Ask an Actuary

"The most brilliant actuarial work is wasted if it cannot be effectively communicated."

"Ask an Actuary" features an actuary that is asked to describe the path that led him/her to an actuarial career.  For this installment, our featured actuary is Bradley Bartle, a Group Health Actuary at COUNTRY Insurance & Financial Services in Illinois.

Q: How did you learn about the actuarial profession?

A: Toward the end of my freshman year in college I was discussing possible careers with my calculus professor. We had the usual "What can I do besides teach math?" conversation. He mentioned actuarial mathematics as a possible career, but only knew that actuaries work in insurance and take exams. I looked further into this field during my second year in college.

Q: When did you first decide to become an actuary?

A: I first decided to pursue an actuarial career at the University of Wisconsin after getting involved in the Actuarial Science Club during my second year of college. The club would invite practicing actuaries to come in and give presentations about their work. The more I learned the more I saw actuarial science as the way for me to combine my interests in business and finance with my math strengths.

Q: What is your educational background? Where did you attend college and what was your major?

A: I have a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin in Mathematics.

Q: What classes did you take in college that helped prepare you for the career?  What class was most helpful?  What classes outside of math and statistics (such as communications) were helpful?

A: The University of Wisconsin in Madison offered several courses that covered exam topics-Calculus & Statistics, Interest Theory, Operations Research, Numerical Analysis, and Life Contingencies. Several of my professors were actuaries who had worked and who knew what it takes to pass the exams…that was a bonus!

Outside of these classes, I think composition and communications classes are essential for actuaries. No matter how brilliant your work may be, it is wasted if it cannot be effectively communicated to your boss!

One subject I wish I had taken is a semester or two of accounting. I have picked up some knowledge of accounting along the way. While not strictly necessary for most of my work, there are times when it helps to be able to speak the same language as the Controllers.

Q: What was your first job in the profession?  How did you get the job?  Did you start as an intern or in an actuarial training program?  What type of work did you perform in you first actuarial job?

A: My first actuarial job was a part-time position at John Deere Life Insurance Company. Yes, the tractor company! I worked there while taking a few semesters of graduate studies. At Deere my first assignment was to research non-traditional marketing techniques based on statistical analysis of customer databases. Definitely not "traditional" actuarial work! Still, I learned a lot about what actuaries do, and was able to pass a few exams along the way.

Q: How did you find your first full-time position?

A: I found my first full-time job at United Insurance in Chicago. I had very few contacts in the profession so I used the "shotgun marketing" approach-sending out several dozens of resumes to every actuarial employer I could identify, hoping that one of them would have an opening.

Q: What was your career path from your first job to your current position?

A: At United Insurance I worked on financial reporting of Individual Life and Health products. After two years and more passed exams, I took a job at the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association working on group health. I enjoyed this work very much and have continued working on Group Health at my current employer, COUNTRY Insurance & Financial Services.

Q: What do you enjoy about Health Insurance?

A: The Health Insurance industry is constantly changing and adapting. Legislation, consumer demand, and rising health care costs force insurers to constantly design and re-design health insurance products. Health actuaries are never bored!

Q: When did you take your first exam? Where are you currently in the exam process?

A: I took my first actuarial exam as a sophomore in college in 1988, which I failed. Like many students taking their first exam, I underestimated the difficulty. I took the exam the next sitting and passed. My exam progress went fairly well from there until I stalled out taking the old Exam 210. I failed this exam three times in a row! It is not an exaggeration to say that this exam nearly convinced me to pursue another career. I passed the exam on my fourth attempt. With that demon behind me, I quickly passed the rest of my exams and received my FSA in 2001.

Q: What advice would you give to someone first starting out down the path of an actuarial career?

A: Of course, my first advice is to pass exams. One of the nice things about being an actuary is that by passing your exams you can give yourself a raise, get promoted, become more marketable, etc. When looking at potential employers, try to determine whether you will receive the support you need to pass your exams. That means a good study program, and being able to utilize it.

Second, it is important to develop your communication skills-written and verbal, formal and conversational. As I said above, the most brilliant actuarial work is wasted if it cannot be effectively communicated. You can work on these skills through college courses or by joining a local communications club such as Toastmasters.

Finally, I think working in a smaller actuarial department can be very valuable to actuaries early in their careers. Actuaries in smaller shops see it all and do it all. You can be exposed to a wide variety of actuarial work early on. Also, your work will probably have greater impact and exposure to higher levels of management in a smaller organization.

Additional Questions

Q: I am 30 and have worked in both the insurance and technology industries and am considering becoming an actuary.

Do I have to have been top of my class in math? I have a BA in Mathematics for Commerce but wasn´t top of my class, also given the time passed since I last took a math course I am afraid that the exam process will end up being a killer, any advice?

A: My advice is to take the first exam. If you find yourself struggling with the material for Course One, then you might want to re-evaluate whether you are willing to refresh/acquire the math and statistics skills to be an actuary. On the other hand, you may find (as I did) that you can pass the exams even if you weren’t a straight A student in college.

Q: "Conflict of interests" has been a (once again) heated debate concerning Wall Street analysts lately. So, is it hard for actuaries to do a "honest" job in reality? That is, what if people only want to hear the good news, not the truth?

A: It may be that I have had a sheltered career, but I have never felt pressured to do or say anything unethical or dishonest in my work.

Q: Judging from the Syllabi, the SOA exams seem to cover more insurance specialities than CAS's, and both have finance and investments components. Does it mean SOA's would have a broader appeal to potential employers, or is it pretty much just considered to be its traditional self--Life (as opposed to P&C)? Thanks.

A: I really don't feel qualified to comment on the CAS examination system as compared to the SOA's, having only traveled through one of them. I do feel that the SOA has made progress-and will continue to do so-in broadening the value of the FSA designation.

Q: Actuarial Science seems to demand creativity. I mean, one must be really creative to come up with a good actuary product to lure the consumers to get it(ie:insurance plan). Will we be taught how to be creative and be an opportunist while we are doing this actuarial science course?Because i believe i am lacking of creativity....:( By the way, is my assumption true?

A: I'm not sure that creativity or an entrepreneurial spirit can be acquired from coursework. Rather, I believe they develop as you gain experience.

Q: I graduated with a combined major in Computer Science and Statistics last year and intend to pursue an actuarial career. I would like to know whether it is appropriate for me to start graduate school and at the same time start taking the CAS/SOA exams or to concentrate on my CAS/SOA exams and when I have passed all of them, I then do my masters. I realised after reading other actuaries' experiences, they sometimes estimated the difficulty of the exams and had to retake their exams.

A: Congratulations to you on your degree! I don't think I would wait to take graduate actuarial courses until after finishing the exams. Hopefully the courses will help you pass the exams.

Q: I am a recent graduate with a BS in Mathematics, but a very skimpy background in statistics. I have purchased several books to help with that deficiency, but most of them assume that you know more than you do, and skip several steps in their explanations. Another break point is when the example is in the simplest possible case, but no explanation of more complicated cases is made. What books would you recommend to help me expand my knowledge (step by step examples are a must.) I also would like some advice on landing some part time actuary work while I prepare for exam 1. I am willing to relocate for it...

A: I'm afraid I can't be of much assistance in recommending good preparatory texts in statistics. You might try contacting a professor at a university with an actuarial science program. Look in the links at BeAnActuary.com to find many such programs. As for finding part-time work, I would make contact with as many actuarial employers as you can. Here also, BeAnActuary.com is a resource.