How to Become an Actuary, Pass the 9 Exams Fast and Accelerate your Career!

Becoming certified as an Actuary is something that I have, for some strange reason, started to become extremely interested in over the past several weeks. Call it boredom as I am now remote due to COVID-19, call it interest in being seen as really smart and as being good at math, or call it setting myself up with a plan be in case the current field of finance that I’m in doesn’t work out so well, but believe it or not I have become interested enough in it to literally pull out my old Calculus I book and to start studying like a mad man. Add in the fact that I have discovered and subscribed to the amazing Youtube channel on the subject, Etched Actuarial, and you’ve got yourself a potential actuary in the making (doubtful, but I am very bored these days and am always looking for ways to accelerate and proof my resume.) And so, in this blog post, I’m going to show you how to become an Actuary.

Other careers we’ll be looking at in this blog post include:

Accountant

Computer Programmer

SEO Specialist

Digital Marketing Specialist

Wealth Management Associate

Financial Advisor

Stock Trader

Information Technology

Becoming an Actor

Youtube Personality

Public Speaker

Electrical Engineer

And much more, read on or subscribe to our blog for additional details and information.

How to Become an Actuary, And Why Learning Calculus and Computer Programming is Always the First Step

So, I’m still moderately looking into becoming an Actuary, however I’m starting to think that maybe throwing my energy into a combination of skills rather than focusing on this is a better use of my time, energy, money and brain power. With this in mind however, I’m still younger than 30 years old, so time is on my side in terms of me wanting to pivot career fields if I decide to try and go that route, and becoming an Actuary is not necessarily out of the cards just yet. At some point in the future, I still may want to test out going for Exam P and Exam FM, and putting my math and focus skills to the test with regards to how much I can cram into this brain of mine.

Not to stray too far from the topic here, here’s how you can become an actuary. First off, there are a few background skills that you should become familiar with as much as possible before jumping into the game. First off, learning things like Finance, Insurance, Computer Programming, and VBA (Visual Basic 6), as well as Microsoft Excel, are some very important skills to have or be a master of in the field, with the latter 2 and 3 being the most important by far. On top of all this, you’ll want to hone your math skills as much as possible, and I’m not talking about basic arithmetic or accounting skills, I’m talking about Trigonometry, Calculus I, II, and III, Statistics I and II, and the like of other difficult mathematics types. Just to really have a shot at even studying for Exam P, you will want to understand and have a solid foundation in Calculus I, II, and III and from here will likely need to spend as much as 300 to 500 hours studying for each of the nine actuarial exams.

This is where most people drop out, because on top of work experience, you will need to pass a full 9 exams that are hundreds of hours each, for as much as 3,000 to 4,000 hours of study time, with likely something in the range of 10,000 working hours in an office, and thousands more hours of Computer Science, Excel, VBA, and other related computer science skillsets (really from what I’m reading on the subject, the best actuaries are Full Stack Developers, as you’ll need SQL, python, data science skills and back end programming skills etc. to really be the best in this field.)

With all of this in mind, here are the 9 exams that you’ll need to pass in order to call yourself an actuary:

Preliminary Exams

Exam P

Exam FM – Financial Mathematics

Exam IFM – Investment and Financial Markets

SOA Exams

Exam SRM – Statistics for Risk Modeling

Exam STAM – Short Term Actuarial Mathematics

Exam LTAM – Long Term Actuarial Mathematics

Exam PA – Predictive Analysis

There is a Set of CAS exams after this, Called the Casualty Actuarial Society Exams, Which Follow As Below:

1. Modern Actuarial Statistics I
2. Modern Actuarial statistics II
3. Basic Techniques for Ratemaking and Estimating Claim Liabilities
4. Regulation and Financial Reporting
5. Estimation of Policy Liabilities
6. Advanced Ratemaking
7. Financial Risk and Rate of Return

Final Thoughts on How to Become an Actuary, My Take on the Subject

At first glance, it may look somewhat doable and even on the cheaper end of things to pursue being an actuary, but the more I look into this field, the more I realize that I think I should stick with core traits and just add Computer Programming and Public Speaking to them in order to leverage my skills. Currently, my best skills right now are Finance, Tax, Accounting, SEO, and with Tidbits of Computer Science starting to kick in, with me knowing a plethora of different fields related to the field of finance. I’m thinking that focusing on Finance, Tax and Accounting, as well as on getting better at SEO and bringing in Computer Programming, will more than be enough to help me make a good career. For more information on all things Finance and Business, read on or subscribe to our blog for additional details and information.

Cheers!

*Inflation Hedging.com

Sources:

1. https://medium.com/nori-carbon-removal/how-i-passed-the-securities-industry-essentials-sie-exam-de86529f9feb
2. https://www.professionalexamtutoring.com/sie-exam-difficulty/
3. https://www.efinancialcareers.com/news/evergreen/seven-tips-for-acing-the-series-7-and-other-financial-exams

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