Keith Sharp's course outlines and background information

University of Toronto

From Prof Broverman
U of T Downtown Act Sci programme is the best guide to course requirements, minimum grade rules etc. Essential reading for downtown Act Sci specialists.

Act Sci Club
Aci Sci Club Newsletter archive

National Association
(http://www.anea-asna.ca/)

Arts and Science
Dates of Sessions
Courses, Prerequisites
Timetable

Scholarships:
Manulife March 2012: 1 2
Coward April 4, 2012, 1 2

Good study advice - thanks Fariya

Canadian Institute of Actuaries' 2012 accreditation of University of Toronto

Fellowship in the Canadian Institute of Actuaries is required under Canadian law for purposes of signing insurance company and pension plan financial statements. The Institute co-sponsors the Society of Actuaries exams but in September 2012 will also start giving credit towards the FCIA to those attaining specified grades in specified courses at specified universities.

If from September 2012 a UTSG student gets credit towards the FCIA by gaining the required grade (See Prof. Broverman's site) in a UTSG course, then he/she will need to decide whether to take also the corresponding SoA or CAS exam. It is hoped that, in time, the FCIA qualification will be well-known everywhere. But currently in order to enhance international mobility e.g. to the US, it could make sense to take the professional exams depending on the degree of their acceptability in likely workplaces. The SoA exams are well-known also in China, including Hong Kong, but we will all have to monitor how this situation develops. Certainly it is easier to take a professional exam soon after taking the university courses rather than to leave it till 2035 when you are trying to follow your spouse to Beijing or New York! A professional exam pass rate of less than one-in-two can look intimidating at age 45.

Currently (2012) it appears unlikely that the SoA will give partial FSA credit for university courses beyond those approved for VEE. Note also the SoA's requirements about SoA exam passes required to apply for VEE credit.

It is hoped that during 2012, clarifications will be received from the CAS, from the American Academy of Actuaries and from the UK Institute and Faculty of Actuaries about the extent to which they might honour CIA university-obtained credits.

Please note that neither the CIA nor the university gives any guarantee that a university's accreditation is permanent.

Chartered Financial Analyst Institute

Keith's comments:
CFA for actuarial students
Talk to ASNA on CFA
Act Sci Club Newsletter CFA vs FCIA Jan 2012

