Expected starting salary for a new chief actuary at a midsize carrier in the southeast?
Exclude bonus/perks/etc.
- 150k-175
- 176-200
- 201-225
- 226-250
- 251-275
- 276-300
- 300-350
- 350-400
- 401+
0 voters
i voted twice!
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Looks like on average everyone did. 7 voters, 14 votes. I didn’t vote.
I voted thrice!
I’m messing with the averages
based on indeed, seems to be lower than 200k
I don’t think you can get any accurate measure when you “exclude the bonus”
Compensation plans can and do differ from company to company. The only logical comparison is the total.
For example, I see these options as more or less interchangeable: (you can scale these as you see fit)
Company 1 offers a salary of 100k with no bonus structure.
Company 2 offers a salary of 85k with a bonus structure that has an expected value of 15k
Company 3 offers a salary of 66.6k with a bonus structure that has an expected value of 33.4k
Company 4 offers a salary of 60k with a bonus structure that has an expected value of 20k and offers some sort of company stock ownership program with an expected value of another 20k.
The total compensation is static, but the base salaries appear quite different. I have known about companies that take each of these 4 approaches, so they are real compensation plans, not merely theoretical.
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pretty much.
Amazon’s max salary a couple years ago was like 180k, even for Bezos.
Now with shitty stock price, they doubled the maximum for the salary range.
Yeah in hindsight might should’ve asked for total instead of excluding. Just getting an idea in any case. I didn’t know if everyone would agree with my ranges so allowed for up to 3 options just in case. I’m sure it varies a decent amount by true size of the carrier.
A little known factoid.
Some state (I forget which, but my best recollection was Nebraska) requires insurers licensed in that state to file with state the total compensation of the top 10 employees of the company. I would imagine the Chief Actuary would be a common member of the top 10 club for most insurers. This list becomes a publicly available document.
Does anyone have better info on this? Is the state correct (NE)?
Is there a way to tap into the data easily?
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When I did some googling some site gave a range for ‘chief actuary’ of 27.5k-500+ or something. I lul’d and came here for ‘better’ data.
Yes, people jump on that Nebraska report or at least used to.
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Your options are not equal in terms of take home salary. This is because Federal withholdings on bonuses are 22% for <$1M while your salary is taxed at the marginal rate.
In addition, option 4 has a stock option which will be taxed at 15% since it is capital gains and not wages. (Do not rely on this post for tax advice. I take no responsibility for any repercussions and I will not visit you in prison.)
Virtually everything you opined in technically incorrect.
Your bonus is taxed as ordinary income, no matter what the initial withholding is.
You stock grants are also taxed as income (wages) in the year earned. Further capital gains over more than 1 year may be eventually only taxed at the capital gains tax rate, but this would be the same as if you had been paid cash and used the money to buy the stock on the open market.
Only 22%?
Sigh…I need to get me a CA role in the US. Or even Bermuda.
We get hit with 45% over here in the UK for a bonus of £150k
I’m not really interested in a chief actuary’s salary, will never be of concern to me. What I AM interested in is why you’re interested in it.
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Like DP said, bonus gets taxed as ordinary income. If you made a bonus that large, you’d likely be paying a lot more tax than implied by JJ’s post. Here are the federal tax rates, and in most areas add state income tax on top of that:
Ok that makes more sense.
Still way better than the UK though.
With Tax & NI we basically have marginal tax rates in the 54% range with year end bonuses. Only way to get around that is to have the company put it all into your occupational DC pension (up to £60k allowed annually now) as that way it is not taxed on the way in (just on the way out when you retire for a lot less).
Actually, can you also do that in the US?
Use your 401k as a tax avoidance vehicle (not sure what the limit is for contributions).
I guess it includes state but can confirm, my bonus’ tax withholding was 44.5%…
Edit: wasn’t just tax withholding