The Future of Actuarial Salaries (SOA)

Career Topics General
21

You mean, more so than before?

Asking for a friend.

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22

Idk it could also because I work for a no name insurance company with no brand recognition

And all the good candidates are busy accepting offers from the big dogs

23

I thought the big insurers tended to hire the more stereotypically actuary actuarys, you mean theyre everywhere!?

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24

Yea I do phone screens but not involved in decision making beyond that though I have though I have sat in on some conversations.

In general the narrative is that itā€™s tough to find good EL candidates. Definitely runs counter to the notion touted on reddit (younger crowd) that EL is ā€œso competitiveā€.

25

Maybe in New York. My Indianapolis 1-exam Actuarial Student salary was $34k in 2001.

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26

50K then was ~91K now. I donā€™t think they are that high now but maybe itā€™s just my company.

As an aside, the idea that 6 figures is a high income has become pretty outdated

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27

34k seems really low. I was in the 2-3 exam crowd, but i thought everyone was getting offers from 45-55k. Not New York, but probably Chicago mixed in there.

28

My dad was paid $37.5k/yr in 1990 at his first actuarial job out of school

I think bro was getting robbed

29

I got $44.7k with zero exams in 2008 (just before the crash).

30

if it helps, I think Iā€™m getting robbed now too. must be a me thing.

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31

If it makes you feel any better Iā€™m near bottom of the dws salary range

When they reach out I ask them to source me a job in the median or higher range of their salary survey, but they got nothing for me :sob:

32

Sometimes I feel like recruiters provide no real service. I have honestly had more success without them.

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33

and fwiw iā€™ve had great success with them. ymmv. I certainly understand your point.

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34

For 2001 it does. 1991 1 exam life co, low col, just south of 30.

35

if I donā€™t get the job I end up getting a weird lecture that manages to compare the interview process to the dating scene but in ways that donā€™t make sense. Just odd IMO and that is with DWS

36

I donā€™t have experience, but I suspect dws today <> dws from years ago.

Actually I have interacted with them, just not as a candidate.

37

why do you think they are worse than before?

38

2013, $54k with 2 exams.

2014, $53k with 3 exams (left the shitty 2013 job, took a pay cut.)

Significantly more today.

Living in the Po, salaries can be quite bad. Iā€™ve found more success not working for a company in my own state. We have non-Po areas, but I donā€™t want to live in them.

Edit: One of those was at a Fortune 500 company, and another was a superregional carrier. So not some tiny company. Both sucked, though.

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39

I made $32k starting out in Michigan in 1996 with 1 exam which when I realized was a bit low told my boss who got it pushed up to $40k within a year (and after getting a 10 on exam 2)

$37.5k in 1990 seems high

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40

I started in a joint life and P&C role, two-thirds of the way to ASA, at $32k in 1993 in a low COL location.