Will I get a permanent job? ActSci Club 2007 on tough job market Work Experience: You have to get it yourself, we don't help much, sorry. ACT245, 370 Survey April 2012: half of students have never done paid work Off-campus work permit programme for foreign students (if you try for this, please tell me how easy it is to get ) Temporary jobs to improve prospects of permanent employment Worst situation at graduation: 'I've never worked' You might think that you can concentrate solely on getting good grades in university courses and passing SoA/CAS professional exams. But if you take courses every term including summer, you might graduate unemployable. Employers sometimes tell us that they wouldn't hire anyone who has never done any paid work outside the university. *Better* McDonald's Or coffee shops or house-painting or grape-picking or....try anything. I stacked supermarket shelves and worked on an auto production line - when I wasn't washing dishes in a hotel. Menial labour during university vacations is a North American tradition. Even better: Office jobs Banks, small companies, try to get jobs as relevant as possible to actuarial. If you have a relative running a business in Shanghai or Dubai, maybe ask him or her to employ you at low pay running payroll and inventory spreadsheets and answering phones in their office. A claims department job for a few months would boost your resume a lot if you have no actuarial or clerical experience. Employers tell us that getting work experience is much more important than graduating quickly. *Best: jobs like this:* Manulife May 14, 2012 info on Sep-Dec 2012 job HOT Apply by May 17, midnight. Info at 1 2 *Manulife 2011+ Co-op* Opportunities in Canada and in Asia for actuarial students. Please contact Canada: Marisa Chan, Marisa_Chan@manulife.com Asia: Lindsay Watson, campus_recruitment@manulife.com Or this: Professional Experience Year 2012++ This is successful and big in Engineering, and has been available to Arts and Science students since 2009. Visa students, also, can seek jobs through the PEY program. http://www.engineeringcareers.utoronto.ca/programs/pey.htm has some basic info: 2nd and 3rd years students are eligible. Consider applying also for jobs which are not specifically actuarial, especially if they have some financial content. The PEY is very strongly recommended in order to give you a reasonable chance of securing a relevant permanent job after graduating. Remember that you'll be competing against students who have four months of work experience with each of six co-op employers. Students who cannot legally work in Canada should try for jobs elsewhere. Contact Mr. Jose Pereira jpereira@ecf.utoronto.ca or 416-978-3132.	Above Globe and Mail 2012 poll is a further indication that business people believe that it's important for students to get an early taste of working in the 'real world'.
Permanent jobs in Canada (please tell me about more: sharp@utstat.utoronto.ca) *Canadian Institute Newsletter 2012+* http://www.actuaries.ca/classifieds/index_e.cfm Pacific Life Re April 2012 targeting Actuarial Science students. The job posting is live on our site at www.careers.utoronto.ca <http://www.careers.utoronto.ca> and students are encouraged to view the posting to for more details. Could you please let your students know of the opportunity? Hanna Rashid* Employer Relations Coordinator University of Toronto <http://www.utoronto.ca/> Career Centre \| 214 College Street, Toronto, ON. M5T 2Z9 Tel: 416-978-8022 \| Fax: 416-978-8020 \| http://www.careers.utoronto.ca/> https://www.facebook.com/UniversityOfTorontoCareerCentre> https://twitter.com/#%21/UofTCareerCtr>	Advice on job hunting Try very hard to get some work experience anywhere, even early in your university career, maybe in the summers. Most recent graduates want to live in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Boston, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles etc. but you might have a better chance of getting a suitable entry-level job in a less popular city. You don't have to stay there forever! A way to get your resume noticed in the pile could be to have attended Toastmasters (public speaking - preparation for client contact) and giving ten five-minute speeches to get a "Competent Toastmaster' certificate; Clubs close to the campuses are likely to be particularly student-friendly: email and go and try it. Fine for all students, including early-year. www.actuarialoutpost.com has job ads and, on the popular discussion board, a lot of comments and information, much of it correct. See in particular the forum named 'Careers-Employment'. An October 2009 posting from a Canadian ('up here') sounded about right: "As for online postings, most of the people who graduated with me and got hired never applied online. It was either through previous internships or through contacts/referrals. It seems many companies are now preferring this approach (at least up here) as it's often a safer approach in terms of candidate quality + you don't have to sort through 100 CVs to find people." In reality, sending out dozens of online or faxed resumes is easy and probably worth trying, but don't necessarily expect any replies. Attend meetings and talks by businesspeople, e.g. those organised by the Act Sci club, and force yourself to talk with the speakers, however shy you are. Maybe, unless asked not to by Act Sci Club officials, hand over a business card (even a tacky one using Word templates and 'no serrations' card print stock) so the businesspeople have a chance of remembering who you are if you contact them months later. The membership listing at www.soa.org is very useful in a job search. Maybe look for excuses to send an email to a potential employer. Don't send a lot of spam and don't be upset if you don't get a reply. Everyone is busy and everyone quickly deletes non-essential email, faxes and snail mail. But for example, maybe you'll notice at www.soa.org a person working in investments in X-land and you are a fluent X-ese language speaker and have taken some investment-related courses. Then try sending an email with an email 'subject' field such as 'X-ese speaker with investment skills', attaching your resume. For greater visibility, you could snail-mail a hard copy resume. A follow-up phone call is likely to be necessary - stay cheerful despite hearing 'no thanks' a few times and, if your resume is OK, you may eventually hear 'come and talk to us!'. Then you'll need to Google the company and potential interviewers and you'll be glad you took sessions on interviewing skills.
U.S. Jobs www.beanactuary.org/find has some info about the US job market, which is a little less crowded than the entry-level Canadian actuarial job market. For a Canadian citizen with a math or act sci degree and a letter offering US employment, a TN (Trade NAFTA) US employment visa is likely to be obtainable but check it out first, starting at http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1274.html . But US employers might be reluctant to hire someone who is having trouble being hired in Canada.
Some world job sites, mostly wanting experience: www.actuaryjobs.com www.gaaps.com www.theactuaryjobs.com www.beanactuary.org/find has (2012) some advice on jobs outside North America.
External Advice: Advice on job seach, especially CFA-Related, Globe and Mail Sep 3, 2011 Interview skills: UTSC Investor 2011 Resume-writing: UTSC Investor 2011

Medical certificates:
To be fair to the honest students, I assume that your MD, despite his/her (required) College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario number, is like the one in the cartoon and feels that his/her time has better uses than guessing how you sick you were on term test day. Please see course outlines below about my policy for (often not) accepting medical certificates. A medical certificate may result in a zero on a term test.

