Actuarial Guides
The reference side of actuary.info, gathered on one page. Start with careers if you are weighing the profession, move to exams once you have picked a society, and use the 2026 practice-area guides for the state of each market an actuary prices, reserves or capitalizes. The data products at the end are rebuilt from official filings and society statistics, so they stay current between guides.
Careers
Choosing the profession, pay and hiring
How to Become an Actuary: The Complete 2026 Career Guide
Step-by-step guide to becoming an actuary in 2026. Covers education paths, exam breakdowns (SOA & CAS), salary data, career changer advice, and emerging skills.
CareersU.S. News Ranked Actuary Among the Best Jobs in America for 2026
U.S. News scored the profession high on salary, growth, and work-life balance. The rankings are directionally right, but they underweight the exam process, oversmooth the salary data, and miss the AI story entirely.
CareersActuaries' Pay Rises With Every Exam, Credential and Specialization
This 2026 salary guide draws on BLS, DW Simpson, Glassdoor and SalaryCube data to show what actuaries earn from entry level through Chief Actuary, including exam raises and practice area and geographic differences.
CareersInsurers Face a 400,000-Person Exodus and an Actuarial Talent Gap
Nearly 400,000 insurance professionals will have retired by the end of 2026, actuarial roles are the hardest to fill and expertise is walking out the door faster than any hiring pipeline can replace it.
CareersBLS Forecasts 22% Actuarial Job Growth as Entry-Level Pay Gap Widens
BLS projects 22% actuarial job growth through 2034, but entry-level pay lags the data science median of $112,590. The gap creates talent pipeline risk and pressure for credentialing reform.
CareersHire an Actuary: A Practical Guide for Organizations That Need Actuarial Expertise
Learn when and how to hire a consulting actuary. Covers self-insured employers, municipalities, captive owners, attorneys, and more. Credential guide, cost factors, and vetting checklist.
Exams
SOA and CAS pathways, pass rates and study tools
SOA Replaces Its Track-Based FSA Structure With a Course Pathway
The old track-based FSA structure is gone, replaced by a flexible course-based pathway. Exams are shorter, grading is faster, and high-demand courses are offered three times a year.
ExamsCAS Makes PCPA Mandatory and Expands Exam Sittings on the Path to FCAS
The new PCPA requirement is mandatory as of January 1, MAS-I and MAS-II are offered four times a year, and Exams 8 and 9 now run twice yearly. Here is every requirement from first exam to FCAS, with fees and pass rates.
ExamsThe SOA and CAS Tracks Share Three Exams, Then Diverge Completely
The first three SOA and CAS exams overlap, and after that the paths diverge completely. This comparison covers the Fall 2025 FSA pathway overhaul, CAS pass rate data, BLS salary figures and a decision framework.
ExamsSOA FSA Pathway Delivers Four-Week Grading and Triple Annual Sittings
The SOA has compressed FSA exam grading from eleven weeks to four and added a third annual sitting for high-demand courses. The March session was the first full spring sitting under the redesigned pathway.
ExamsActuarial Exam Pass Rates
Historical pass rates for 74 CAS and SOA actuarial exams, charted sitting by sitting from official society statistics (2007 to 2026). Compare trends, latest results, and full exam-by-exam histories.
ExamsActuarial Exam Flashcards
Free, fact-checked flashcards for the SOA/CAS preliminary actuarial exams (P, FM, FAM, SRM, MAS-I, MAS-II): comprehensive learning decks, formula sheets, common traps, and exam-style practice problems, with real LaTeX math.
Practice areas, 2026 guides
The state of each market, written for the actuaries who price and reserve it
Cyber Insurers Record First Premium Decline as Ransomware Costs Jump
The $16 billion-plus cyber insurance market hit its first premium decline even as ransomware costs jumped 17%, leaving actuaries with the unique challenge of pricing systemic cyber risk.
Practice areasInsurtech Pivots From Carrier Disruption to Enterprise Enablement
Global insurtech funding has stabilized at $4.8 billion after the 2021 peak of $15.8 billion, and the sector has pivoted from disrupting carriers to building the infrastructure that makes insurance work.
