What's the top marginal tax rate you're subject to?

[dazzleman]

35%

Very impressive. To be in the 35% bracket you have to make over $319000.  May I be so rude as to ask what you do for a living?

I work in corporate finance.  It's not a rude question at all.  What do you do for a living?

[Richard]

35%

Very impressive. To be in the 35% bracket you have to make over $319000.  May I be so rude as to ask what you do for a living?

I work in corporate finance.  It's not a rude question at all.  What do you do for a living?

Ah, corporate finance.  In the next 12 months, I'll be taking three courses in it for my actuary degree.  I wouldn't mind starting with 319000.

[dazzleman]

35%

Very impressive. To be in the 35% bracket you have to make over $319000.  May I be so rude as to ask what you do for a living?

I work in corporate finance.  It's not a rude question at all.  What do you do for a living?

Ah, corporate finance.  In the next 12 months, I'll be taking three courses in it for my actuary degree.  I wouldn't mind starting with 319000.

I am above that, but I sure didn't start there....  I started at less than 1/10 that, but today people in the field start at about $50K per year.

[Richard]

Two people I know started with $250,000 out of college being actuaries.  I'm hoping (dreaming) to start there too.

Are you salaried?  Or is this commissions?

[dazzleman]

Two people I know started with $250,000 out of college being actuaries.  I'm hoping (dreaming) to start there too.

Are you salaried?  Or is this commissions?

Salary plus bonus.  I don't do the kind of work that produces commissions since I only work for my company and not with outside customers.

[David S]

35%

Very impressive. To be in the 35% bracket you have to make over $319000.  May I be so rude as to ask what you do for a living?

I work in corporate finance.  It's not a rude question at all.  What do you do for a living?

Currently retired. In my past life I was an automotive engineer. My top salary was just over 100k so it looks like I missed the boat on that one.
Anyway my hats off to you. Thats a great salary.

[David S]

Two people I know started with $250,000 out of college being actuaries.  I'm hoping (dreaming) to start there too.

Are you salaried?  Or is this commissions?

Looks like I really missed the boat. How the hell do you make $250000 a year as a new grad in actuary science? Why is there such a demand for actuaries? As far as I know actuaries figure out the probabilities of people dying so insurance companies can charge enough in premiums to cover their losses. Is that correct?

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Option 3

[KillerPollo]

Option 1

[Richard]

Two people I know started with $250,000 out of college being actuaries.  I'm hoping (dreaming) to start there too.

Are you salaried?  Or is this commissions?

Looks like I really missed the boat. How the hell do you make $250000 a year as a new grad in actuary science? Why is there such a demand for actuaries? As far as I know actuaries figure out the probabilities of people dying so insurance companies can charge enough in premiums to cover their losses. Is that correct?

To an extent.  There are property and casualty insurance actuaries, health insurance actuaries, pension plan actuaries, investment actuaries, etc.  Actuaries these days deal with risk.

Why the demand?  Well, for starters, have you ever heard any high school counsellor recommend a student become an actuary?  No one seems to know what actuaries do, much less have interest in it.  Actuaries do math all the time; many people dislike that.  There are, IIRC, only about 14,000 actuaries in North America.  China has 50 (fifty) actuaries!

China is starting to privatize its insurance industry.  I do not plan on missing the boat.  When they start demanding actuaries, the demand is going to be astronomical.  I plan on capitalizing on that.

I think that if you've got the brains, the exams, and the willingness to work, you can easily get over 250K before you're 30.  Once you have 20 years of experience, you should be at 750K or more.  I just want to own my own insurance company.

[David S]

Two people I know started with $250,000 out of college being actuaries.  I'm hoping (dreaming) to start there too.

Are you salaried?  Or is this commissions?

Looks like I really missed the boat. How the hell do you make $250000 a year as a new grad in actuary science? Why is there such a demand for actuaries? As far as I know actuaries figure out the probabilities of people dying so insurance companies can charge enough in premiums to cover their losses. Is that correct?

To an extent.  There are property and casualty insurance actuaries, health insurance actuaries, pension plan actuaries, investment actuaries, etc.  Actuaries these days deal with risk.

Why the demand?  Well, for starters, have you ever heard any high school counsellor recommend a student become an actuary?  No one seems to know what actuaries do, much less have interest in it.  Actuaries do math all the time; many people dislike that.  There are, IIRC, only about 14,000 actuaries in North America.  China has 50 (fifty) actuaries!

China is starting to privatize its insurance industry.  I do not plan on missing the boat.  When they start demanding actuaries, the demand is going to be astronomical.  I plan on capitalizing on that.

I think that if you've got the brains, the exams, and the willingness to work, you can easily get over 250K before you're 30.  Once you have 20 years of experience, you should be at 750K or more.  I just want to own my own insurance company.

Well no I never heard a counselor recommend that a student become an actuary.   But then if it pays anything like you say it should be attracting new people like crazy. I think anyone who could get through engineering school could handle the math, and engineering does not pay nearly so well.

[Richard]

The actuary exams are very, very difficult.  They only pass 35-40% at a time. :/

[Dave from Michigan]

option 3 I think it may be 2

[dazzleman]

35%

Very impressive. To be in the 35% bracket you have to make over $319000.  May I be so rude as to ask what you do for a living?

