The Unique Perspective of Multiple-Actuary Families

Relative to some other professions, like teacher, doctor, or engineer, the job of actuary seems like a modern idea. After all, there are many fewer actuaries despite it being ranked as one of the best careers in the world. However, the practice of actuarial science is not as young as it used to be. In fact, primitive versions of actuaries are as old as insurance itself, dating back to the seventeenth century. The Casualty Actuarial Society was founded in 1914, which set forth the principles that we follow today. Now that the actuarial profession has matured, there are many families that include multiple actuaries. The perspective of a mother, father, sibling or other relatives who are actuaries provides some unique insight into how being an actuary has changed among generations.

Personally, my exposure to actuarial science began at a very young age. My mother, Terry Klodnicki, was a practicing actuary while I was growing up, and seeing her work was what first interested me in the profession. Awareness of actuarial science, mom says, is one of the main differences between when she was starting her career and now. The first time she heard of an actuary was in college as a math major in the 1980s. Now, there are thousands of actuarial science majors who have wanted to be an actuary since high school or earlier. Another difference was that companies were hiring very many actuaries at that time; Terry Klodnicki was one of eighteen new hires at her first job.

The exam process was also different for mom than it is today. She did not take any exams while in college, and the first exam subject was calculus. When she started working as an actuary, Microsoft Excel was not yet released; instead the popular spreadsheet program was Lotus 1-2-3 (which she still insists was faster to use once the learning curve was overcome). However, much of the daily work of an actuary was similar to today, with the exception of predictive modeling, which was not common due to the lack of computing power at that time.

Another interesting example of a multi-actuary family is Susan Hendricks and her daughters, Caitlin and Jessica. Susan's path to becoming an actuary was different, since she started taking exams later in life and made a career change. While she had heard about actuaries in school, it was not until a few years later that she decided to go in a new direction with her career. Susan recalls studying for exams at soccer practice, and even taking the long route in order to memorize flash cards at red lights. All the while, Caitlin and Jessica had a first hand view of how difficult it was to become an actuary, but also how much happier their mom seemed with her career.

Caitlin took her first actuarial exam in college and had an internship at her mom's company. Actually, Susan heard someone in her office giving a job offer on the phone, but had no idea that he was talking to her daughter. Jessica, on the other hand, was pre-med in college and wanted to have a different career from her mom and sister. Eventually, though, she decided against medical school and started taking exams as well. Though each had a unique path to an actuarial career, Catlin and Jessica were grateful to have a mom who knew what they were going through. She would help out in any way she could by cleaning their apartments or making dinners during exam season.   

The fact that there are now so many second generation actuaries and multi-actuary families is a testament to the fulfillment and happiness that the profession provides. Caitlin, Jessica, and I each entered the actuarial field in our own way, but we all can agree that having a parent that can relate is an invaluable resource. Most importantly, we are very thankful for our families, and the knowledge and expertise that they hand down is a good start to a bright future for the actuarial profession.