I'm An Actuary And I Have The Best Job In America

Business Insider ^ | 04/29/2013 | Vivian Giang

[SeekAndFind]

Actuaries have the best job in America, according to a recent study by CareerCast.com, which looked at physical demands, work environment, income, stress, and hiring outlook.

This was a rather surprising conclusion. Analyzing statistics for calculating insurance risks and premiums is not exactly a glamorous line of work.

For insight into this supposed great job, we talked to a real-life actuary — who agrees that he has the best job in America.

Growing up, Mike Boot was the guy you wanted to sit next to in math class.

"I would be that curve buster in the class," Boot says. "I scored very well in national tests, very much at the top and I loved the challenges that went along with that."

While a freshman math major at Calvin College in 1975, Boot first learned about being an actuary and realized it was the job for him.

"Quite frankly, there are relatively few actuaries, and people in our profession are well compensated for their jobs" Boot tells us. "It's typically an office environment so it's not physically draining and there are opportunities to advance."

In 2010, the median salary for actuaries was $87,650 with 27% projected job growth, according to the Labor Department.

Actuaries evaluate the financial consequences of risks that people or, more often, corporations take. These include financial risks, operational risks, reputational risks, and longevity risks, which is what happens when people run out of money because they didn't expect to live so long.

It's not easy to price such complicated things.

Boot, who worked as an actuary for 25 years — first at Principal Financial Group, then at Allstate Financial — said it takes a lot of research, a lot of assumptions, and running "a lot of numbers through a whole range of interest rates."

[kcvl]

“Maybe I should rethink this Country Singer thing...”

I wouldn’t count on some list from ‘who knows where’ to determine what you do in life! Do what you love, period.

I think that list is a bunch of crap. I love my job, maybe someone else wouldn’t. It’s a personal thing.

[Rum Tum Tugger]

A few other jokes about actuaries:

An actuary is a guy who wanted to be an accountant but didn’t have enough personality.

An actuary is a guy who when he goes into the men’s room always takes an end urinal because he knows that reduces his chances of being pissed on by 50%.

An actuary is a place where they bury dead actors.

An actuary is a guy who always takes a bomb with him when he goes on a plane because he knows that the chances of a plane having one bomb is 1 million to one but the chances of a plane having two bombs is 10 billion to one.