University of Manitoba Actuarial Club Newsletter September 2016

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Message from your Communications Chair Welcome to the first UMAC newsletter! UMAC wants you to succeed

in your studies and employment as an actuary. In this Newsletter we will in-troduce the executive team and share what you need to know to start your year off right!

In July a survey went out to UMAC members to find out what you want to see in the Newsletter for 2016-2017. We found students are most ea-ger to read about upcoming events, internship profiles, interviews with indus-try members, and industry information. I am very excited to share with you the great material in the upcoming Newsletters inspired by these requests. As a part of the survey students also submitted questions for their peers who have done internships and questions to ask industry members. To read the responses to these questions and to keep updated on important information join UMAC today and watch for the next Newsletter which will be sent out by email! And don’t forget to join the Facebook group “University of Manitoba Actuarial Club.” - Gabrielle Lemire, Communications Chair

In this Issue

Meet your UMAC Executives

Upcoming events

ASNA Conference

Statistics Resources for Students

Changes to SOA Exams

University of Manitoba Actuarial Club Newsletter September 2016

Devin Kinley, devinjkinley@gmail.com

Hi UMAC! My name is Devin Kinley and I am one of UMAC’s co-presidents. Getting your actuarial degree is a difficult process but with the right knowledge and support it can also be a very fruitful and fun process! UMAC is here to help you get the most out of your actuarial career. We have plenty of events and services aimed to pro-vide you with the knowledge you need as well as give you the opportunity to expand your actuarial friend group. If you ever have any questions shoot me an email or stop me in the halls, I’d love to get to know all of you.

Meet Your UMAC Exec! Cedric Gousseau, cedric.gousseau@gmail.com

Hey UMAC! I'm Cedric, and I'm happy to be back this year as one of the club's Co-Presidents. Over the course of my internship this summer, I was able to chat with students from schools across the US about their respective actuarial student groups. I can confi-dently say, without a doubt, that we have one of the best actuarial clubs in North America in terms of how much value we bring to the table! Not taking advantage of this would be like going to an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant and only ordering miso soup.

Our executive team will be working tirelessly to help you through the recruiting process, provide aca-demic support, and foster a tightly knit social commu-nity - I encourage everyone to participate! If you are looking to go one step further and get involved with helping us, please contact me and I'll be glad to figure something out. I'm excited to meet all of our new members!

University of Manitoba Actuarial Club Newsletter September 2016

Martin Marion, marionm4@myumanitoba.ca

My name is Martin and I am UMAC’s ASNA Representative for this upcoming year. My main responsibilities will be keeping everyone in-formed on this year’s conference which is going to be held in Toronto! I will also be seeking funding from the university and through a travel agent, find-ing flights to Toronto. I’m really looking forward to ASNA 2017 as I’m sure it will be an awesome time. Outside of school, I like to go fishing and enjoy the outdoors. I’m also interested in technology and cars. If you have any questions pertaining to ASNA or anything else, don’t hesitate to ask!

Sophie Israel, sophie.israel@gmail.com

Hi UMAC! My name is Sophie Israel, and I’m your 2016/2017 UMAC treasurer. My job is to allo-cate funds to make sure that your membership money is being used in a way that best benefits you. This year I’m introducing an online payment option to make it easier for you to pay for membership and events so that you can get the most out of UMAC. If anyone has any questions, feel free to stop me in the halls, stop by the UMAC office, or shoot me an email.

University of Manitoba Actuarial Club Newsletter September 2016

Calvin Cheng, chengc3@myumanitoba.ca

Hey UMAC, my name is Calvin and I will be your secretary for this school year. My job is to ensure that the website is updated and to keep you posted on UMAC events. There have been some significant visual changes to the site. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or stop me in the halls.

Sergiu Buda, Sergiusbuda@gmail.com

Hey UMAC! My name is Sergiu and I thrilled to be your Third Year Rep for this upcoming year. Within this position, some of my responsibilities and goals include but are not limited to – increasing en-gagement and the quality of the mentorship program; highlighting the effectiveness of the Speed Interviews; and conducting study sessions for Interest Theory Stu-dents – with an overall focus of making this school year an exciting, memorable, and productive one for our members! Feel free to contact me in person or shoot me a text if you have any questions, just want to chat, or are looking for a challenging game of Ping Pong!

University of Manitoba Actuarial Club Newsletter September 2016

Patrick Solmundson, UMAC.Promotions.Coordinator@gmail.com

Hello UMAC! For those of you who have not met me, my name is Patrick Solmundson and I will be your Pro-motions Coordinator this year. Over the summer I was fortu-nate enough to intern with Sun Life Financial in Toronto!

As Promotions Coordinator my main responsibility is to organize and conduct the high school presentations. Last year many of you got involved and visited your old high schools; I would love to see more of this year! As anyone who has returned to their old high school to present will tell you, it is an extremely fun and rewarding experience. For those of you who have presented before, this year you can expect a refreshed presentation and the new brochure I have been put-ting together to help you give the best presentation possible!

If you are interested in giving a presentation or co-presenting along with myself, you can contact me by email or text me at 204-230-4592.

Gabrielle Lemire, gabriellelemire@hotmail.co.uk

Hello UMAC, my name is Gabby and I am Communications Chair for the 2016-2017 year. I have two more years remaining in the program and I am taking it through the Faculty of Science. I will be put-ting together the Newsletters and doing whatever possi-ble to keep you updated on UMAC news. If there is anything you want to see in the Newsletter or with UMAC in general I would love to hear from you!

