Salaries and opportunities for advancement

An actuarial career can offer considerable rewards both intellectually and financially. Actuaries have always been amongst the highest paid professionals in the UK and in addition to the salary there is usually an excellent package of benefits. A graduate trainee actuary can currently start on around £25000 to £35000 per year, with newly qualified actuaries earning between £45000 and £55000 per year. Thereafter, this rapid salary progression can continue, and many senior actuaries earn over £100000 per year. It's not a matter of money for your life; actuaries work hard, but they also have time to enjoy a great lifestyle.

Actuaries are well paid because the standards of the profession are high. As the financial world becomes more complex, the status and salaries of actuaries are set to rise even higher. Increasingly actuaries are moving from the back room to the boardroom, managing companies rather than merely advising them.

The variety of world-wide opportunities is so great that it's easily possible to change career within the profession; few people ever move away from actuarial work altogether.