Skip to main content
The Actuary: The magazine of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries - return to the homepage Logo of The Actuary website
  • Search
  • Visit The Actuary Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit The Actuary Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @TheActuaryMag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Logo of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries

Main navigation

  • News
  • Features
    • General Features
    • Interviews
    • Students
    • Opinion
  • Topics
  • Knowledge
    • Business Skills
    • Careers
    • Events
    • Predictions by The Actuary
    • Whitepapers
    • Webinars
    • Podcasts
  • Jobs
  • IFoA
    • CEO Comment
    • IFoA News
    • People & Social News
    • President Comment
  • Archive
Quick links:
  • Home
  • The Actuary Issues
  • May 2013
05

Letters to the editor - May 2013

Open-access content Wednesday 1st May 2013 — updated 5.13pm, Wednesday 29th April 2020

Welcoming all efforts on the right to reply

2

Good, bad and ugly theory

I was interested in Jessica Elkin's article (Student, p39) in the March edition of The Actuary. This has been a subject close to my heart for a number of years since reading a proposal by one of the Big Four accountancy firms for 'product placement' of accountants in movies - as is done by certain watch and car manufacturers in James Bond films! I wondered if this would work for actuaries and since then have looked out for portrayals of actuaries in the movies.

Many of those who have qualified in the past 15 years will be aware of the use in the new qualifiers' professionalism course of the video of The Billion Dollar Bubble as an example of unprofessional behaviour. In this 1970s' TV movie, James Woods played an actuary who got caught up in a scandal involving reinsurance on (fictitious) life policies to shore up the corporation's finances. He is definitely not a good role model, although probably the second most famous actor to play an actuary after Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt.

In many ways, given the lack of public knowledge of actuaries, it is surprising how often they feature. I believe that Double Indemnity (1944) was the first film to feature an actuary. The plot revolves around a murderer who seeks to gain advantage from a rather peculiar insurance policy. An insurance investigator, Edward G Robinson, knows the actuarial statistics and becomes suspicious.

Other movies to note, apart from those mentioned in the article, include The Apartment, Sweet Charity, Tron (featuring an actuarial programme named Ram), Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, and Along Came Polly, where Ben Stiller is a risk assessment expert, who, though not explicitly stated, performs the job of an actuary.

I would agree that most of the actuaries presented are not role models - could it be the association with mortality?

Keith Miller, 7 April


Limits to growth only a starting point

In response to the letter from Geoff Dunsford (Earth is Room Enough, April, p6), the motivation for the limits to growth research was to examine issues of resource scarcity, which the Resource and Environment Group (REG) feels have not been sufficiently examined. The intention was to start a debate on this difficult subject, not to attempt to provide all the answers. We welcome a discussion and recognise that there are many points of view. As Mr Dunsford points out, one of our strengths as actuaries is to base our thinking on data. Sometimes this means questioning conventional wisdom, when the data suggests this is a wise thing to do.

Also, I would like to clarify REG's role. The limits to growth research project was carried out by a team of experts including an economist and led by Dr Aled Jones at the Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University. REG members reviewed the report, but did not have a right of veto over any part of it. One of the research team members was an actuary and REG member, but was acting in an independent capacity, not as a representative of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. The report contains a large volume of data on resource availability and we hope it will be a useful contribution to thinking. But it is not, and should not, be REG's role to justify every part of a piece of commissioned research. This project is only a first step on the road to investigate these issues, and much further work is needed. Hopefully, in time, actuaries will be experts in the critically important areas of resources, growth and sustainability.

Tracey Zalk, REG managing committee member, 19 April


DC pension plans 'badly designed and poorly modelled'

(Full story at bit.ly/10hCHjl)

"I never realised that DC pensions were ever meant to be well designed, just a low-cost pension provided by employers that stood virtually no chance of providing a decent pension, unless the employee paid around three times as much as their employer. From a self-employed viewpoint, or a director with an apparently bottomless pension pot, the principles seem great, but rather scary for the person in the street."

David Nunns, 29 March


EU pension rule changes 'could push up UK deficits to £450bn'

(Full story at bit.ly/ZkxHsr)

"These are worryingly large numbers, but shouldn't the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries be approaching this with its 'public interest' hat on? We are quite used to advising trustees and sponsors, but perhaps we should be talking directly to members here. The fact that there is a deficit on the 'holistic balance sheet' acknowledges the very significant risk that members' benefits will not be paid in full. The report acknowledges that (at least on this basis) schemes 'have in principle exhausted the possibility to use sponsor support to recover the present deficit'. The report also shows how inadequately UK schemes are funded relative to the rest of Europe (except Ireland)

There is a legitimate public policy debate around whether this is the best approach to valuation, and about what action should be taken. However, we need to avoid the impression that this is all about presentation: there is a very real risk the fund assets prove wholly inadequate to pay promised benefits."

Derek McLean, 10 April

This article appeared in our May 2013 issue of The Actuary.
Click here to view this issue
Filed in:
05

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Latest Jobs

Senior Underwriting Risk Manager

London (Central)
£85K-£95K + Benefits
Reference
124386

Reserving Manager (Contract)

London (Central)
£1200 - £1400 per day
Reference
124385

Life Actuary - Contract - IFRS 17 Financial Impact

England, London / England, Bristol / North Yorkshire, England
£900 - £1150 per day
Reference
124384
See all jobs »
 
 

Today's top reads

 
 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to The Actuary

Receive the print edition straight to your door

Subscribe
Spread-iPad-slantB-june.png

Topics

  • Data Science
  • Investment
  • Risk & ERM
  • Pensions
  • Environment
  • Soft skills
  • General Insurance
  • Regulation Standards
  • Health care
  • Technology
  • Reinsurance
  • Global
  • Life insurance
​
FOLLOW US
The Actuary on LinkedIn
@TheActuaryMag on Twitter
Facebook: The Actuary Magazine
CONTACT US
The Actuary
Tel: (+44) 020 7880 6200
​

IFoA

About IFoA
Become an actuary
IFoA Events
About membership

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to The Actuary Magazine
Contribute

The Actuary Jobs

Actuarial job search
Pensions jobs
General insurance jobs
Solvency II jobs

© 2022 The Actuary. The Actuary is published on behalf of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries by Redactive Publishing Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