I work in corporate finance.  It's not a rude question at all.  What do you do for a living?

Currently retired. In my past life I was an automotive engineer. My top salary was just over 100k so it looks like I missed the boat on that one.
Anyway my hats off to you. Thats a great salary.

Thanks man.  Automotive engineer is not such a shabby career either.  And with the differences in cost of living and timing (given our age differential, and the difference this implies in starter housing costs), your income is probably comparable to mine.  I'd also say it's a great achievement to be retired at 56.  I hope to be able to pull that off.

Salary has a lot to do with where you live.  My pay is not at all unusual in the area where I live and work.  It's probably just a bit above average for people my age in this area and in the overall field.  With the cost of living around here, and it being such a high income area, it is necessary to pay well in order to attract people with the necessary skills.

Enjoy your retirement, man.  I hope to be there at your age.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Option 2.

Are you a poor? sh**t, I don't make much, and I have option 3.

My wife and I combined made 38k dollars last year. Maybe I'm 15% not exactly sure though I did get all my tax money back. I'm married w/two children (1k dollars per child). This year our combined will be much higher. I'll probably make nearly 38k alone before my wifes income.

There's no way that you shouldn't go into the 15% bracket. I make far less than that, and live in a very high cost of living area.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

The actuary exams are very, very difficult.  They only pass 35-40% at a time. :/

Those exams look pretty easy to me.  Of course they should be easy for you, since you claim your IQ is 99.9999 percentile.

[J. J.]

I'm in the 10% bracket, but only because about 40% of my income is not taxable, I have more than 7.5% medical deductions, I operated my business at a loss last year (this year, I won't be so lucky) and I donate a bit to charity. 

I'd be well into the 15% rate if not.

[Richard]

Those exams look pretty easy to me.

By all means.

Can you do this one in 4 hours?
http://examresults.soa.org/files/course3_1104.pdf

Or perhaps this one?
http://examresults.soa.org/files/course4_1104.pdf

Or perhaps this one?  I believe you have 6 hours for it I think.
http://examresults.soa.org/files/course8E_1104.pdf

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Those exams look pretty easy to me.

By all means.

Can you do this one in 4 hours?
http://examresults.soa.org/files/course3_1104.pdf

Or perhaps this one?
http://examresults.soa.org/files/course4_1104.pdf

Or perhaps this one?  I believe you have 6 hours for it I think.
http://examresults.soa.org/files/course8E_1104.pdf

Exams 1 and 2 aren't that hard, but I suppose the ones you linked to require one to actually specifically study actuary stuff, which I have not done.  I'm sure a week of study would make exam 3 be easy.

[Richard]

Those exams look pretty easy to me.

By all means.

Can you do this one in 4 hours?
http://examresults.soa.org/files/course3_1104.pdf

Or perhaps this one?
http://examresults.soa.org/files/course4_1104.pdf

Or perhaps this one?  I believe you have 6 hours for it I think.
http://examresults.soa.org/files/course8E_1104.pdf

Exams 1 and 2 aren't that hard, but I suppose the ones you linked to require one to actually specifically study actuary stuff, which I have not done.  I'm sure a week of study would make exam 3 be easy.

On average, people study 400+ hours for exam 3.  Remember, you have to beat out 70% of other people.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Those exams look pretty easy to me.

By all means.

Can you do this one in 4 hours?
http://examresults.soa.org/files/course3_1104.pdf

Or perhaps this one?
http://examresults.soa.org/files/course4_1104.pdf

Or perhaps this one?  I believe you have 6 hours for it I think.
http://examresults.soa.org/files/course8E_1104.pdf

Exams 1 and 2 aren't that hard, but I suppose the ones you linked to require one to actually specifically study actuary stuff, which I have not done.  I'm sure a week of study would make exam 3 be easy.

On average, people study 400+ hours for exam 3.  Remember, you have to beat out 70% of other people.

Well, my point was that exams 1 and 2 aren't so hard.  As for 3, I haven't ever studied acturial math, so I don't know exactly how much studying would have to be done.  The test is multiple choice which helps, of course.

[J. J.]

An old girlfriend had an IQ in the top 2 percentile, a 770 math SAT score (out of 800), a Math Degree (Summa Cum )Laude) from Georgia Tech and used to design projections of 6 dimensional objects into 3 dimensions.  She failed the the third test, as did her supervisor the first time he took it.

[Gustaf]

I don't liev in the US, but my summer job knocks me into the lowest tax bracket, local tax of roughly 30%.

[Richard]

Well, my point was that exams 1 and 2 aren't so hard.  As for 3, I haven't ever studied acturial math, so I don't know exactly how much studying would have to be done.  The test is multiple choice which helps, of course.

Of course, master jfern, it is so easy.  Anyone can do it.  If you were to do it, you'd finish it in 20 minutes and get 100%.  What a wonderful person you are.

[??????????]

I don't liev in the US, but my summer job knocks me into the lowest tax bracket, local tax of roughly 30%.

Good lord what a horribly oppressive nation you must live in.