An Actuarial Journey Into Financial Planning

The core of actuarial science is risk management which is the practice of identifying, evaluating, and facilitating the implementation of strategies that will assist in mitigating the impact of potentially undesirable future events.

The ultimate risk to manage is that of an individual, given their infinite number of unidentifiable variables and events. Humans are inherently unpredictable and thus present actuaries with the challenge to facilitate their wealth management through financial planning.

Actuaries as risk specialists have the skills required to advise on mapping the way forward, and to be part of the journey as the map is regularly revised.

Actuaries understand both sides of the balance sheet:

• The needs that must be satisfied and

• The investments that can help satisfy those needs.

Whilst we must always be mindful of where things can go wrong, we must also be brave enough to make recommendations which encourage clients to move forward positively.

Read the full article here - originally presented for the Institute of Actuaries of Australia on 19-22 April 2009.