Actuarial and Investment consulting Review

I had the opportunity to rotate through the 3 different teams, investment, public and private sector consulting. In each team I got to work on various work for real clients including calculations, drafting communications and various pieces of research. In the IC team I also got the opportunity to attend several investment manager meetings which were a great opportunity to learn. At the end of the internship we had to present two projects to the team. For actuarial this involved a very challenging calculation for a scheme and we then had to present these as a mock trustee meeting and discuss the implications of the calculation and talk about some topical pensions news and industry updates. For the investment consulting project, we were told we had £1m to invest from a client and had to pick 8 asset classes and track their performance over the internship then present how they had done, why they had performed the way they did and why we picked them to the investment team who pretended to be the client.

From working across all 3 teams I got to develop a lot of different skills. Each area has their own spreadsheets and systems so I got to learn a range of different technical skills. Particularly the complicated spreadsheets that are used for calculations in the actuarial teams. I was able to significantly develop my overall understanding of the pensions industry and economics. Coming from a mathematics and statistics degree I didn't have much exposure to the investment side of things so my overall awareness and understanding has improved. This was through the projects and manager meetings which gave lots of scope to ask questions about things I was unsure of. But the biggest part was the team, they are all incredibly switched on and were really patient and effective when explaining difficult concepts such as LDI. Similarly in actuarial consulting I got to develop my awareness of the pensions industry and how movements can affect the calcs. Having already having some awareness of the actuarial side I was able to build my knowledge with specific client work, getting to work on CETVs and roll forwards and witch calculations from first principles and using the spreadsheets. It also gave me the chance to ask a lot of questions about more technical terms such as GMP allowances, mortality allowances and annuities.

We were given real client work to do and got to work with the whole team rather than just one supervisor, so we were responsible for ensuring our workload wasn't too light or too heavy. I was really integrated in the team straight away, there were regular nationwide calls across different offices where teams discussed what they were working on which we got involved in straight away. We also got to attend meetings with fund managers quite regularly which we were responsible for coming across professionally and taking notes so we could ask effective questions later.

There was a lot of support in the team. Everyone in the teams are more than willing to help and give you work. In particular the more senior members of staff such as the partners get involved with you straight away and you can put time in anyone's diary to ask them about their career journeys and any advice they had. We had a mentor and a supervisor in each team, so 6 people to go to for help directly but the whole office would assist and chat to you about an questions or queries you had about thw work or the company in general. All of the interns for the company across the UK got to go to Leeds in the first week for training which was great to get a feel for some of the spreadsheets we would be using and to meet everyone. I kept in touch with lots of the other interns I met even though they were at the opposite side of the country. There was also a Netball and Football tournament which were in Cheltenham and Birmingham so we got to stay overnight and attend a social afterwards where I seen many of the interns that I had met in Leeds.

The culture and atmosphere were amazing! When we had our internship 4 people in the office qualified as an actuary so there were lots of celebrations in the first week and we got involved in all of them straight away. There was also end of month drinks in the office. There was a netball and football tournament, one in Cheltenham and one in Birmingham. We got to stay overnight and attend a social which was great fun. One of the internship tasks was to plan a social after work which was great, we did a quiz and karaoke which was a good laugh. In the office everyone is very chilled and willing to help you. I got to speak to everyone, even partners regularly which was great.

I had an amazing time and was so sad when it was over. From the learning opportunities, networking and social events everything was amazing. I got to work on real client work and felt like a valued member of the team. Working with the team was the best part, everyone was extremely knowledgeable in their subject and willing to help teach us things. 10/10 amazing experience.

Yes

If you are sure or unsure Barnett Waddingham was amazing. Rotating through the teams gave a great scope of different routes an actuarial career could take you