Undesirable events can have a significant impact, financially, physically, and emotionally. Keeping these events from happening makes sure that everything keeps running smoothly and reduces damage. Of course, there are natural disasters and other occurrences that cannot be avoided. In these cases, reducing the negative impact is vital.
Actuaries work on both the large and the small scale. Those working for insurance companies may be called on to try to determine the financial and material cost of a major disaster, such as a hurricane, or to try to reduce the financial impact of a death in the family of someone with life insurance. The basic methods used are the same, no matter what the situation is.
People working as actuaries need to have a combination of business knowledge, understanding the way people behave, and good analytical skills to do their jobs, especially if they are asked to design or manage risk control programs. Actuarial work might sound boring, but many actuaries actually love what they do. After all, these positions are extremely well compensated, and the work challenges the mind.
Actuaries are an important part of the management of the companies. After all, the world keeps changing quickly, and there are new risks every day. That means we need new and more creative ways to deal with them, and it also means that an actuarial career offers plenty of opportunities to grow, both personally and professionally. You will have the option to keep learning all through your life. Majority of actuaries have a pleasant work environment and work along with other professionals.
In fact, working as an actuary has been rated consistently as one of the five top jobs in the US. Our society's financial security is based heavily on the work done by actuaries. They are the brains behind our personal financial safeguards, and they let us get on with life without having to worry too much about the future.
Risks come in many forms, and every organization, company and individual has to face them. Actuaries are experts in the measurement and management of risk, and they fill an important role in society. After all, if the kinds of risk management programs put together by actuaries did not exist, our current financial problems might be a lot worse! Our economy is heavily based on the work done by people in the actuarial field.
Ask yourself a few questions if you are not sure about the benefits actuaries have to offer us. Would so many people own homes if there was no thing as home insurance? Would companies build business outlets and manufacturing facilities in earthquake prone zones without insurance protection? How about retirement - how many people do you think would be as confident as they are about their future without the retirement programs we have in place?
Actuaries affect other areas, too. Cars would not be as safe if actuaries did not develop mathematical means to test parts and see if they will last for years and years of hard use. People would not do adventurous things for fun if they did not know they could get health care and take care of there families if there were an accident, and investments would be in far worse shape than they are currently without the assistance of actuaries.
Risk management is done in different ways, and there are techniques that have been established for a long time. However, academic actuaries and practicing ones keep looking for new ways to minimize the occurrence and results of undesirable situations. Some of the most popular techniques for doing this include looking at risk as a matter of perspective, offsetting risks with one another, focusing on catastrophic risk and diversification.
The majority of actuaries are working jobs related to or directly in the insurance industry. Actuaries are important in the design and creation of all our insurance plans, making sure that the company has enough money to pay its claims, and advising companies on how to invest their assets profitably.
So, if you are a student and you have been wondering whether actuary work is for you, now is the time to check it out. This well paid sector offers intellectually interesting work and the chance to make a difference in society.
