Kayla Nguyen

4 September 2019

Actuarial Science and Accounting

Fontinelle, A. (2019, August 20). A Day In The Life Of An Actuary. Retrieved from

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/professionals/090513/day-life-actuary.asp

Research Assessment #1

As new companies begin to form and take root, the need for actuaries and analysts

increases and the profession develops a strong employment outlook. The average work day of an

actuary varies from person to person, given their specialty, however, the bulk of their duties

involve performing analyses, conducting interpersonal encounters, and administrative tasks. All

of these tasks contribute to their current projects and the clients they must appease.

Despite the abundance of specialties in the accounting and statistics realm, each find the

time to maintain their family life. Managers and assistants are able to attend their children’s

school events and plan vacations comfortably. The flexibility of an actuary’s schedule provides

plenty of opportunities for leisure time. I think with most jobs, people are worried about losing

the leisure time they have had previously and that may be a discouraging factor when finding

another job. In fact, my initial worries entering this field were about the lack of a ‘lively balance’

between work and personal life, but this article combats those worries and provides three

different perspectives, each with a different specialty.

Actuary jobs, or any financial career, are more interpersonal and communicative than I

thought. Meetings and consults with people, whether it is the office team or a client, happen

fairly often in this field; receiving regular updates on the status of clients is crucial in order to

maintain a quality relationship and decide whether or not to alter their reports for the maximum
benefit. Communication and people skills are also important to stay current with the client

because plans that are proposed and implemented will be catered to the them. This aspect of the

field is a particular weakness of mine, but I am sociable with people I have already embedded a

relationship with; according to the article, it appears the clients will have a relatively strong

relationship with their actuary. I think seeing instances of this communication and how their

interactions are conducted will be beneficial to me, even beyond the financial realm, and cause

me to be more confident and outgoing.