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Want to be an actuary? Odds are, you’ll fail the test

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Re: Want to be an actuary? Odds are, you’ll fail the test

#191

Post by jsjohnst »

Buge wrote: post #108
dragonwriter wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...I got zero ($0.00, zlich, nada) from the other driver's liability insurance. Well, yeah, you didn't legally establish any liability, or even, apparently, make even the suggestion of the intent to do so. Insurance companies, being for-profit entities, aren't in the business of giving out gifts. > Now, if I had comprehensive coverage, they'd be facing my insurance company Yes, dealing with other driver's insurance…

>I don't see a scam anywhere. They are telling the government they will pay out if the insured party is at fault for an accident, but in some (many?) cases they don't actually pay out. That sounds like a scam to me.

> They are telling the government they will pay out if the insured party is at fault for an accident

A police report doesn’t establish proof of fault. Neither does a video. Neither does eye witnesses. All of those are evidence of fault, but not legal proof of fault.

Re: Want to be an actuary? Odds are, you’ll fail the test

#192

Post by bobsmooth »

lmm wrote: post #169
bobsmooth wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to the other comments, it should be pointed out that not everyone needs car insurance but everyone will require medical attention at some point.

That's not true though? It's entirely possible to be healthy right up until the moment you die and never get into a situation that a doctor or hospital could help with.

It's also possible to win the lottery but we shouldn't legislate around the tiny minority.

Re: Want to be an actuary? Odds are, you’ll fail the test

#194

Post by ProlificInquiry »

ExecuteOrder99 wrote: post #180

At least for the sample questions on the article, you could easily answer those after taking an intro stats course.

It was extremely misleading for the author to list questions from exam P as if they were representative of the exams at a large. I'm an actuary, and I passed that exam with a 10 (maximum grade), with a nights review of my probability class notes.

Then I failed my next exam twice. The first couple exams are very simple, and then it ramps up considerably.

As others have mentioned, the hard part of these exams is not the individual material, which is never far beyond undergrad level, but the sheer quantity of it. It's also very unmotivated in some cases, so it's hard to piece together a full picture of the material that you're trying to learn.

Re: Want to be an actuary? Odds are, you’ll fail the test

#195

Post by alphabettsy »

romwell wrote: post #57
d136o wrote: post #39

In this [1] interview by Barry Ritholtz, Markel CEO essentially told the origin story of an insurance giant. Basically a family member was a lawmaker, passed a law that drivers of the newly invented cars (maybe horse buggies?) must be insured. They simultaneously started a company that sold insurance. Over time they learned to make money from investing their customers capital. It blew my mind at how candid he was abo…

Side story about how satisfied people can be with the mandated insurance. I was on coast-to-coast road trip when I got into an accident in TX. Someone was trying to pass me on the left in a turning lane, veered into the incoming lane, and then hit my vehicle's front wheels from the back. The police ticketed the other driver, and told me that insurance will surely take care of that on my side. "Wow, it's worse than we…

I think you mean collision coverage. Comprehensive covers non-collision accidents like theft or a tree falling on your car and is generally cheaper than full coverage which includes collision.

It seems like you may have been screwed over, but also don’t completely understand how auto insurance works in most places which might be partly intentional for the industry.

In most places damages to your vehicle are covered by your own insurance. You can sue the other driver and their insurance will cover them if necessary, but generally you’re only able to be reimbursed up to a certain amount which is why you need to have insurance yourself. Yea, it’s backwards and effectively forces you to have more insurance than you might otherwise want or need.

Re: Want to be an actuary? Odds are, you’ll fail the test

#196

Post by xeRTRex »

Aeolun wrote: post #167
xeRTRex wrote: post #118

One of the most frustrating aspects of the process is that once outside of insurance/insurance-adjacent industries, the credentials are useless. I have my FSA (fellowship of the SOA) and CERA (chartered enterprise risk analyst) from the SOA. I no longer wanted to work in insurance and left for data science. I felt the need to obtain a graduate degree to feel qualified enough for the data science space. My Master's de…

Based on the question in the article the skills you get from this would carry over.

