Financial Career advice...?

M

mcnage01

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Am in my early twenties and have one last qfa to sit (this weekend) and am currently an FA, although i do not really enjoy the job as much as i thought i would. Have been looking around to try find another job that I might enjoy, I previously worked in Admin for an Insurance job which i enjoyed, but now I want something more interesting/specialised and better paid, anyone got any idea's?? I need to get away from Sales!
 
If you're willing to study further, how about becoming an actuary? They're well paid :mad:
 
Appreciate both of your advice, but unfortunately, I did not do a degree in college, ive effectively been working in Assurance since Ive left college.

Im not afraid to commit to more study, but for U/W and definately Actuarial work, its not really an option for me!!
 
I would have thought that actuarial work would require more technical (especially maths?) knowledge than underwriting.

Could you contact the LIA and see if they have any advice?
 
CCOVICH said:
I would have thought that actuarial work would require more technical (especially maths?) knowledge than underwriting.
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I am not an actuary but I deal alot with then working in a Life co. There were would be actuaries working in different departments doing quiet diff stuff. e.g. you could be working in the finance dept. doing company profit testing projections or you could attached to the marketing dept helping develop and define new products and be more involved in regulation etc.

Look at some of the actuary job descriptions on irishjobs.ie

http://www.irishjobs.ie/ShowResults...oLocation=-1&KEYWORDS=actuary&I7.x=18&I7.y=17
e.g. [broken link removed]

and you'll see quiet a different mix of roles and duties.

AFAIK all actuaries have to be studying for or have completed the actuarial exams and some of the later exams are supposed to be very tough. The exams would have alot of maths but also alot of legislation / regulation / tax etc stuff in them.

Id agree that actuarial work would require more techincal knowledge than underwriting.

Do underwriters have to follow as strict an industry exam programme as actuaries, I dunno but suspect not and if there are underwriting exams I doubt they are tougher than the actaurial exams.

RF
 
Would it be an option to return to life assurance and get a job as a junior underwriter and sit exams to work up to a senior underwriter? It would result in a lower income initially but it certainly can be done and might be an option?
 
Advice is very much appreciated, Yes I considered the junior underwriter option, and have looked into it, however from past experience most company's take on junior underwriters internally, which makes them hard to come by if you do not work in that particular life company.
 
What kind of Salary do Trainee Actuaries make and What is the Salary typically on Qualification??
 
Actuaries get paid very well, even at trainee stage probably due to the fact it's a very hard course to get into.

I'm not sure about now but 10 years ago there were 20 people doing the actuarial course in UCD, (you needed close to 600 points in your leaving to get a place) and it was the only college you could do it. . Once finished in college it takes about 3 years to complete the rest of the exams, most companies give you a half day study leave a week so that shows the difficulty of them. Probably not the easiest career to switch into!
 
Sparky1972 said:
What kind of Salary do Trainee Actuaries make and What is the Salary typically on Qualification??
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Grad salaries would be around the €30K mark. Fully qualifieds can earn anywhere from €70K-€250K+.

Never underestimate the magnitude of the effort getting through all the exams however :). Typical qualification time is around 5 years, although it varies widely depending on the number of exam exemptions you have from uni.
 
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Meant to also add there are quite a few colleges that now offer an actuarial degree course which would give you up to 9 of the 15 exams. A much easier route to go down rather than studying and working for 5-10 years!
 
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