Practice areasReinsurers Hold Record $838 Billion Capital as Rates Soften
Reinsurers hold a record $838 billion of capital, rates are falling by double digits and cat bond issuance hit $25.6 billion, while casualty reserve concerns grow. Here is what it means for actuaries.
Practice areasPrivate Equity Firms Now Control $704 Billion in U.S. Insurer Assets
Private equity firms own 137 U.S. insurers holding $704.3 billion in assets, with Apollo/Athene approaching $1 trillion in AUM. The convergence is reshaping reserving, asset adequacy and actuarial careers.
Practice areasMore Than 100 Carriers Have Left the Long-Term Care Insurance Market
Actuarial mispricing has pushed long-term care insurance into a market collapse. More than 100 carriers have exited, nursing home costs top $111K a year, and the WA Cares Fund is starting to pay benefits.
Practice areasIFRS 17 Has Cost Insurers Up to $20 Billion Three Years After Go-Live
Three years after the standard went live, insurers have spent up to $20 billion on compliance. The Contractual Service Margin is transforming profit recognition, India plans adoption in 2027 and IFRS 18 looms.
Practice areasMedicare Advantage Faces Its First Modern-Era Enrollment Decline
After nearly two decades of uninterrupted growth, Medicare Advantage is entering unfamiliar territory. V28 risk adjustment, forced disenrollments and benefit reductions are reshaping plan economics for health actuaries.
Practice areasPension Risk Transfer Buy-Ins Surge 372% While Buyouts Fall 35%
Buy-in transactions surged 372% in 2025 while buyouts fell 35%, reshaping the US pension risk transfer market through PBGC premium economics and funded status dynamics, with the UK as the comparison.
Practice areasACA Marketplace Enrollment Falls as Enhanced Subsidies Expire
The ACA marketplace faces its biggest disruption since 2018 as enhanced subsidies expire, enrollment drops to about 23 million and insurers file median 18% premium increases. Major carriers are exiting the exchanges.
Practice areasMedical Cost Trends Reach Levels Not Seen Since the Early 2010s
Medical cost trends are running at 8.5% to 9.5%, levels not seen since the early 2010s. GLP-1 drugs, behavioral health, oncology spending and provider consolidation are reshaping pricing, reserving and plan design.
Practice areasInsured Cat Losses Top $100 Billion for a Sixth Straight Year
Global insured natural catastrophe losses reached $107 billion in 2025, the sixth straight year above $100 billion, driven by wildfires, severe convective storms and flooding rather than a single mega-hurricane.
Practice areasInsurers Move From GLMs to Agentic AI in Underwriting Risk Selection
With 77% of insurers piloting AI and 24 states adopting the NAIC AI Model Bulletin, GLMs, gradient boosting and agentic AI platforms are transforming underwriting across P&C, life and health lines.
Practice areasP&C Carriers Loosen Terms Unevenly as the Hard Market Softens
Property lines are seeing genuine rate relief while casualty lines remain under siege from social inflation, and catastrophe reinsurance is entering a buyers' market even as climate-driven losses mount.
Practice areasCorporate DB Plans Are 109% Funded and Face a De-Risking Crossroads
Corporate DB plans are at 109% funded status, SECURE 2.0's most complex provisions take effect, and plan sponsors face a strategic choice on whether to terminate, de-risk or harvest surplus.
Data products
Rebuilt from official sources on each release
Actuarial Exam Pass Rates
Historical pass rates for 74 CAS and SOA actuarial exams, charted sitting by sitting from official society statistics (2007 to 2026). Compare trends, latest results, and full exam-by-exam histories.
Data productsSOA and CAS Exam Schedule 2027
Every upcoming exam window, the registration deadlines published so far and the dates results are due, for both societies on one page, each linked to that exam's pass-rate history.
Data productsActuarial Statistics 2026
The numbers people quote, in one place and dated: exam pass rates, new ASA, FSA, ACAS and FCAS counts per year, filed ACA assumptions, carrier-disclosed P&C pricing and insurer AI patents, each computed from its primary source.