The fundamentals of actuarial science: probability, time-value of money, and tail-risk have absolutely benefited me. I do gripe that much of the material is out-dated. I sat for all my exams within the past 15 years and (for example) we had a lot of option pricing models that have been archaic since the 90's and no machine learning (material has been updated with ML, but it constantly feels a couple decades behind).

Re: Want to be an actuary? Odds are, you’ll fail the test

#197

Post by xeRTRex »

aqualinux wrote: post #166
xeRTRex wrote: post #118

One of the most frustrating aspects of the process is that once outside of insurance/insurance-adjacent industries, the credentials are useless. I have my FSA (fellowship of the SOA) and CERA (chartered enterprise risk analyst) from the SOA. I no longer wanted to work in insurance and left for data science. I felt the need to obtain a graduate degree to feel qualified enough for the data science space. My Master's de…

Qualified actuary here also from UK. You're right about insurance being a legacy industry. In terms of the exams, if you can pass A-level maths, you can pass the actuarial exams. I found the main reason they were considered hard is not because of the subject matter, but due to the amount of content that had to be learned in a short space of time.

And the esoteric notation!

Re: Want to be an actuary? Odds are, you’ll fail the test

#198

Post by dragonwriter »

alphabettsy wrote: post #195
romwell wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Side story about how satisfied people can be with the mandated insurance. I was on coast-to-coast road trip when I got into an accident in TX. Someone was trying to pass me on the left in a turning lane, veered into the incoming lane, and then hit my vehicle's front wheels from the back. The police ticketed the other driver, and told me that insurance will surely take care of that on my side. "Wow, it's worse than we…

I think you mean collision coverage. Comprehensive covers non-collision accidents like theft or a tree falling on your car and is generally cheaper than full coverage which includes collision. It seems like you may have been screwed over, but also don’t completely understand how auto insurance works in most places which might be partly intentional for the industry. In most places damages to your vehicle are covered b…

> You can sue the other driver and their insurance will cover them if necessary, but generally you’re only able to be reimbursed up to a certain amount

Well, you are generally (AFAIK, this is true of all US jurisdictions) legally entitled to your full actual damages if the other driver is completely responsible, but they are only required to carry a certain amount of liability insurance (or, alternatively in many cases, bond); beyond that, you are stuck collecting from them individually after securing a judgement, which may be impractical if they simply don't have the assets.

Re: Want to be an actuary? Odds are, you’ll fail the test

#199

Post by HWR_14 »

redis_mlc wrote: post #50
dhosek wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My grandfather got his architecture license without a college degree (in the 1920s). He often related riding down to Champagne, IL to take the exam in the rumble seat of a Model T Ford with a couple college grads to take the exam. He passed the exam and they both failed. I was somewhat surprised watching the Perry Mason series on HBO last year when Perry Mason was sworn to the bar without actually going to any sort o…

> was sworn to the bar without actually going to any sort of law school. It can still be done today in most US states. Also, note that even the self-represented can take on a government and win. See Jim Pattison's (Canadian billionaire) tax hearings vs. the Crown (Canada), which he won after a decade of litigation. Multiple prosecutors and judges retired during that time period. Besides developing further tax filing…

> It can still be done today in most US states.

If by "most" you mean 4 or 5 US States (California, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and maybe West Virginia). That's 10% of states, although more than 10% of the US population (but still a very small minority).

Meanwhile, anyone can represent themselves in court, and with sufficient facts on their side have won. However, the Supreme Court no longer allows people to represent themselves. This means, in the US there are many cases where you cannot take on the government yourself and win.

Re: Want to be an actuary? Odds are, you’ll fail the test

#200

Post by lmm »

bobsmooth wrote: post #192
lmm wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not true though? It's entirely possible to be healthy right up until the moment you die and never get into a situation that a doctor or hospital could help with.

It's also possible to win the lottery but we shouldn't legislate around the tiny minority.

Most people drive too. So whatever distinction you're trying to draw between car insurance and medical insurance is bogus both in theory and in practice.
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