Compare Your Company's Actuarial Exam Study & Passing Bonus/Raise Program

[Vasy]

I work for health insurance company. My company's actuarial student
program supports you (paid exam fee, study materials and exam encreases) for 3 attempts. If I passed exam on 4th attempt I would not get the increase,
they just let me back in program. Please tell me about your actuarial program.
If possible, specify is it insurance company or consulting firm.

Thanks a lot

[wat]

I work for health insurance company. My company's actuarial student
program supports you (paid exam fee, study materials and exam encreases) for 3 attempts. If I passed exam on 4th attempt I would not get the increase,
they just let me back in program. Please tell me about your actuarial program.
If possible, specify is it insurance company or consulting firm.

Thanks a lot

We have our exam raises and first-time passing bonuses.

To continue in the program, you must pass P and FM in 2 years and for every remaining exam, you must pass at least 1 every 18 months. I don't think we have a policy for individuals that pass after the 18-month period - whether they're allowed back in the program or not.

[PhillyP]

same as wat...

[SirVLCIV]

What are the pay raises and bonuses in $ amounts, and how would that compare to being hired with the exams already passed?

[wat]

What are the pay raises and bonuses in $ amounts, and how would that compare to being hired with the exams already passed?

For us, it's $2000 for P, $1500 for FM, $4000 for M and C. I believe that's incorporated into your salary if you've already passed those exams.

However, if you do not complete the program (fail out of the student program), the raises are taken back.

[Irish Blues]

$4,000 for M and C? Damn, I really am getting underpaid when I pass.

Where I'm at (insurance), you must sit when an exam is available (but it's not a hard fast rule). You get 3 chances to pass; if you fail the 3rd time, you're out of the student program unless you get a '5', in which case you get one more chance. If you get a '0' on any exam, you lose all study time for the next sitting for that exam. Exam raises: $1500 for 1, $1000 for 2, $2000 for 3 and 4. $450 for each VEE.

Promotions typically come after:
-- 3 exams and minimum 1 year of experience,
-- 5 exams and minimum 2 years of experience,
-- 7 exams and minimum 3 years of experience

After that, it's a matter of there being a position in the grade level above that's open for you to bump into; it's usually not a problem, but in some places it has been.

[delphinebk]

I'm with a consulting firm. We have to pass one exam every 3 exam periods to stay in the program. After passing P, FM, M, and C, we have to pass one exam every 4 exam periods. We get 7 days of study time for P and FM and 13 days for M and C. The raises are $3,000 each for P and FM and $4,000 each for M and C and bonuses of $1,000 for P and FM and $1,500 for M and C. And a $1000 raise for VEE. From the sounds of it, I have it pretty good here!

[wat]

Just a question - does anyone have any information regarding how their program is dealing with the new syllabus for those taking exams with the SOA? In other words, how is your study program treating the modules w.r.t. work hours allowed, raises, support, etc.

[graupner]

I work for a major financial company in Canada.
For the P exam, you get a 1500$ cash bonus and a 2000$ annual salary increase.
For every subsequent exam you pass, you get 2000$ cash in your pocket and a 2000$ annual raise.
When you get your ASA title, you get 5000$ cash and a 5000$ raise.
Any exam you pass between ASA and Fellowship have no benefits (except all fees are covered by the company).
Once you reach FellowShip, you get another 5000$ Cash bonus and a 12 000$ salary increase.
Once you're a fellow, your starting annual wage is around 80K-90K.
By getting increasing experience and responsabilities, you can get up to 135k ( In the company I work)

I feel it's an excellent program to motivate you passing exams.

[binky_4me]

i work for a supplemental health/medical insurance company, i think we have a pretty good student program except we don't have any rotations...:confused-:

we don't exactly have a direct correlation between exam hrs and study hrs but we get 90 hrs for P, 70 for FM, 90 for MFC, 60 for MLE, 120 for C, 25 for VEE, and 100+ for each FAP module and exam. 2nd atempt is 20-30 less hrs, and 3rd attempt is another 20-30 hr deduction. 4th attempt you're on your own.

raises are $200 for each VEE, $1000-$2000 for certain exams including FAP stuff, $4000 for FSA stuff, $2500 for ASA, and $5000 for FSA.

i think that's good motivation, too.:laugh:

[Irish Blues]

I went back and edited a few of my responses ... especially since the company did a review of its salary structure and realized they needed to be more aggressive with it, so most everyone above entry-level is getting a nearly immediate bump in pay with promotions pre-FCAS being more automatic once the necessary criteria are satisfied.

[wat]

Gah. Same study program here.

And there is no explicit study program in place after the ASA credential. No raises, no bonuses, no promotion guarantees upon completion of the FSA credential.

[levenzaha]

no one has posted here in a while, so i suspect bonuses have changed as of recent. but im wondering how these programs affect entry level applicants. I am going into my senior year and have P and FM complete. Hoping to take MFE in Nov and MLC in May. Can taking these exams actually hurt me from getting these bonuses and pay raises, or will it all be included in my starting salary?

and yes all of this is assuming i can actually find a job which according to these forums seems very unlikely.

Thanks

[stxfoo]

I was wondering if the general information (though 3 years old) above was still correct. Has the economic crisis in America caused companies to stop supporting students in taking the exams? Shortened hours? Decreased bonuses/pay increases?

[Irish Blues]

I finally noticed this thread and wanted to update my response ... but then noticed the thread was closed. So, I unclosed it ... because I can.

My company's current structure [subject to change, which I understand it will be for 2012]:

Exam 1, 2 -- $1500
Exam 3F/MFE, 3L/MLC -- $2000 [will only pay for either 3F or MFE; will only pay for 3L or MLC - will not pay for passing both the SOA's version and the CAS's version]
Exam 4 -- $2,000
Online Modules [#1, #2] -- $500 each
Exam 5 -- $2,500 [for those needing to take the full exam in the current (new) structure]
Exam 5A -- $2,500 [if only this part is required]
Exam 5B -- $1,500 [if only this part is required]
Exam 6 -- $2,500
Exam 7 -- $3,000
Exam 8 -- $3,000
Exam 9 -- $3,000
ACAS -- 5% pay raise
FCAS -- 5% pay raise

There is no pay raise for completing VEE's at the moment. All raises are retroactive to the date the exam was taken, regardless of when grades are released.