Data productsACA Filing Assumptions Benchmark
The actuarial assumptions inside every ACA rate filing: morbidity, trend and demographic factors parsed from CMS Unified Rate Review Templates, PY2024 to PY2027, enrollment-weighted. Benchmarks for pricing actuaries.
Data productsP&C Pricing Pulse
Renewal price change, pure rate and retention disclosed by 7 P&C carriers in SEC filings, plus reinsurance renewal rounds from Munich Re and Hannover Re, every figure linked to its source. The pricing cycle, carrier by carrier.
Data productsAI Patent Watch
Live tracker of granted US AI and machine learning patents across insurers, reinsurers, brokers and insurtech vendors, built from official USPTO records.
Explainers
One mechanism at a time, from capital formulas to filing fields, with a new explainer each Wednesday
Model Risk Management for Actuarial Models, From GLM to LLM
Bank supervisors define validation as conceptual soundness, ongoing monitoring and outcomes analysis. A GLM and a GBM pass all three by back-testing. An LLM-assisted process has no back-test, only sampled human review.
P&CNAIC Lifts P&C RBC Diversification Credit to 45% and 65% From 30%
The first change to the concentration factors since 1993 cuts required capital 6.9% industry-wide and 13.4% for commercial-lines writers. No requirement rises, and the factors first apply to year-end 2026 filings.
ReinsuranceReinstatement Premiums Explained, Pro Rata to Amount and Time
A cat layer with one reinstatement buys its second limit at the moment of loss, priced pro rata to the limit used and, if the clause says so, to the time left. The example uses Peerless's filed $100M xs $500M treaty.
Retirement & PensionsHow PBO, ABO and the Funding Target Differ for One Pension Plan
One DB plan carries three liabilities: PBO and ABO under ASC 715 and the funding target under Section 430. Projected pay separates PBO from ABO; the discount rate separates both from the funding target.
Life & AnnuitiesHow AG 49-A Caps the Illustrated Rate on Indexed Universal Life
AG 49-A caps an indexed universal life illustration at the lesser of a 25-year S&P 500 lookback and 145% of the insurer's net earned rate. The guide works through both tests and shows when the earned-rate test binds.
Regulation & StandardsHow the ORSA Summary Report Works and Who Has to File One
The NAIC ORSA Summary Report has three sections, a CRO signature and no formula. It applies above $500M of premium for an insurer or $1B for a group, and its Section 3 capital is an own-view figure, not an RBC ratio.
HealthHow to Read an ACA Rate Filing Field by Field
An ACA rate filing's headline increase is the last number the URRT produces. This guide walks Worksheet 1's factor chain and the actuarial memorandum field by field, using a real PY2026 Texas filing as the example.
Regulation & StandardsRisk-Based Capital Explained, From C-Factors to the Action Levels
An RBC ratio is total adjusted capital over Authorized Control Level RBC, with action bands from 200% down to 70%. Under the covariance adjustment, the same charge adds very different amounts of capital by category.
P&CHanover's Personal Book Renewed at 8.7% and 4.8% in the Same Filing
Seven P&C carriers publish six differently defined renewal pricing metrics in their own SEC filings. Hanover discloses both versions for its Personal Lines book, and they sit 3.9 points apart.
Career & ExamsExam P Volume Is Up 51% Since 2022, and MAS-I Has Not Followed
Exam P candidate volume rose 50.9% from 2022 to 2025 while CAS MAS-I fell 13.9% per sitting. The full CAS and SOA sitting data shows where the entry-level pipeline grew and why the pass rate did not move.
ReinsuranceHow Captive Insurance Works for Risk Managers and Actuaries
A practical walkthrough of how captive insurers are structured, regulated, taxed and reserved, and the actuarial judgment calls that separate a durable captive from a costly one.
ReinsuranceHow Reinsurance Works in 2026, a Guide for Actuarial Students
A reinsurance guide for actuarial students covering quota share, excess of loss, cat bonds, sidecars and reinstatements, with the 2026 softening market and its $660B-plus in dedicated capital as backdrop.