Yet another Career advice thread

Hi need some genuine advice from all of the members

I am from India...
Now thing is that although I am highly qualified (MBA Fin) but I am not earning much as of now and also I need future exponential growth in my income , my only concern in my life as of now is money.

1. Money is the biggest reason I wan to become an actuary.

2. I am good at mathematics since ages , passed Engineering from a highly ranked indian institue

3. I feel at place when I went through acted material , and feel that with a bit of hard work i can manage at CT series as of now

4. But the problems are .... Am i overqualified Post graduate to pursue acturial studies

5. Am i on the wrong side of age (Late 20s)

6. Will MBA + Btech + Actuary make any sense

7. Does Actuarial work need a lot of people skills (I am poor on that front)

8. Can actuarial career solve my money issues .. ( assuming only CTs are passed)

9. Finally i am terribly confused as to which society to choose , Indian , UK or USA


I would be great full for your replies
THX....

 

I would suggest you look for a better reason to become an Actuary.

There's a lot of money in some fields. Your money issues may never be solved by passing CT's or becoming an Actuary.

Anyway good luck!

 

Ok .. I may have sounded a little bid on the being money minded side ..which many of you who really love the subject and profession may not like . I know this field is slowly being getting crowded with people like me who are lured by the money this career offered , but I guess all of us have a free choice of will to do/follow or pusue anything and for whatever reasons . I am sorry to offend any one of you with my thought process. But I come from a third wrold country where if you dont have money you are nothing even your family disowns you . I know I am not sounding good but cant help that thats my aim and motivation as of now sorry to freely admit in a public forum because I cant lie ......

Mind you things are a bit differnt in my parts Unlike in Western society We have to take care of our parents and garndparents after their retirement , fund your sisters marriage and brothers education , support your children till they are well settled in life , and lastly most of us here wives who are housewives so only single income housholds ... so all these need lots of money .

Sorry to bring all these into picture .....

 

I was trying to say, if you really want money, then shoot straight for the money. There are a lot of endeavours that will give you a lot of money. Even more quickly.

 

Only hard work pays ..

Hi ...

I am from India and can understand your point of view.

But I must warn you thinking of taking up this profession so that you can earn lots and lots of money just by passing few CT exams will make you disillusioned very quickly. It never happens. Infact it never happens anywhere (in any legitimate line of work).

• You need to put in hard work.
• Yes, you would need some people skills as you will have interact with people from outside your profession in day-to-day work.
• The exams are harder and you need to love the subjects as well to get them through

.

A lot of people has entered this profession (In India) thinking like that and are now getting frustrated on two counts:
1. not being able to pass exams that quickly
2. jobs are not easily available

I would advice you to really think hard why you want to join this professsion. Just money may not do it for you.

Hope this helps

 

Actually, try this:
1) Compute the probability you will become an actuary at time from now (0) to say 50 years.
2) Expected present value of future income once you become an actuary at that time, adjusted for mortality.
3) Probability you will be alive at that time.
4) Compute the future value of opportunity cost of shifting the profession for each of these ages
5) Compute 1*(2-4)*3 take its present value, and sum over 0-50.

Now compare this figure with the one expected from your current line of work.

Also, decide if you really want to write random stuff like the one I wrote above all your life.

The answer will be obvious.

 

Dont you think money is enough motivation ....It might help to keep spirits high knowing that reward are good enough and love can develope as i am into the subjects

As per job I think i am already ahving one and can move into acturay job because my company also does this work I can have a job and study

But 5 years doen the line 30L for nearly qualified I am asking for tooo much

 

To be honest, money is probably the biggest thing that we all think about before getting a job and, as Janvier said, it is such an important aspect of life. I know that, secretly, we all want those big pay cheques, but it has become almost taboo to admit that. Instead, we have to construct reasons as to why we (could potentially) enjoy the job even though we (or most of us) don't have enough first-hand experience to base those claims before getting the job (whch is why I think internships are so important).

Just because some people place the importance of being financially secure doesn't take away the fact that we may also be very passionate about financial mathematics and enjoy helping people through our expertise. After all, the actuarial profession is all about money, so it wouldn't surprise me if most people are attracted to this career purely because of the salary.

