Actuarial science involves lot of analysis, so math will be the most important part of the job. Individuals wanting to work at an actuary need to have good communication skills, as they have to explain technical things to amateurs. The job involves an analysis of risk associated with the future payments and decides on the pension and insurance premium payments. All this work requires a lot of statistical analysis. The job may also involve developing the company policy and explaining technical data to the customers, executives of companies, government employees, shareholders of a company, or the public as a whole.
The knowledge required for an actuary job is to have in-depth technical understanding of risk management. This helps in analyzing the financial and risk management problems which may occur in future. There are few particular areas in which actuary deals such as: pensions, life and general insurance, investment, corporate finance, enterprise risk management, and healthcare. Applicants should also possess excellent communication skills as they will have to explain the fundamental actuarial ideas and arguments to amateurs.
The average salary is $161,039 and increases with the number of years of experience. This technical course has lot of future prospects. The career growth in the field of actuary is excellent. The enrolments in actuary field today are much more than before. Financial markets have created more demand for actuaries. The job of actuary requires more sophisticated analysis and newer techniques to be used for analysis.
The career prospects of actuaries are bright, if you are good in communication and statistical analysis. Individuals should be able to use statistical tools like SAS, SQL, and Visual Basic as all these help in getting excellent results and advice. To be good at work, applicants need to be up-to-date with current economic and social trends.
Applicants have an opportunity to work with consultancy firms, which provide many experiences.