Actuary

An actuary is a specialist who analyzes the financial consequences of risk. He or she uses mathematical, statistical and financial methods to analyze uncertain future events that could cause damage covered by insurance companies.

Actuaries deal with a wide range of tasks in insurance. They define the price of insurance products, calculate reserves the insurance company must hold in order to be able to cover all the damages that the insured might have in the future, find creative ways to reduce the risks faced by insurance companies, take care about the company's solvency, calculate profitability, analyze how the company’s funds are invested, etc.

Also, actuaries work on the preparation of insurance contracts and other financial contracts, rules for the distribution of profits, advise the public on various financial and statistical issues, and advise the government on social issues and public pension insurance. For most of these tasks, great skill in working with numbers is needed, but it is also necessary to have essential knowledge of economics and law.

To even be able to acquire the necessary knowledge in all required fields, actuaries are generally very intelligent. In America, the actuarial profession has been one of the top 5 jobs in the market for years. Actuaries describe their job as interesting and full of intellectual challenges. The work atmosphere is pleasant and usually there is a mutual respect and solidarity among actuaries. Actuaries work for the management of company, so they have the opportunity to influence the most important business decisions. The actuarial profession carries a great responsibility, especially to the financial interests of the general public. The profession is popular in developed countries, so it also appears in the movies. In the 2002 Hollywood movie “About Schmidt", which was also played in our cinemas, the main character is a retired actuary, played by Jack Nicholson.