not an actuary, but was considering that shift..
recruited out of university for actuarial training, did not take that job as I was tired of passing exams, regretted it since.
In those days they allowed 5 hrs/week paid study time in the first few years, but that was long ago.

Started work on the first round of exams a year or two back, then read the BLS overview and grew discouraged.
http://www.bls.gov/.../actuaries.htm#tab-6

"about 3 out of 10 worked more than 40 hours per week in 2012."
That's pretty good odds, no-one I know in IT gets to work only 40 hours a week..

OTOH 'big data' is near the peak in its hype cycle, with some creative job-hopping you should be able to make good progress. Of course the job-hopping takes time and energy away from training, so not optimal. Move fast though, it is sliding down.. see the mathbabe

http://d12tusb9bq3y6m.cloudfront.net/...y-graphs-wumo-10.jpg

My friend is an actuary. Loved it at first, now hates it and wants out. It's for some but not for others. Not always want it may seem to be on the outside when on the inside.

I am an actuary and it is a great career, no regrets. One thing to consider is that you will need to spend a lot of personal time studying to pass the actuarial exams. Typically, companies will give you some study time at work (~100 to 120 hours every six months) but most people need to put in double that on their own time in order to pass. The exams are very competitive.

This thread probably belongs in the LR, so...

My sister is an Actuary for State Farm. We both have Applied Mathematics degrees, I have an MBA, she has a Master in AM. She claims I know nothing about math, BTW.

She makes a very good living doing the job, much more than her husband, and works standard 40 hour weeks. It is my understanding that most of the math is now done by a computer and all actuaries do are idiot checks.

As far as getting hired, my sister has had many various job offers over the years and continues to get them now, so there must be a shortage out there in at least the Midwest.

---

"...the street finds its own uses for things"

*waves*

also WFH so 0 hours a week commute. Can't put a price on the no commute.

I'm in Boston, work as a product manager for an HIT SaaS company. Shoot me a PM if you're thinking about making a role shift but want to stay in healthcare. Big opportunity to progress and salary is respectable. I can share more through PM.

I'm about to begin training for a 70.3 or two next year and also getting married in October 2015, so clearly work/life balance can be had where I'm at.

Chris

Not sure why, but insurance companies all have huge hubs in Des Moines Iowa.

I am an actuary and still find time to train and race although I don't train 15-20 hours a week. I have my ACAS designation but still have to finish my FCAS exams. The most I've ever trained while studying and working is 15-18 hours a week. If you work more than 40 hours a week and spend a lot of time commuting like I did at the time, I don't recommend training that much while sitting for exams.

I currently work 40 hours most weeks (including study time from work), spend 45 mins a day commuting and train 5-10 hours a week. I could probably train up to 12-15 hours a week, but i just don't want to right now. In the last two months leading up to my fall exam I'll study for 25-30 hours of my personal time a week on top of this. I only studied probably 50%-75% of this amount for prelims and trained a lot more. I get 30 hours of study time per hour of exam (120 hours for this exam) for the first sitting of an exam. The amount of study time I get decreases if I don't pass on the first attempt. This is pretty typical.

I enjoy my work and most of it is pretty interesting. The first couple years were doing less challenging work but as I gained knowledge and experience I've been able to do more interesting work. There's a pretty good culture of work life balance in my current job, but it really depends on your employer.

You may want to check out actuarialoutpost.com, if you haven't already, for info on the entry level job market, exam info, etc. I've heard the current entry level market is tough for some people, but if you interview well and have good written and verbal communication skills and aren't set on living somewhere specific, I don't think you'd have a problem with getting a job with two exams.

If you have any other questions feel free to send me a pm.