The Student Room Group

Highest Paid/Hardest Jobs in Finance

Hello,
I have been given the delightful opportunity to decide between doing a Mathematics degree at UCL or an Actuarial Science degree at LSE.
At the time of applying i thought i wanted to become an Actuary however i have been told the work is repetitive and the salary is low.

What jobs are similar to IB and Actuary in the banking/finance sector with high pays?

I don't want to firm LSE only to find i dont want to become an Actuary.

Thank you

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
If you do a degree in mathematics at UCL there are unlimited career paths that you can choose, not just limited to finance! I suggest that if you aren't sure on a career just yet, go to UCL and over time you will have more of an idea of what you want to do.


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App
Reply 2
thanks but i only know of two outcomes after uni and i want to explore some more career paths. if i take the actuarial science course life will be much easier if i want to become an actuary.
Reply 3
Original post by Purity
Hello,
I have been given the delightful opportunity to decide between doing a Mathematics degree at UCL or an Actuarial Science degree at LSE.
At the time of applying i thought i wanted to become an Actuary however i have been told the work is repetitive and the salary is low.

What jobs are similar to IB and Actuary in the banking/finance sector with high pays?

I don't want to firm LSE only to find i dont want to become an Actuary.

Thank you



Investment Banking.
It must be lecturer...

Posted from TSR Mobile
Actuary is actually a very highly paid job once you pass the exams.
Reply 8
High Frequency Trading programmer.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 9
Original post by Purity
if i take the actuarial science course life will be much easier if i want to become an actuary.


I don't think that's necessarily true - you'll get a few exemptions but that's about it.
Reply 10
Original post by Mark13
I don't think that's necessarily true - you'll get a few exemptions but that's about it.


A few? I think 8 exemptions from 16 exams is a bit more significant than a 'few'?
Reply 11
I know a guy working in IB with an actuarial science degree from LSE - quantitative skills are transferable (as he put it), so you're not tied into being an actuary. Especially so with LSE.
Original post by chelseafan
Actuary is actually a very highly paid job once you pass the exams.


Agree with this. OP, the salary is definitely not low. Its less than IB, but then so is everything else.
Reply 13
ok thanks for the help!


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App
I'd say that being an Actuary has got to be right up there...
Reply 15
You should decide what sort of career you want beyond the everyday tasks you'll have to do. Personally I'd say IB is vastly different from actuarial in terms of culture and working hours. IB would be more fast-paced, very long hours, higher pressure and fairly stressful, and that's why the pay is astronomical. Actuarial has fairly regular working hours and is relatively low-stress, depending on your sector/company. I work for a consultancy and usually work 7 hours a day, though I imagine as I get higher up the ladder the hours will get longer. I hear that hours in an insurance company are pretty nice.

Pay-wise, actuaries earn extremely well, especially for the hours they work, but anyone working in IB would think they were low. However, in comparison to most other jobs, actuaries earn a very high salary.

Personally I'd choose a maths degree for the flexibility. Actuarial science is well-respected in many areas and is more applicable to the real world as it applies statistics to economics, but maths is more traditional so I feel like it could be a better choice (particularly as more people understand what maths is!). You can get up to 8 exemptions from an Actuarial Science degree, but you won't necessarily. I work with someone with 7 exemptions from the LSE one. Another colleague did a one-year Master's at Cass and got 6 exemptions, so maybe that's something to think about if you later decide you want to do actuarial.

Finally, you can't qualify to be an actuary in less than three years regardless of how long it takes you to pass the exams. So if you got a job as an actuary you could just work really hard and do it all in three years (like my manager). I'm aiming to take four years having had no exemptions. That being said, you do actually progress in the job before qualification - exams are just a hoop to jump through in some ways.
Reply 16
Original post by Purity
thanks but i only know of two outcomes after uni and i want to explore some more career paths. if i take the actuarial science course life will be much easier if i want to become an actuary.


Not necessarily. Most firms that offer careers as an actuary will give preference to those with Maths or Actuarial Science degrees, followed by economics, applied maths, followed by Physics, followed by everything else.

The only downside with doing Maths instead of Actuarial Science is that there will be some things at the beginning that you will have to understand, whereas those with an AS degree will already know it.

Unless you are ABSOLUTELY sure you want to be an actuary, I'd say do a Maths degree as a very good maths degree is like gold dust to employers in all financial or professional sectors.
Reply 17
Original post by Jelkin
You should decide what sort of career you want beyond the everyday tasks you'll have to do. Personally I'd say IB is vastly different from actuarial in terms of culture and working hours. IB would be more fast-paced, very long hours, higher pressure and fairly stressful, and that's why the pay is astronomical. Actuarial has fairly regular working hours and is relatively low-stress, depending on your sector/company. I work for a consultancy and usually work 7 hours a day, though I imagine as I get higher up the ladder the hours will get longer. I hear that hours in an insurance company are pretty nice.

Pay-wise, actuaries earn extremely well, especially for the hours they work, but anyone working in IB would think they were low. However, in comparison to most other jobs, actuaries earn a very high salary.

Personally I'd choose a maths degree for the flexibility. Actuarial science is well-respected in many areas and is more applicable to the real world as it applies statistics to economics, but maths is more traditional so I feel like it could be a better choice (particularly as more people understand what maths is!). You can get up to 8 exemptions from an Actuarial Science degree, but you won't necessarily. I work with someone with 7 exemptions from the LSE one. Another colleague did a one-year Master's at Cass and got 6 exemptions, so maybe that's something to think about if you later decide you want to do actuarial.

Finally, you can't qualify to be an actuary in less than three years regardless of how long it takes you to pass the exams. So if you got a job as an actuary you could just work really hard and do it all in three years (like my manager). I'm aiming to take four years having had no exemptions. That being said, you do actually progress in the job before qualification - exams are just a hoop to jump through in some ways.


What kind of salaries would an actuary be looking at in the early days? Just curious to hear from someone who actually is an actuary.
Reply 18
It depends where you work really, but I'd say 25k-35k starting salary including London (which naturally pays higher salaries, although it costs so much to live there that the financial benefit is probably outweighed!). There is proper salary info available if you Google it.
Reply 19
Original post by Jelkin
It depends where you work really, but I'd say 25k-35k starting salary including London (which naturally pays higher salaries, although it costs so much to live there that the financial benefit is probably outweighed!). There is proper salary info available if you Google it.


Ah yes - I never tend to believe the info I read online unless I hear it from someone with experience! Thanks though.

Do you work in pensions or insurance? I've been gaining interest in the role of actuarial work in the investment and banking industry - although most people seem to be in the pensions or insurance roles.

Quick Reply

Latest