What's an Actuary?
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, an actuary is a person “whose profession it is to solve for Insurance Companies or the public, all monetary questions that involve a consideration of the separate or combined effect of Interest and Probability,” in connection with the length of human life.
For another perspective, the Occupational Outlook Handbook states that actuaries, through their knowledge of statistics, finance and business “assess the risk of events occurring and help create policies for businesses and clients that minimize the cost of that risk.” The OOH also reports that in 2008, “the median annual wages of actuaries were $84,810” and the top 10 percent earned more than $160,000 a year.
Would you like to find what it takes to become an actuary? Go to the GIL Online Catalog and search on the keyword phrase “actuarial science” to find books on the topic. You can also check out the Certificate, Undergraduate and Graduate programs in the Department of Risk Management & Insurance in the Robinson College of Business. The Society of Actuaries, the leading professional organization in the field, recently named the RMI Department as a Center of Actuarial Excellence. It’s one of only 12 schools in the US and Canada to receive the designation. Congratulations!