Job Openings for Retirement Actuaries

''What is a retirement actuary?'' you might ask. A retirement actuary is a person who analyzes statistics, business, and finance trends and analyzes the relevant data as it applies to retirement funds. The work done by retirement actuaries falls under the scope of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Actuaries evaluate retirement plans that are governed by ERISA to determine if the plans are feasible and comply fully with all the federal regulations set forth in ERISA while remaining financially sound. While approximately 60% of actuaries work within the insurance industry, there are also retirement actuary job openings within the federal government. These federal jobs include openings within the Social Security Administration and Medicare.

So, what skills and training are necessary to become a retirement actuary? To begin with, an actuary must have excellent math skills as statistics are the basis of actuarial analysis. A degree in mathematics, finance, business, or economics is generally a requirement for an actuary. On-the-job training is also a great asset in becoming a certified actuary. Many actuaries begin their careers by moving through different aspects of the job, such as doing research, writing reports, and preparing data. There are two organizations that sponsor the examinations that qualify actuaries for certification: the Society of Actuaries and the Casualty Actuarial Society. There are many retirement actuary job openings available for certified actuaries. What’s more, certification as an actuary will substantially increase your value as a potential employee.

Besides looking for retirement actuary job openings in your local papers, an excellent source for finding a job as a retirement actuary is ActuarialCrossing.com. This site provides numerous retirement actuary job openings. Often more than 100 new jobs are listed each week. The site includes testimonials from members who found jobs by searching through the retirement actuary job openings listed on ActuarialCrossing.com. The site lists retirement actuary job openings in, among other places, Washington, DC; New York City; and Boston.



According to the US Department of Labor, job openings for actuaries, including retirement actuary job openings, are expected to increase by 24% between 2006 and 2016, which is faster than the average anticipated rate of increase for other occupations. The Department of Labor also reports that the median income for an actuary was $82,800.00 in May 2006.

While the occupation of actuary is one that has seen an ever-increasing number of well-paying jobs, finding the right job for you can be difficult. Using a website such as ActuarialCrossing.com can make your job search much easier as doing so can streamline the process with the easy-to-use search tools available on the site. You can search by location or by using keywords to narrow down your job search. Another search option is to narrow your job search by including only jobs for which you have the requisite years of experience. Another interesting search feature includes the option to filter out jobs listed by recruiters rather than employers themselves.

If you are interested in finance, statistics, and economics and have strong math skills, an actuarial job might be just the job for you. If you decide you are interested in a career as an actuary, be sure to check out ActuarialCrossing.com for retirement actuary job openings, information on other jobs for actuaries, and actuarial news.