Student participation laser pointers:
Are less than 5 mw - I've shone one in my pupil for 5 seconds but you are strongly advised not to do the same! (Or to stare at the sun either!) Please don't distract your classmates by shining them around too playfully, but please do use them to point at items you don't understand, suspected errors in formulas or diagrams, or to respond to questions. Please return them at the end of every lecture by leaving on a table near the door - I pay for them personally in dollar stores. Comments or recommendations please to me at sharp@utstat.utoronto.ca

Courses Fall Winter Summer (Note that assignments and helpful content is primarily on the password-protected Blackboard portal for each course currently being taught)
Click for Outline			Meeting Section		Location	Instructor
ACT230H1	F 2011	Math of Finance	L5101	F2011: T 7-9, (First class 7:00, Sep 13) F2011: T6(p) (First tute 6:00 Sep 20)	UTSG-RW110	K. Sharp

ACT240H1F	Sum 2012	Fund Invest & Credit	L5101	MW 4-6 (First class 4pm, May 14, 2012) MW 3-4 (FIrst tute 3pm, May 16)	SS1085	K. Sharp

ACT245H1S	W2012	Financial Principles I	L0101	W2012: T 1-3 W2012: R2	W2012: LM 159 W2012: LM 159	K Sharp

ACT245H1S Superseded	Sum2011	Financial Principles I	L5101	Sum2011: MW 7:10-9:00 (first July 4, 7:10pm) Sum2011: MW 6:10-7:00 (first July 6, 6:10pm)	UTSG-SS1084 UTSG-SS1084	K Sharp Wei Lin (Becky) (TA)

ACT247H1S	Sum2011	Intro Life Conting I	L5101	Sum2011: TR7-9 (First July 5, 7pm) Sum2011: TR6(t) (First July 7, 6pm)	UTSG-SS2127 UTSG-SS2127	K. Sharp Jie, Li (TA)

ACT349H1F	F2011	Corporate Finance	L0101	F2011: W4-7 (First 4:00pm Sep 14)	UTSG-RW117	K. Sharp

ACT370H1S	W2012	Financial Principles II		W2012: M12-12 (First Jan 9) W2012: W12-1	W2012-SS2102 W2012-SS2102	K. Sharp

Society of Actuaries

UTSG actuarial students mostly take the SOA professional exams (www.soa.org , education) which are run worldwide out of their Chicago offices, not by University of Toronto. Take SOA or CAS exams as soon as you have some chance of passing - some self-study is usually necessary - no disgrace if you fail.

Keith's propaganda

Evaluations by students
Resume
Letters: PhD FCIA FSA CFA
Contact email and notification of any wrong info on this site, thanks: sharp@utstat.utoronto.ca

Professional SoA actuarial exams

SoA passing rates November 2011

Sign in UK hospital 2011. Thank you, medics. Now actuaries need a way to pay adequate pensions to all these seniors. And we want to give them decent health care, averaging around $8,000 per year per 75-year-old. Stop reading and instead make babies please, to pay future taxes!

Wall Street Journal blog April 23, 2012

Above clickable Nov 25, 2009 Globe and Mail on 2% real rate.

In April 2012, long Canada Real Return bonds yields were lower at 0.5% per annum real.

Toronto Star March 18, 2009 unfairly blames David X. Li (Li Xianglin) whom Keith knows well. It's true that his methods were used on Wall Street to give credibility to some mortgage-backed security valuations which were a major cause of the 2008-2013 world financial crisis. Li said at the time that his methods were being misused.

Real-life articles relevant to the courses