are actuaries really that well-paid?

pwd · 11-05-2007 10:04am #1

I've been loking at salary surveys and recruitment websites for evidence of the massive salaries actuaries are reputed to earn.
I've found two jobs offering 75k, tbut they both require 3 years pqe - which would effectively be at least 6 years work experience. So it seems the very best actuary jobs in Ireland have remuneration in line with what I expected for the mediocre ones.
Most of the jobs for qualified actuaries I found were offering less than 50k.

tHE vAGGABOND · 11-05-2007 11:09am

maybe super well paid in 'old ireland' - but lots of other jobs have maybe caught up over last 15 or 20 years?

damnyanks · 11-05-2007 1:20pm

Risk jobs at banks pay a lot. It's the same sort of skillset as actuary but without the exams and so on.

Pythia · 11-05-2007 3:43pm

I got a job as a trainee actuary, straight out of college, starting on £30k plus benefits, bonus and so on. So that's a lot compared to a normal graduate job.
It's in London.
I didn't take it though.

jesus_thats_gre · 11-05-2007 4:24pm

Its not really alot compared to a normal grad job. Got something very similar 3 years ago as an IT grad with particularly good benefits. Alot of mates with same or similar degree at the time got similar packages.

Running Bing · 11-05-2007 4:49pm

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Its not really alot compared to a normal grad job. Got something very similar 3 years ago as an IT grad with particularly good benefits. Alot of mates with same or similar degree at the time got similar packages.

Well you and your mates must have been particularly lucky because that is not the case for the overwhelming majority of Grads. What Grad jobs in Ireland pay 45k euro(30k pounds) plus benifits and bonus? you would be lucky to get 28k euro.

chump · 11-05-2007 6:30pm

Babybing wrote:

Well you and your mates must have been particularly lucky because that is not the case for the overwhelming majority of Grads. What Grad jobs in Ireland pay 45k euro(30k pounds) plus benifits and bonus? you would be lucky to get 28k euro.

to be fair london grad jobs usually pay the equiv. in sterling as the euro salary one would get in dublin. From my experience anyway.

Running Bing · 11-05-2007 7:01pm

chump wrote:

to be fair london grad jobs usually pay the equiv. in sterling as the euro salary one would get in dublin. From my experience anyway.

Yeah but your talking an Actuary job in the biggest financial centre of the world. The money is generally very good in finance jobs in the city. but over here I have never heard of a new grad getting 45k euro. What do AIB, BOI etc pay on their grad programs? What do the big four accounting firms pay? What do the top law firms pay? nowhere near 45k plus benifits plus bonus and I imagine these places are at the higher end of the market.

jesus_thats_gre · 12-05-2007 1:05am

Babybing wrote:

Well you and your mates must have been particularly lucky because that is not the case for the overwhelming majority of Grads. What Grad jobs in Ireland pay 45k euro(30k pounds) plus benifits and bonus? you would be lucky to get 28k euro.

My bad, I misread Pythia's post. Didn't see the £ symbol

chump · 12-05-2007 7:30am

Babybing wrote:

Yeah but your talking an Actuary job in the biggest financial centre of the world. The money is generally very good in finance jobs in the city. but over here I have never heard of a new grad getting 45k euro. What do AIB, BOI etc pay on their grad programs? What do the big four accounting firms pay? What do the top law firms pay? nowhere near 45k plus benifits plus bonus and I imagine these places are at the higher end of the market.

True. The professional bodies start the trainees nowadays on 23+/-. AIB/BOI would be 30+/-.
I have heard of quite a few people get 30+/- over here and that usually equates with similar jobs that are offered for 30+/- sterling in the london. I suppose that's where I'm coming from!

maxi-twist · 14-05-2007 7:56pm

Pythia wrote:

I got a job as a trainee actuary, straight out of college, starting on £30k plus benefits, bonus and so on. So that's a lot compared to a normal graduate job.
It's in London.
I didn't take it though.

Ehm,hate to be a bit stalkerish but are you doing economics and finance?

On another note.Go to england and you can get paid a lot more,there in demand over there.

pwd · 15-05-2007 9:02am

It seems like the super-jobs are there, although there are less impressive ones too. Look at the bottom of this:

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:a2IIBFBaxdIJ:www.insurancejobs.co.uk/JobsByCategory/liJobRegionID/14/jobsByIreland/Ireland.html+%2B%22actuary%22+%2Bsalary+%2Bireland&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=ie

SGKM · 15-05-2007 10:48am

Theres a trading firm that starts graduates on €55k basic + €5k bonus + free breakfast + lunch + benifits (15%pension, VHI...) You have to have good statistics and maths abilites so a lot of Actuary / Maths / Stats grads go there. Thats the highest pay that I've ever heard of for a graduate in this country!

pwd · 15-05-2007 1:32pm

what firm?

fobster · 16-05-2007 1:38pm

My guess would be SIG, they're in the IFSC.

SGKM · 17-05-2007 8:46am

Yeh, its SIG alright. I got to the 2nd round for an internship and was told that I had everything that they were looking for, except that my probability wasnt quite strong enough at this time and to apply for a graduate position if I'm still interested after college.

Pythia · 17-05-2007 12:08pm

maxi-twist wrote:

Ehm,hate to be a bit stalkerish but are you doing economics and finance?

On another note.Go to england and you can get paid a lot more,there in demand over there.

Yes I am Mr Stalker.

maxi-twist · 17-05-2007 7:00pm

Pythia wrote:

Yes I am Mr Stalker.

Do u get exemptions from some of the actuary exams?

Pythia · 20-05-2007 3:30pm

maxi-twist wrote:

Do u get exemptions from some of the actuary exams?

I think from CT8 and CT7. Depending on what grade you get, It's not a course made to get exemptions.

Slippers · 15-06-2007 11:05am

On the subject of the highest graduate compensation in Ireland, I noticed Aldi offer €56k plus Audi A4. However, I don't know how it would compare to proprietary trading at SIG after five or ten years.