 

Apart from few professions like research , teaching and feew othrs (even medical) I believe 99% of the time primary motivation is money ...but somehow we are being conditioned in such a manner that though everyone wants money but its taboo to admit it , its shameful to earn fat paychecks when most of the world is living under miserable situation
There was a time when I used to thing about stuffs like work satisfaction work life balance but now I have reached a conclusion at least for my life ( generalising) that if you do not have money other things wont work out..

 

You missed Edwin's point.
If money is your primary and sole goal, there may be many other more lucrative options than actuarial.
Consider all of your options and some of the secondary goals as well

 

Ohk , but I am not good at fotball or acting or singing nor I can do a scam
So I have to take the harder way out ..

 

If all you want is money, work for a bank or become an insolvency practitioner. IP's have tough barrier-to-entry exams like actuaries but earn 2-3x as much.

And wot Oxy said. Couldn't have put it better myself.

Oh and try to be more concise.

Good luck!

 

Oh and try to be more concise. You cant imagine my feelings about this remark of yours

 

If all you want is money, work for a bank or become an insolvency practitioner. IP's have tough barrier-to-entry exams like actuaries but earn 2-3x as much.

And wot Oxy said. Couldn't have put it better myself.

Oh and try to be more concise.

Good luck![/QUOTE]

 

If you post things like...

...expect to get shot to pieces. If you have an MBA, fine. Leave it to the reader to decide whether you are highly qualified or not. Oxy was being humourous.

If I have hurt your feelings, I apologise. Only trying to help.

This article might help explain the robust responses. "[British people] don’t think it is rude to be rude":

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/weekinreview/10lyall.html

 

Well you can sense the desperation that I put an effort to solve something that was supposed to humorous (as per u) ...

Quoting me out of context (highly Qua...) have you been lately following Indian media a lot...?

Only meant if I am over qualified to go for this profession as of now...

Well I never said anybody is rude here . But clearly cultural differences did played some part . Still i learned a lot about this profession from all of you.

Well lets not clutter the thread by being personal ..

Long Live Britain , Long Live Queen....

 

Since you're persistent (a quality needed to get through the exams), I was simply answering your own questions 1 and 8.
Of course things in India might be different, but I'm sure there are people (globally) with MBAs who command higher salaries than those with all of the CTs. I don't think it's worthwhile saying from the start that you just want the CTs. You need the full package for it to be really rewarding.
Personally I don't think overqualification is an issue once you are prepared to accept pay commensurate with what you actually do and not how much qualifications you have.

If you do your local research and think that it's worth the change then go for it.

 

I'm sure you would be a good Actuary. You are persistent and pay attention to detail (a quality I lack - see spelling of humorous!).

These qualities are more important than an MBA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcoDV0dhWPA

 

quick money ain't here

Jain.er

I know quite a few MBA(Fin)who have become actuaries! But let me tell you its come at a cost - lot of dedication and time! this profession is definetely not for the faint hearted. You can see that by how the profession has grown in numbers in india - (2002 - Fellow:204, Students: 1600; 2011 - Fellows: 238, Students: 12,000) and I don't need to explain to you the demand-supply theory! don't be fooled by headline figures quoted about the people earnings lacs in the profession - there's only handful of those! remember there are still only handful of companies and most are struggling cost-wise!

If money is a criteria, look elsewhere like investment banking! Sales! Quant cum trader! although these are equally difficult though they pay tremendously well!

Good Luck
Jon

 

Career switch

Hi

I have an actuarial honurs degree. I have written and passed CT1-8,CA1 and am writing ST2 next session. I have been working in the pensions field for a few months now and hate it.

A reputable investment bank has offered me a job (non-actuarial related). I will obv still finish the exams and qualify. I just can't decide whether it is worth giving up the actuarial experience which would be gained at this pensions co in order to take this new job??

Any advise???

 

The question is what is it you hate about your current job and will those things go away if you take this up? And how long have you actually been working in an actuarial role?

Certainly it's not unusual to drift away from pure actuarial work around the point of qualification.