Managing PokĂ©mon Risk â Part II
Last month, I posted the description of a hypothetical incident involving a simple game of PokĂ©mon Go â a game which turned into a catastrophic jumble of tangled interactions, torts, and general chaos. I asked what sense could be made of all this from a risk and insurance standpoint. If youâd like, go ahead and read (or re-read) the prior post before continuing. Iâll waitâŠ
You back? Great! Letâs proceed.
This scenario â which could probably serve as a case study exam question in an insurance and risk management class, or even a law school torts class â is infested with specific issues involving risks and insurance policy forms. But there are also some larger and more general takeaways, as Iâll mention momentarily.
First, some brief and incomplete comments on the insurance specifics. I applaud the nice set of comments posted by Ms. Yardas (hi Theresa!), summarizing how various insurance policies might respond to each type of claim emerging from the scenario. Indeed, some of the key policies that might respond to this situation include, for example:
Health or medical insurance. This is a âfirst-partyâ insurance coverage, in which the policyholderâs own insurer responds with coverage for injury to the insured, regardless of whether or not a âthird partyâ is liable. In our PokĂ©mon hypothetical, medical expenses associated with your broken ankle, the car driverâs broken wrist, and the pedestrianâs dog bite would likely each be covered by that personâs own medical insurance.
- Homeowners insurance. A homeowners (HO) insurance policy has two sections, a property section to protect against damage to the home structure, possessions, and land; and a liability section, to cover the homeownerâs legal liability stemming from certain types of risks. In our PokĂ©mon hypothetical, the HO policy of the homeowner on whose property you trespassed would likely cover the damage you inflicted on the landscaping and the window, and might cover the homeownerâs liability for your injury from the loose cobblestone and the pedestrianâs dog bite. Also, if you have an HO policy, it might cover your liability associated with your trespass.
Auto insurance. Damage to the passing car, as well as any liability ascribed to the driver and/or owner of the passing car, would potentially be covered by an auto insurance policy.
- Personal umbrella insurance. If purchased, this policy generally
covers the liability of the policyholder in two ways:Â coverage above the policy limits associated with the policyholderâs HO and auto policies, and âdrop-downâ or âgapâ coverage for other types of liability not covered by HO and auto policies.
Two points about the above discussion. First, note the use of words such as âmight coverâ or âlikely to cover.â For any insurance policy, certain specific coverages are common, but may not be universal â they depend upon policy wording, and sometimes upon endorsements which may or may not have been purchased and added to a policy. Second, there are several elements of this injury scenario which could potentially be covered by two or more insurance policies. Sometimes a first-party coverage will respond initially, but then, after liability is determined, the liability insurance of the responsible party reimburses the first-party insurer. This process is called subrogation, and it is an important legal aspect of determining who ultimately is responsible for loss payments.
Finally, let me end with a few more general takeaways from a complicated risk and insurance scenario such as this:
- Even in a single incident, there can be many separate but interrelated injuries and damages, multiple responding insurance policies, and questions of ultimate liability for particular damages.
- It is far from easy to apply general legal principles to complicated situations. Thatâs one reason our legal and judicial systems are so large!
- A good actuary / risk manager can benefit from a good imagination. Things that have happened in the past are not a complete guide to what might happen in the future â one needs some imagination to envision what could happen, and then to evaluate whether you would be covered!
This may be obvious to many, but your first barrier to entering the actuarial field will be completing at least one actuarial exam. Just about every full-time actuarial opportunity is going to require a minimum of one exam passed, and you will be even more marketable with 2-3 under your belt.
Regardless of being a current student, new college graduate, or career changer, actuarial internship experience will be a valuable addition to your background. I recognize that most internships are offered to current college students. However, on several occasions, I have worked with career changers who have been able to secure internships, even 10+ years out of college. While many internship descriptions may list âmust be a current college student,â this is not always the case; it is still worth putting in an internship application, if you have the time, as you never know when a company may have flexibility. Keep in mind that most actuarial internships will also require at least one actuarial exam passed.
Just about every actuarial job description that you review is going to include a combination of programming/computer skills. While Excel tends to be the number one utilized computer skill in the actuarial field, basic Excel skills are not really going to cut it anymore, if you want to be competitive. In addition to Excel, there tends to be quite a bit of demand for the following skills: Access, Visual Basic/VBA, SQL, SAS, C++, and R.
It is quite common for job seekers to write a cover letter template, switch out the company name and position title, and click âsubmit.â This is a missed opportunity to explain your specific interest in the company and role, and hiring teams may see this as a lack of effort and interest. Do some research, and explain why this company and position make sense for you, long term.
