Assume you were a gifted mathematics student and received two offers, one from a large insurance or reinsurance company to work as an actuary and the other from a BB to work in, say, market risk analysis/ management.
Which one would you choose and why?
I'm curious: How does the salary differ? What are the exit ops? How good or bad is job security? how do the career paths differ?
would greatly appreciate to hear from someone having knowledge on both fields or working in either of them and knowing of the other.
Jan 21, 2013
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At the end of the day, neither is a revenue generating position, so you're always going to be capped comp wise. Personally, I'd take the market risk position all day, and try and move into trading or something.
As for risk management, I agree, it is not revenue generating indeed. But as for actuarial work, isn't that the core of insurance? I always thought actuaries are among the highest paid employees within an insurance firm (except senior management, of course, but that's not job role, rather a hierarchy rank). Please correct me if I am wrong
Well, I think by technicality the underwriters are the ones with relationships to clients and actually make the deals. Obviously, they decide whether to make these deals based off the input from actuaries, so they are vitally important as well. Once you are in insurance, you will probably stay in the area, but you can definitely make alot of money in the long run. In terms of market risk, you may have more flexibility, but it's also a pretty secure job. I think it really depends on which position actually interests you.
thanks a lot.
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