Description: Long-term guarantees place unanticipated burdens on companies because of the degree to which the environment can change. These risks are compounded when combined with estimation of policyholder behavior, especially when solid experience data is not available. When risks are properly reflected, long-term guarantees do not always provide value to the customer in excess of the manufacturing cost. The product development actuary is challenged to compare customer value to company cost and use that measurement to identify novel ways to design products to better serve customers.

Description: The author is a recent FSA (2018). As a career changer from academia with no actuarial exposure prior to attempting the first exam at almost 30, the author offers a compelling set of insights gained through his CERA and FSA qualification processes. The advice presented not only covers exam tips helpful for candidates at all levels, but also provides perspective for those who are considering the rewarding career path of being an actuary.

Description: Article presents the basic terminology and theory of attribution theory, the theory explaining the causes that people attribute their successes and failures to. The article reviews i) typical attributions(e.g. effort, luck), ii) dimensions of attribution (controllability, stability), iii) useful and non-useful attributions, and iv) attribution retraining and v) other aspects of the theory (such as accompanying emotions)