The Benefits of an Actuary

An actuary influences many aspects of people's lives including health care costs, pension benefits and their ability to obtain credit. Actuaries work closely with businesses in a variety of industries, making their job somewhat varied. Actuaries greatly benefit the companies that they work for, and companies often turn to the assistance of an actuary to help keep their businesses profitable.

Becoming an Actuary

• Most actuaries complete an undergraduate education focused in math or business. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an actuary must pass a series of exams before becoming certified and able to begin work. In addition, obtaining an internship while in college will greatly boost a graduate’s resume.

  At the time of publication, job opportunities for actuaries in the future will be fair. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will likely be more qualified applicants than available positions. However, actuary consulting firms are expected to increase in number, providing job opportunities for actuaries to work in a consulting role for various businesses.

Actuaries Help Assess a Company’s Risks

• Actuaries are beneficial because an actuary is able to accurately assess a business' risk. Actuaries help businesses create policies that minimize risk and ensure the business remains profitable. For example, an actuary in the financial industry will predict the risk of investing in a particular company to help a business receive the most return on their investment. Therefore, actuaries can potentially save businesses millions of dollars each year.

Actuaries Help Businesses Calculate Pensions or Life Insurance Policies

• Actuaries also help companies design the pension or life insurance policies that they offer employees. For example, an actuary may help a company develop pension benefits and life insurance policies by examining an individual’s health and lifestyle choices to predict how long the person will live. Actuaries use complex mathematical equations to determine the risk to the company of providing pension benefits to their employees. If an employee has a long life expectancy, an actuary may recommend that a company offer the employee a pension that provides less per month.

Actuaries are Beneficial in Setting Health Insurance Premiums

• In the health insurance industry, actuaries help to determine what the health insurance premiums should be according to the patient’s past medical conditions, family history and age. Actuaries use the information provided on the health insurance application to determine what kinds of illness and disease the patient is likely to get in her lifetime. By properly identifying potential risks, an actuary helps a health insurance agency set an insurance premium at a rate that will not result in the insurance company losing money by choosing to cover the individual.