University of Manitoba Actuarial Club Newsletter September 2016

UMAC Events

September 26 – Mentorship BBQ

September 27 – Speed Interviews

October 3 – What is an Actuary?

October 13 – Fish Dinner

Information Sessions

September 12 5:30-7:30pm – Manulife*

September 14 530-730pm – Wawanesa*

September 15 6-8pm – SunLife*

September 16 530-730pm– Willis Towers Watson*

September 16 12-1pm – Aon Canada

September 19 430-630pm - Mercer

September 21 530-730 – MunichRe

September 22 530-730pm – Great West Life (100 Osbourne)

Application Deadlines

September 26 – Application Deadline Dates

October 3 – Sign up for Interviews

October 5-15 - Interviews

Summer and Co-op

October 19 – Offers extended to students

October 24 – Accept/Decline offer deadline

Permanent Positions

October 27 – Offers extended to students

October 31 – Accept/Decline Deadline

*The starred events are held off-campus at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel (south of the U of M on Pem-bina). For more details go to the CDC.

Upcoming Events You can find all of the following dates at the CDC (Career Development Center, 254 Drake). Please RSVP to the info sessions through the Asper Career Portal www.umanitoba.ca/asper/cdc

Note to the Faculty of Science students: Actuarial Science students are the only non-Asper students who have access to the many benefits of the CDC and can access the As-per Career Portal. Take advantage of this opportunity by attending one of the resume or interview workshops, dropping into the center to meet with an advisor and applying online.

University of Manitoba Actuarial Club Newsletter September 2016

ASNA Conference 2017 by Martin Marion Hey UMAC, My name is Martin Marion and I am UMAC’s ASNA Representative for the 2016-2017 school year. Over the next couple of months, I will provide updates on this year’s con-ference, request funding from both Asper and the Faculty of Science, and coordinate flights to Toronto. ASNA is scheduled to be from January 6th until January 8th. ASNA “Actuarial Students National Association” (ASNA) is a non-profit organization run by actuarial students representing their respective Universities across Canada. I have been ap-pointed to be the delegate representing the University of Manitoba and ensure our attendees have a meaningful experience. Every January, ASNA hosts a convention. It is the largest as-sembly of actuarial students and professionals in Canada. I am looking forward to this year’s convention as it will be held in Toronto! Why you should go? ASNA provides a unique opportunity to connect and network with employers from all over the country, many of whom do not regularly recruit at the U of M. Companies including TD Canada Trust, Delloite, Prudential, and many more, all have booths during the career fair. Furthermore, many students have gotten interviews and some have even received job offers! Throughout the weekend, there will also be numerous seminars hosted by profession-als in many different fields. These seminars provide an excellent opportunity to learn more about some of the non-traditional roles an actuary might find themselves in, and where the industry as a whole is headed. I had the opportunity to attend last year’s conference in Niagara Falls and it was a surreal ex-perience! If you haven’t attended yet, I encourage you to sign up and attend! I will provide more information about ASNA in the next newsletter and at the case competition. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask or visit www.anea-asna.ca

University of Manitoba Actuarial Club Newsletter September 2016

Statistics Resources for Students by Andrew Wardrop

Many students in Actuarial Sciences find the statistics requirements of Stats 2400 and Stats 3400 challenging. In response to this a former University of Manitoba graduate, Andrew Wardrop has designed a book to help students learn Stats 3400. Andrew is currently working as an actuarial associate and has tak-en on this project on the side. He describes the book as follows

“The book is designed specifically for Stats 3400, which of course will also help for Exam P prepa-ration. The book's goal is to help students with understanding the topics, so it is written in a way that is meant to be helpful from a student perspective. The book also comes with practice prob-lems and detailed step-by-step solutions. In addition to the book, 5 free questions via email are included for each student. I will either respond through email, or over the phone if the answer is difficult to articulate through email. More questions are available to purchase. The book is meant to teach the topics in a concise, easy to understand way, and comes with practice and tutoring to really increase the student's chances at success.”

If you would like to purchase this book email Andrew at wardrops.tutoring@gmail.com.

Changes to SOA Exams

This summer there were changes made to the SOA (Society of Actuaries) exam ma-terial as well as requirements for receiving your ASA designation. In this Newsletter we will briefly review the changes in material made to Exam FM and Exam MFE. In the following Newsletter we will cover the changes in requirements for receiving your ASA designation if you choose to do so through the SOA. Exam FM - Beginning with the June 2017 administration of Exam FM the Financial Deri-atives section will be removed and it will only cover Interest Theory topics. Students from the University of Manitoba will now have taken the majority of the material necessary to take Exam FM after having taken the course ACT 2120 - Interest Theory. Exam FM will not test the material taught in ACT 2020 - Economic and Financial Applications. Exam MFE - Beginning with the July 2017 administration of Exam MFE the Financial De-rivatives section will be added and certain mathematically sophisticated topics, specifically those related to stochastic calculus will be removed. Students from the University of Manito-ba will find the courses ACT 2020 - Economic and Financial Applications and ACT 3340 - Financial Derivatives for Actuarial Practice relevant to Exam MFE. The link below has details, reasoning and a link to Draft FM and MFE syllabi. https://www.soa.org/Education/Exam-Req/2016-exam-fm-mfe-summer-change.aspx

University of Manitoba Actuarial Club Newsletter September 2016