About
Career Planning
Degree Options
SCCC Podcasts
SCCC Newsletter
University Lists
Pre-college Ideas
Typical Workday
Meet Professionals
Industry Options
The Job Hunt
Diversity
Women
Downloads & Links
Site Search / A -Z

Actuarial Science Overview - Preparation - Day In The Life - Earnings - Employment - Career Path Forecast - Professional Organizations -
Download Overview PDF - Download Overview PowerPoint - Podcast


One of the main functions of actuaries is to help businesses assess the risk of certain events occurring and to formulate policies that minimize the cost of that risk. For this reason, actuaries are essential to the insurance industry. Actuaries assemble and analyze data to estimate the probability and likely cost of the occurrence of an event such as death, sickness, injury, disability, or loss of property. Actuaries also address financial questions, including those involving the level of pension contributions required to produce a certain retirement income and the way in which a company should invest resources to maximize its return on investments in light of potential risk.

Using their broad knowledge of statistics, finance, and business, actuaries help design insurance policies, pension plans, and other financial strategies in a manner which will help ensure that the plans are maintained on a sound financial basis.

Most actuaries are employed in the insurance industry, specializing in life and health insurance or property and casualty insurance. They produce probability tables which determine the likelihood that a potential future event will generate a claim. From these tables, they estimate the amount a company can expect to pay in claims. For example, property and casualty actuaries calculate the expected amount payable in claims resulting from automobile accidents, an amount that varies with the insured person's age, sex, driving history, type of car, and other factors. Actuaries ensure that the price, or premium, charged for such insurance will enable the company to cover claims and other expenses. The premium must be profitable, yet competitive with other insurance companies. Within the life and health insurance fields, actuaries are helping to develop long-term-care insurance and annuity policies, the latter a growing investment tool for many individuals.

Actuaries in other financial services industries manage credit and price corporate security offerings. They also devise new investment tools to help their firms compete with other financial services companies. Pension actuaries working under the provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974 evaluate pension plans covered by that Act and report on the plans' financial soundness to participants, sponsors, and Federal regulators. Actuaries working in government help manage social programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

Actuarial Science Resources

Online

Downloads
Overview:
Overview of Actuarial Science
Preparation:
Admission Requirements, Alternate Degree Paths
Day in the Life:
Teams and Coworkers, Tasks, the Workplace
Earnings:
Employer Options, Salary Ranges, Types of Employers
Employment:
Statistics, Industries, Employers
Career Path Forecast:
Predictions
Professional Organizations:
Resources, Networking, Support
Podcast:
Overview of Actuarial Science
Internet Resources:
American Academy of Actuaries
American Society of Pension Actuaries

Be An Actuary
Casualty Actuarial Society
Society of Actuaries
 
 

Note: Some resources in this section are provided by the the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


Science
Technology
Engineering
Mathematics
  -- Actuarial Science
  -- Mathematics
  -- Statistics
Computing
Computing


Students
Counselors
Teachers
Parents
Graduates

 

     ContactsCopyrightMedia SupportSubscriptions