www.the-actuary.org.ukMichael Hall, Alexander Forbes I was once accused of being too much of an extrovert to become an actuary. Yet after a few years away from the stage, I went and joined a local dramatics society, ending up with roles in productions of the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire and the Gershwin musical Crazy For You. I played Steve in the former, a neighbour of Stella and Stanley Kowalski, with a habit of rowing with his wife and telling bad jokes about chickens, and Moose in the latter, one of a trio of singing cowboys bidin8217 his time. Now, although it8217s safe to say the authors didn8217t intend actuarial issues to be at the For one month only, Jen and Jean adopt the guise of Arts Angels to bring you the stories of two students with a talent for performanceActuaries on the stageforefront of audiences8217 minds, I did manage to 64257 nd a few references to things I8217d studied in the exams.In Streetcar, Blanche DuBois bemoans the expense of paying for the funerals of members of her family. 8220Which one of them left us a cent of insurance, even? Only poor Jessie 8212 one hundred to pay for her cof64257 n!8221 Aha, a failure to index the sum assured there. Later in the play, Blanche tells how she and her family have lost their plantation: 8220Piece by piece our improvident grandfathers and father and uncles and brothers exchanged the land for their epic fornications 8212 to put it plainly.8221 This seems to contradict the indivisibility of direct property investment holdings mentioned in CA1, although I don8217t think the examiners would accept this reason for selling an investment.Meanwhile, in Crazy For You, set at the 8216height8217 of the Depression, the leading man sings, 8220My bonds and shares may fall downstairs who cares? Who cares? I8217m dancing and I can8217t be bothered now.8221 Or, as we8217d put it, a collapse in the actuarial control cycle caused by failure to monitor the situation, exacerbated by the volatility of equity-type investments.So, what have I gained from my dramatic experience? I feel my presentation skills have received a welcome boost 8212 if you know what you8217re going to say, or what you8217re talking about, the thought of getting a message across to several hundred people in a suburban theatre or a handful of pension trustees in a boardroom shouldn8217t scare you. Just make sure they can hear you, tell the story in the right way and don8217t bump into the furniture.Regarding the exams, I8217m hoping that Tennessee Williams8217 Louisianan purple prose didn8217t in64258 uence my CA3 answer too much. I managed to avoid writing sentences like, 8220Oh Stella, your pension de64257 cit is the same crimson red as the rage I saw in Stanley8217s eyes.8221My dramatics group has gained a new committee member, by virtue of the fact I8217m not afraid of spreadsheets. And a picture of me on stage slapping my bass is up by the printer at work, giving me a little boost each time I pick up a transfer value.ArtsJen and Jean46 March 2008Grace Huang, Hewitt AssociatesIn my previous life as a professional pianist, I envied people with 8216real jobs8217 8212 imagine, enjoying music as a relaxing hobby! I decided I wanted to be one those people, and started my new actuarial career with the following foolproof plan: I would work in the day, study in the evenings, and keep my playing up in my spare time. No problem.Suddenly one weekend, I noticed that there were piles and piles of ActEd material on top of my piano, where there used to be piles of music. I hadn8217t sat down at the keys in about two months, and I was horri64257 ed to discover that my entire repertoire had gone right out of my 64257 ngers.I realised how vital it was to keep practising and, as an incentive, agreed to a short performance on the South Bank earlier this year. It was de64257 nitely a challenge to 64257 t rehearsals around work and study, but I always look forward to them, and feel rejuvenated afterwards.Music will always be a part of me, and I8217ve resolved never to neglect the piano again. My ActEd notes are now piling up in the kitchen instead. Crap by name...A review of Crap: A Guide to Politics by Terry Arthur, Continuum 2007The best part of this update of actuary Terry Arthur8217s 1975 book is the collection of extracts lampooning the nonsensical utterances of British and US politicians over the last few decades. Yet the book provides much to disappoint.In a chapter entitled 8216Statistical Crap8217, he takes to task the 8216politicos8217 (as he calls politicians, to whom he rather tediously gives schoolboy nicknames). Yet he then exaggerates: 8220Brown8217s spree raised taxes by well over 80% in eight years8221. It is actually 62.7% according to HMRC. Terry does not believe in man-made global warming, whereas I unequivocally accept the science. So I read with incredulity that 82208230oil reserves are virtually in64257 nite 8212 at least 75 000 years8217 worth and still counting8221. Global warming might apparently be due to 822064258 uctuations in cosmic rays8221. Gun control is another target, if you excuse the pun. He advocates 8220allowing the public to own dangerous weapons8221 because 8220outlawing guns means that only outlaws own guns and there8217s plenty of evidence that crime would reduce8221. As it has in the US?Coral reefs are sadly disappearing but 8220there are plenty of private coral reefs8221. Really? 8220All you need is an old wreck of a bus and somebody to drag and drop it a few miles out8230 within weeks a sophisticated community of8230 marine life will have become established.8221 But component corals grow for hundreds of years and reefs for thousands 8212 more than the weeks for an old bus (yuck!) to do its worst on his privatised sea-bed.We also have the solution to pollution: 82208230one 64257 ne day, if private enterprise is not fully banned, there8217ll not only be private collection of bags and rubbish, but private depositing of rubbish on another planet.8221 It currently costs something like 16310 000 per kilo to launch payloads into space. Dumping on Mars hardly seems likely.I admire Terry8217s economic challenges but I would prefer to see him addressing how markets can help us price environmental harm properly rather than simply engaging in denial.Peter Tompkinssadly disappearing extrovert to become an actuary. Yet after a few years away from the stage, I went and joined a local dramatics society, ending up with roles in productions of the Tennessee Williams play Named Desire Gershwin musical Crazy For Youplayed Steve in the former, a neighbour of Stella and Stanley Kowalski, with a habit of rowing with his wife and telling bad jokes envied people with 8216real jobs8217 8212 imagine, enjoying music as a relaxing hobby! I decided I wanted to be one those people, and started my new actuarial career with the following foolproof plan: I would work in the day, study in the evenings, and keep my playing up in my spare time. No problem.weekend, I noticed 046_Actuary_0308_Arts.indd 4619/2/08 10:55:34
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