Despite watching the first season, I’m not a big fan of Mad Men. One of my regular readers thought that was my feminism coming out, but I think it’s just the lack of likeable characters. Nevertheless, I have to share this estimate of Don Draper’s life expectancy. Hat tip to fellowContinue Reading
Last year, I was part of a panel discussion about ICAAP and the Appointed Actuary. It got such a good discussion that I’ve been asked to reprise it at this year’s Actuaries Summit. But a few things have happened since then, notably: Companies have moved into the new world ofContinue Reading
I went to see Mrs Warren’s Profession, by George Bernard Shaw, at the Sydney Theatre Company this week. A very enjoyable evening, but of more interest to the readers of this blog is Miss Warren’s profession: ‘I shall set up chambers in the City, and work at actuarial calculations. Last MayContinue Reading
The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail but Some Don’t, by Nate Silver. Nate Silver is now an election blogger for the New York Times, but started out doing baseball statistics in his spare time while working for KPMG. That became PECOTA, a system for forecasting the performance and careerContinue Reading
In financial economics, there is a concept called the efficient frontier of investing. You can combine a portfolio of shares and other investments in many ways. In theory, there is one line which consists of the intersection of the best return for each level of risk (or alternatively, theContinue Reading
Via Paul Krugman, I read the most polite putdown from an actuary I’ve seen for a while. In an op-ed in the NY Times, Gary King and Somar Soneji alleged that Social Security projections understate life expectancy and are therefore far too optimistic: We reached these conclusions, and presented them in an article inContinue Reading
I’m in New Zealand right now, in the middle of pouring rain. But I’m enough of an Australian, and an insurance professional, that I can’t help reading everything my very slow internet connection will let me read about the bushfires. I’m so relieved that despite needing that “Catastrophic” rating forContinue Reading
I’ve just put up a page of most of the non fiction I read in 2012 – you can check it out here.Continue Reading
Wandering around Sydney’s CBD, as I do on a daily basis, you will always find pedestrians completely ignoring road rules. They cross the road against the traffic lights, or when there are no lights at all. They will walk around barriers designed to force them to cross at the lights,Continue Reading
Recently a colleague overhead me explaining what I did to a waiter in a restaurant. She told me I should have pointed him to this youtube clip: What is an Actuary? Not sure if I entirely agree that an actuary takes your risk away, but it’s not a bad start.Continue Reading