass all of these exams. So the question to ask yourself is: do I want to spend majority of my free time studying for math exams? There are plenty of actuaries who work in consulting and do a lot of communicating with other people. But, they are communicating about insurance and statistical results.

Is 50 too late to start?

Hi! Great question. I actually talk about my specific reasoning in this video, starting at 09:40! ua-cam.com/video/AcV-UgdX26Q/v-deo.html

Yes!

Depends on the exam and a few other factors, but generally 90-120 hours per exam!

On it ✍️ ✍️

Linkdeln

I searched LinkedIn, company websites, and went to career fairs at my university! You could Google “actuarial internship” to start and see what job postings come up!