Description: Latest installment in a series covering the application of Buddhist principles to the actuarial work setting. This installment covers the challenges actuaries face in dealing with unfamiliar and uncertain assignments. It provides both encouragement that actuaries are more capable and multi-faceted in their skill sets and offers suggestions taken from the meditation cushion and yoga mat to aid in tapping into those capabilities.

Description: A compilation of reader responses is presented to a real life situation posed involving a management, leadership, or other business decision. This issue’s case study involved a career decision by a near FSA.

Description: As a dynamic entrepreneur, the question is not if you’ll need to prepare for high-stakes, emotionally charged conversations, but when you will have them. If you’re looking toward a business conversation where you want the outcome to be positive-oriented and forward-looking, there is some risk involved. It is worth your time to prepare and differentiate yourself before any words are spoken. Risk, in this situation, means that it could negatively or positively impact one or more of the following: Relationships, business outcomes, timing/efficiency, quality metrics, performance, or more. There is a literal cost to this kind of conversation going wrong! In this article, Libby Wagner shows actuarial entrepreneurs how to hold tough conversations that demonstrate respect and bring about the results they want.

Description: An article summarizing the SOA Asia-Pacific Annual Symposium held June 12 - 13, 2024.

Description: A discussion with an experienced actuarial manager on how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted people management and what we can learn and apply in the actuarial profession going forward.

Description: A compilation of reader responses is presented to a real life situation. This issue’s case study involved an actuary trying to add to staff, who encounters questionable behavior by a prominent actuarial recruiter. What the actuary actually did is shared after the compiled responses.

Description: This article starts with the increasing attention that FP&A receives due to the implementation of new financial regimes and emphasizes the collaborative nature of FP&A. It then describes the roles that actuaries play in FP&A, the new demands for actuaries that we are observing, and suggests some best practices that we are seeing across the clients. This article targets to point out the new demands from FP&A on actuaries and provide some advice on how actuaries can do to meet these demands.

Description: A story about a mother/actuary’s journey of discovering her work-life balance through entrepreneurship.

Description: The incoming E&R chair for the coming year reflects on past accomplishments of the E&R council, acknowledges with thanks contributors, and looks forward to continuation in the coming year.

Description: This article discusses two perspectives covering the experience of attending and presenting at in-person conferences after COVID-19. It also briefly covers the value of attending conferences, volunteering, and networking.