There are many great paying finance careers for those who qualify. Very few of these jobs are available to those who do not graduate college with a degree in business, and many finance jobs require advanced secondary schooling to achieve an MBA. A career as an actuary is a great way to go for those with the requisite experience and who are into statistics. So just what is it that an actuary does for work?

The primary responsibility of an actuary is to estimate the chances of calamities taking place. These experts in statistics will take raw data and calculate the chances of death occurring in a certain situation or estimate the likely cost of damage should a storm strike a certain area. An actuary may also be called upon to estimate monetary damages for things like prescriptions recalls or the estimated impact of faulty materials in cars.

An actuary could estimate the impact to a payday loan service for a major rate change or the illnesses that could arise from polluted drinking water. Actuaries make some great money as far as finance careers are concerned. Starting pay is routinely over $55,000 and veteran actuaries can make in the neighborhood of $200,000 a year.

In order to become an actuary, you need to be certified as such. There is a certification exam that you can apply to take after you’ve completed your schooling an achieved your degree in actuarial science. If you aren’t particularly impressed with the starting salary, it’s fair to assume you will make more money in just a short period of time once you exhibit your skills as an actuary.