Actuary as a career

For the Starters lets begin what is really the Actuary's Role
They calculate insurance risks and premiums. Technically speaking the job of an actuary is to assess the finacial impact of an uncertain future event. Roughly speaking they look at the financial aspect of disasters, sarcastically speaking they are financial astrologers.Actuaries provide professional services in a wide range of business and social contexts. * Investment and Financial Services * Life Insurance * Health Insurance * General Insurance * Employee Retirement and Benefit Plans

To become an actuary one must be a Fellow of a recognised professional examining body like the Actuarial Society of India (ASI), Mumbai or the Institute of Actuaries, London. The work of an actuary involves a lot of number crunching and the nature of work is quite tedious, butcan be rewarding in terms of intellectual challenge, status, job satisfaction and earnings.

Criteria : A person is eligible to be considered for admission as student member if he / she satisfies the following conditions . 1. Should have completed 18 years of age
2. Should have attained anyone of the following Educational Standards
a. Passed 10+2 (H.S.C) or equivalent with at least 85% in Mathematics / Statistics
b. Graduate or Post Graduate in Maths/Stats/Econometrics
c. Any Engineer / CA / CS / MBA (Finance) / MCA
d. Any member of Society of UK / US / Australia
e. Fully qualified members of following Professional bodies such as i. The Institute Of Chartered Accountants of India(ICAI) ii. The Institute of Cost and Works Accountant of India (ICWAI) iii. The Institute of Financial Analyst of India(IFAI) iv. The Insurance Institute of India (III) passing with subjects 81- mathematical Basis of Insurance and 82- Statistics
f. A students of following actuarial bodies provided atleast one subject has been passed from these bodies i. Society of Actuaries , USA ii. Casualty Actuarial Society, USA

Examination : The study course of ASI is divided into four stages :
Core Technical Stage : This consists of 8 subjects each with one paper of 100 marks ( CT1 to CT8) and all are compulsory
Core Application Stage : This consists of 2 compulsoy subjects ( CA 1 to CA3) , CA1 consists of two papers 9 CA 1 and CA 1 2) whereas CA2 and CA3 shall have one paper each
Specialist Technical Stage : This stage consists of 6 papers ( ST1 to ST6) and the students would required to choose any two Specialist Application Stage : This again shall consist of 6 papers (SA1 to SA6) and the student hasto clear anyone. Expertisein mathematics is extremely important.
A student member becomes eligible to get the Certificate in Actuarial Techniques (CAT) on passing all the CT Series subjects.
Examination Centres
The examinations are held every year in the month of May/June and Ocotber/November at the following centres.
India : Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Chennai, Bhopal, Bangalore, Lucknow, Coimbatore and Cuttack.

Important Websites : Actuarial Society Of India - www.actuariesindia.org
Institute of Actuaries - London - www.actuaries.org.uk
Institute Of Actuaries - Australia - www.actuaries.asn.au
Society Of Actuaries, USA - www.beanactuary.net
Insurance Regulatory AndDevelopment Authority - Hyderabad - www.irdaindia.org