One of the most common reasons that candidates do not move forward after an initial phone interview is that they did not appear to be knowledgeable about the company and position they are interviewing for. Make sure to thoroughly review the companyâs website days before your interview, and print out a copy of the job description to have handy for your interviews. Take the time to draw parallels between your background (academics, work experience, technical skills, etc.), and the role you are applying to. It may also be helpful to write out a list that answers âWhy am I interested in this specific company and role?â and also âWhy am I a good fit?â Â Make sure to know the lines of business that the company works with.
Adam Noreen is an Actuarial Recruiter at DW Simpson. He has been assisting entry-level candidates and career changers for approximately three years, in securing their first actuarial and analytics positions. Contact Adam at 
Suddenly, you see something, just ahead and to the left, on the periphery of your screen sensor. You instinctively shift your direction slightly, and slowly close in on the object. You switch to virtual camera mode — and there it is, standing over six-feet tall: a bi-pedal feline. Right in front of the window of a well-landscaped brick ranch home, just standing there like he owns the place. Not believing your luck, you blink and then refocus. Your eyes were not deceiving you. It is indeed one of the rarest (and strongest) of the PokĂ©mon: Mewtwo. You simply must have it! But before you attempt the capture, you’d like to get much closerâŠ
You throw open the unlocked gate and step into the yard, breaking your ankle on a loose cobblestone. Undaunted, you limp purposefully toward the Mewtwo, trampling several expensive flowers and small ornamental shrubs. You fling your PokĂ©ball, and score a direct hit â the Mewtwo is yours! In your ecstasy, you raise your arms in triumph, accidentally letting go of your phone, which flies into and shatters a window on the home.
Chase Yetter, a rising senior at Lebanon Valley College double majoring in actuarial science and mathematics, was this yearâs recipient of the $10,000 CAS Trust Scholarship. âWhen I was a student in high school, I knew I wanted to pursue a career that would challenge me, and I wanted it to involve both mathematics and business,â said Yetter. Chase is excited about a pursuing a career in the property and casualty industry, and has already been able to attend multiple industry events  including the Spring 2015 and Fall 2015 Casualty Actuaries of the Mid-Atlantic Region (CAMAR) meetings, as well as the 2015 CAS Annual Meeting as part of the student program. âI hope to quickly become a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society (FCAS) and a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU)⊠I also hope to become one of the first to earn the predictive analytics credential that arises from the partnership between the CAS and The Institutes.â
Chloe Marshinski, a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign majoring in actuarial science and statistics, was awarded a $5,000 CAS Trust Scholarship. âKnowing my work is contributing to a field that helps our society function and grow gives me motivation and purpose in my work. I am specifically interested in the property-casualty industry because it encompasses so many different types of risk and is constantly faced with new challenges,â said Marshinski.  She held an internship this past summer with CNA, where she completed two pricing reviews consisting of pulling and organizing data and making loss ratio selections, comprehensive pricing analysis of the umbrella book of business, and presented findings and recommendations on future business strategies to underwriting.  Before that Marshinski interned with a State Farm agent, researching products, communicating with customers about their product interests, and calculating auto insurance quotes for online leads. Her internships taught her that âwhile the data and the numbers are important during an analysis, itâs being able to communicate your findings and recommendations to others that makes the analysis worthwhile.â
Sarah Rumon is an actuarial science major and rising junior at University of St. Thomas. She was awarded a $5,000 CAS Trust Scholarship. Rumon is the founding member and president of Gamma Iota Sigma Beta Pi Chapter at University of St. Thomas and was International Student Representative for Gamma Iota Sigma at the annual Gamma Iota Sigma Conference last year. Rumon has also taken part in the Travelers Insurance Actuarial Summer Student program as well as their Actuarial and Analytics Leadership Development Programs, where she summarized and presented aggregate review results to loss analytics department, and gained an understanding of public sector products. âDuring the course of my education and professional experiences thus far, I have come to realize that being an actuary is so much more than passing tough exams and being skilled with using Excel. To me, a successful actuary has three distinct sets of skills: analytical skills, business acumen and knowledge, and soft skills such as leadership, communication, time management, and more,â said Rumon.
  
 
Two years since its inception, the CAS Student Central Program now reaches more than 4,000 student members from over 400 universities worldwide! The growth of the program can be attributed to the wide range of benefits and resources made available to support you on your actuarial career path. Weâve highlighted a few of the key resources below, and we invite you to share your recommendations on additional materials or benefits that youâd like to see made available to Student Central members in the future!
 
 
 
The CAS exam process provides aspiring property and casualty actuaries with a solid foundation in insurance and actuarial topics. But how can university students, candidates, and credentialed actuaries stay informed and up-to-date on the latest industry trends?
We thank Syed Danish Ali, for sharing this post with members of CAS Student Central. Â A version of this post was originally on the University of London’s student blog.
A year ago I was an international student studying at the University of Toronto. I am from China, and I decided to pursue my dream of becoming an actuary in Canada six years ago. There are lots of exciting opportunities there, but as I embarked on my job search, I realized that there were cultural and language gaps that presented unique challenges for international students searching for actuarial jobs in either the United States or Canada.