How do I Become an Actuarial Consultant?

To become an actuarial consultant, you must know how to evaluate the risk of a business venture and advise businesses on how to avoid or mitigate that risk. Developing a strong foundation in mathematics, finance, and business is critical to a career in actuarial science. Having advanced computer skills will also help you in your goal to become an actuarial consultant. Furthermore, you should study for and pass the actuary exam given by professional actuarial societies.

Your job will include using statistical models to make forecasts about your company's finances or insurance risk. In order to be able to properly predict these sort of models, you will need a university degree in one of a few certain disciplines. Most students of actuarial science study finance, operations engineering, statistics, and computer engineering while in university. Each of these subjects are very mathematics intensive, and will enable you to calculate the approximate risk that a company might endure given a certain situation.

It may also be useful to study business management. Becoming familiar with standard business issues, such as mergers and acquisitions, risk analysis, and corporate insurance, will prove useful to you as you seek to become an actuarial consultant. An advanced degree in business administration is not required, but it is another option open to you if you desire higher-level executive positions within this field. Getting a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree will also prove useful if you are planning to start your own business as an actuarial consultant.

Internships are a useful way to gain experience as an actuary, particularly experience utilizing software built specifically for the actuary industry. While on the job, you will be expected to properly use financial software to evaluate risk and calculate the probability of the likelihood of certain events occurring. Such real world experience is also invaluable in helping you determine what sort of environment you would like to work in once you become an actuarial consultant, anywhere from a large corporation to a small, proprietary business operation.

After you complete your formal education, it is imperative that you pass the actuary exam given by your country's professional actuary society. You can go through the certification process while working as an actuary. The certification and exam process is quite rigorous and includes a series of written exams, computer simulations, essays, and a seminar. It can take a long time to complete. For instance, in the United States, it takes anywhere from 4 to 8 years before you can fully become an actuarial consultant.