Associateship credential

Hi

I'm nearly there for associateship (hooray!)

I'm just curious as to why the profession has this designation if most people do continue to fellowship anyway.

Is it just there to incentivise students working towards fellowship? i.e. a halfway milestone.

What are the advantages of having this designation as opposed to being a student, in terms of pay raise, benefits and so on.

I'm interested to hear from people who currently hold Associateship.

Your comments will be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Sendo

 

My 2 cents..don't think Associateship on its own makes much difference.
Its either All in the money( Fellow) or Student...that's been my view on how the Industry perceives Actuarial qualifications.
Cheers

 

Certainly in the UK, don't know about elsewhere

 

IFoA has gone very quiet on their chartered actuary plans lately...

 

I think there is a need for the associateship and charted actuary which is a qualification below the fellowship as in my opinion although people do aim to become a fellow, many people do indeed drop out on the st’s/sa exams (go to Sa threads and you will see some of the difficulties people have faced- with many probably no longer doing the last SA after many failed attempts) and as many others have posted on here over the years, this number is likely higher than you might think. Having an associateship at least gives those that dropout or no longer motivated to pursue fellowship a fairly good standing credential. Having personally gone through CA1, I appreciate anyone who has got an associateship for the sheer torment they have been through particularly on cp1 and cp3 in that journey.

 

100% with you that getting to Associateship is a hard graft and you do get a credential in recognition of your hard work.
However I think the question here was how does the Industry perceive an Associate degree. In respect to that I still think 2 classes of membership that the Industry recognises and understands- Fellow OR Student.
Hope that makes sense..I don't think I need to comment on whether this industry perception is fair or not

 

That is just depressing to hear...

 

2 cents
U.K. recruiters typically ‘pitch’ U.K. actuarial jobs at the fully qualified, nearly / newly qualified or student level of experience.

This would suggest that U.K. employers do not make a distinction between Fellows and Associates. Happy to hear others views ref this suggestion.

I’m not familiar with the practices of employers in mainland Europe.

 

In Europe they qualify at IFoA Associate level, usually less.

 

The Actuarial Association of Europe mutual recognition agreement shortcut is coming to an end soon. Previously European qualified actuaries could trade up their (at best) associate / undergraduate degree level actuarial qualifications to IFoA Fellowship via this agreement. Several decent UK actuaries took a stand on the matter but were resisted by IFoA every step of the way. Now we read they are finally took a step in the right direction due to legal challenges in the UK:

https://www.insuranceerm.com/news-c...from-aae-unless-new-agreement-is-reached.html

"IFoA threatens withdrawal from AAE unless new agreement is reached.
Actuarial associations split over Brexit and mutual recognition of qualifications."

 

Now IPE magazine have reported it and quoted more from the IFoA letter to AAE:
https://www.ipe.com/news/aae-extrao...ar-ifoa-capped-subs-proposal/10046262.article

 

Well done on gaining Associate status!

I'd say most UK employers would consider qualified to be Fellows rather than Associates.

Apologies if this thread has gone slightly off topic.

 

Proud actuary should read the IPE article it quotes directly from the letter from IFoA. They report:

The letter also mentions that, “due to a legal challenge in the UK”, the IFoA would be unable to
participate in a mutual recognition agreement (MRA).