The main role and responsibility of an actuary is to make strategies which can capacitate the financial business with proper insight and strength to counter the unfavorable and uncertain impacts. Actuaries are generally found to be working in insurance field where they need to calculate effects of incidents such as accidents, deaths and natural disasters. Through such a kind of assessment, these actuaries help to reduce the losses impact on the finances of their clients. Collection of important data and studying the same are other professional duties of an actuary.
While low number of candidates wish to become actuaries, the actual demand for this profession is high. For this reason, the actuary salary is high and favorable. The actuary salary in US can vary from $55,000 to $115,000. Indeed the salary of a candidate holding the actuarial science degree can range anywhere between $50,000 and $55,000.
Actuary salary, as it is high when compared with other jobs, it is actually decided as per a number of factors like the actuary exams passed, computers knowledge and duration of total professional actuary experience.
The average actuary salary varies also as per the type of responsibility, experience and location. The earning professional designations also affect the salary of an actuary. As per the Salary Wizard, the average yearly salary of the actuary should be between $50,316 and $61,266 as far as entry level designation is concerned.
The actuaries who work for nonprofit organizations, federal government and the ones that are self employed earn the highest actuary salaries. But those who work with some private practice or company earn around $78,000 to $83,000 every year. Also, the actuaries that work for local and state governments earn something about $70,000 yearly. On the other hand, the actuary salary for those working for some trust or foundation, the median pay of $62,000 per year. Further, the professionals employed by colleges, universities or franchises earn lowest salaries i.e. about $50,000 annually.
You will be further surprised to observe that the professional actuary with proper experience can earn way above the MBA candidate. The salary of this professional can range from $150,000 to $250,000 per year. The top actuarial professionals earn a handsome amount every year. Even the benefits of such corporate professionals include health insurance, pension plans and paid holidays.
The BLS or Bureau of Labor Statistics, US has stated that the mean annual salary for actuaries was $95,420 in the year 2007. While the average starting salary for the actuaries who had the bachelor’s degree was $53,754, the entry level salaries start from approximately US $25,000. Further, the top professionals in federal executive branch earn the actuary salary of about $99,380, the brokerage agencies, insurance facilities and private players earn the salary of $96,850. More so, there is scope for easy and fast salary negotiation and promotion in later phases of the profession as well.
Last but not least, how much the actuaries actually earn is also dependant on some factors like gender and certification they possess.