Cambia, and the uncanny enthusiasm of a cashier

I met McKay in Portland this morning just in time to have lunch and play board games with him and a few of his coworkers. It was a blast! We played Diamant, then Saboteur, and then Coloretto. Their names were Peter, Bryan, and Nick, and they were all very kind. After games and pizza, McKay took me around to meet a few people, which was fun. They were all kind and very easy to talk to. I don’t know where I will end up in the future, but it’s really great for me to explore what I can.

On my way out, McKay wanted to stop at a little shop in the building to get a muffin. When we walked in, the Asian man at the counter yelled, “Hello! Hello! Hello!” and welcomed us in. McKay asked how he was doing and he said, very loudly, “So far!...Sooooo goooood!” As I picked up a few items to examine them, he described for me what I was holding. “That is a croissant! With cream cheese! And marionberry!” It’s impossible to add his intonation and fluctuation here, but trust me—it was totally worth the visit. When he finished ringing me up he said something like, “You’re done!” and pointed to the door.

The outgoing and the incoming: my new professors

I left the house at 6:45 and arrived on campus just after seven this morning. With nowhere to go and nothing to do, I went to my accounting classroom and waited for others to arrive. A few minutes later people trickled in, and then Jack Peterson, our professor, joined us.

Remember, it’s about 7:25 am now and there are a bunch of sleepy college students waiting for summer school to start. The next thing I remember is Jack saying, “Anybody like P!nk?” and blasting “Get The Party Started” throughout the classroom. “This is one of my favorite songs,” he said.

Jack wears a suit and tie and is probably in his late 50s/early 60s. He’s taking early retirement at the end of this semester, which makes us the last ACCT 2010 class he will ever teach. Up until about six years ago he owned his own CPA firm, meaning his experience in teaching is likely only surpassed by his experience in real world accounting practices, making him the perfect instructor.

He spent the first hour just getting to know us. “I want to know how many accounting majors we have in here.” He looked around at the raised hands. “Yep, there’s usually about five or six in this class. Well now I want to know what everyone else is studying.”

A few of us raised our hands. I was probably the third person he called on. “Math-Actuary,” I said when he picked me. “Really?” he said with surprise. “Math-Actuary....I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone do that major.” He began pacing. “So you want to be an actuarialist. Why don’t you tell everyone here what an actuary is.”

I gave my two-sentence example of risk management in an insurance company and the use of probability and statistics. When I finished he walked over to me, pointed at me, and said, “This guy is going to make a LOT of money.” He then took a few minutes to explain the fact that actuaries make a TON of money and then turned to me and said, “Will—do me a favor, will you? When you’re making all that money, will you remember your humble accounting teacher?” I quickly replied, “If you prove to be humble, yes.” Immediately I realized that probably wasn’t the best thing to say, but there I went.

Several hours later, in the afternoon, I arrived at my business law class. The instructor was sitting at the front of the class when I walked in and took my seat. He looked young and made small talk with one of the only other people already in attendance. When I had a moment I said, “So how long have you been teaching?” He thought for a second and said, “Well, in about two minutes I will have just started.”

In contrast to my accounting professor, Jake Olson is just beginning his life as a college instructor. He actually works out of California (not sure how that works) for a law firm of some kind. And I gotta say, he’s a really neat individual. Great class discussion, very interested in what we have to say, very flexible with the course schedule.

During the break, I asked him for his age, and he told me his is 35 years old. He could tell I am interested in the subject matter and that I want to be involved in the discussion, so he spent much of his time looking at me while he was teaching. (Sound familiar?) Later, he sent me an email thanking me for a comment I made because it was something he hadn’t before considered.

Also, he asked for a show of hands of non-business majors and happened to ask me about mine. I went through the actuary thing all over again. A little less than half the people in my business law class are also in my accounting class, so it was kind of redundant and they helped answer questions. It was kind of funny.

I think this will be a rewarding and interesting four week term.

The day the earth rotated off its axis

was the day I got laid off, Karen came down with mastitis, and McKay got a job offer in Portland. Which of these things is not like the others?

We're very excited for McKay to start working for Cambia. And it sounds like they are thrilled. McKay called and wanted to know what I thought of Portland (because we both know he's probably my "in" to the industry), and I definitely approve. That's about three years out, but it'll come quickly, I'm sure. (I know nothing about Portland, by the way.) Here's hoping my career as an actuary just got a little closer.

Dan's the man with a plan

About a week ago I went up to the third floor of the math building to speak with Dan Coster, the man who heads the actuarial branch of the math and statistics department. He remembered me from Shelley's speech (because I asked the most questions) and was very kind (and he had maybe an English accent?). I asked for advice on using my classes to prepare for actuarial exams, and he basically sat down and showed me how I can best work my schedule to spread out my exam preparation. I'll have to take a closer look at my schedule and see how things will work, but I feel grateful that he would take the time to meet with me since I dropped by unannounced.

And it's interesting that he fell into this role because the man before him passed away suddenly, a few years ago. Dan doesn't have professional experience as an actuary, but it sounds like he's taken the exams.

He also told me about joining the actuarial club, which I asked about. More on that when I know more.

Yes, being an actuary actually interests me

Shelley, a Utah State graduate of 2008 (or somewhere around there) visited campus today to give a presentation on what actuaries do. She works for Milliman in Salt Lake, so she’s on the consulting side of actuarial life.

She provided a printed version of her slides, which I wrote on. Here are a few of the things that were of interest to me:

• A lot of what actuaries do is math, but there is a lot more business than she personally expected. Take seriously the business classes associated with your major.
• A few sites to look into:
• SOA.org
• CASACT.org (Shelley’s strength, as opposed to the SOA)
• ActuarialOutpost.com (message boards, info about exams, etc.)
• sites.google.com/site/slactuary/home (the Salt Lake actuary club, which meets about four times a year for a lunch and a speaker; good for networking, learning)
• Shelley got her ASA in four years.
• In the consulting branch of actuary life, you can expect to work longer hours, but there are great networking opportunities and client interaction. Also, research opportunities are in great abundance.
• In Utah, you generally have to go to Salt Lake City for actuarial jobs.
• When going in for an interview, do your homework.
• What does the company specialize in?
• Look for biographies of current employees and get to know their people.
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions during the interview.
• What is your typical day like?
• What kind of support do you get in studying for exams?
• Pay attention in your business classes because you need to know a lot about business.
• The #1 non-mathematical skill you need is communication.
• Writing skills are a must (technical writing is best).
• Know how to create graphs.
• Know Excel/Access/VBA.
• She uses Excel every single day. And other programs frequently.
• Be up-to-date on current events.
• The landscape changes every day. Know what laws are passed, how to give advice on them, etc.
• You can go to the state legislation website and see what bills are being discussed.
• The Future Actuary is a great publication for students who are taking the exams.
• Contingencies is another great publication, one you can probably get for free online.
• HealthCareTownHall.com is Milliman’s blog-ish thing on health care. Some of their actuaries write posts on there, so it’s good to check out.

She then went into some details about her company, Milliman, and some of the things they do (like milliman.com/mmi, which is their Milliman Medical Index—pretty cool). Overall, it was a very helpful experience. I think I probably asked ten times as many questions about becoming an actuary than everyone else combined. But she also gave us her card and said we could email her with more questions if we have any.