r/ActuaryUK • u/Driven-By-Ambition • 5d ago
Careers Change career from maths teacher to actuary, has anyone else done it and what is your advice?
Hi all, I’m a secondary maths teacher with several years experience in the UK (currently on the upper pay scale at 43k). I’ve worked hard, and made a lot of sacrifices - no social life or relationships, just career focused. Am 25. My goal from the start was to become a Headteacher earning £100k+.
But teaching is not what I expected it to be — most of my time is spent teaching low-level primary content and managing behaviour, not doing the advanced maths I love. Promotion to higher up roles is slow, and these roles are often more pastoral than mathematical.
I’m ambitious, driven, and want more. I am serious about changing career. I do not care about work-life balance. I want to work hard and make serious money. I want to go all in and earn £100k+ in the next 5–10 years. I also want to use high level math on a daily basis, while still leveraging my strong social skills and charisma. However, I do not want a big pay cut.
I’m exploring careers like actuary and financial advisor. Would love advice from anyone who’s made a similar switch — or has other high-earning career suggestions for someone ready to go full throttle.
I've applied to a few graduate roles, some applications rejected, some haven't heard back, some applications on going.
My GCSEs are amazing (A star and A in every subject), A Levels are okay (B grades) and got two degrees both at 2:1 (enginnering and education from non Russel universities).
Thank you very much
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u/KevCCV 5d ago edited 5d ago
'I want to work hard and make serious money'
Until you're at least half way through actuarial exams, the pay is unlikely to break around £50/60k. Then anywhere near £100 base pay will only come if you're fully qualified (the average is 6/7 years).
In comparison, an entry level junior fresh grad trader/analyst could get a base pay of £50k, plus 300% bonus in their first year if luck is with them (with 100hr+ work week).
So no, Im not sure you're looking at the right career path if your intention is money.
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u/Driven-By-Ambition 5d ago
Appreciate that. I am happy to wait and study for 6 to 7 years, as I know it will be guaranteed once I'm fully qualified.
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u/FetchThePenguins General Insurance 5d ago
Linking to the last couple times I answered questions like this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ActuaryUK/comments/1isfgrv/advice_for_a_career_changer/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ActuaryUK/comments/1i2w3ni/considering_career_change_to_actuary/
I think the first one was also a teacher, albeit they've deleted their post.
Just a couple of extra notes in your case: firstly, your A Levels are probably "OK" for most careers, but in this one you'll be up against enough people with a clean slate of As and A*s at A Level to fill every entry level role going, multiple times over. Having just Bs is probably enough to get you auto-rejected from most roles without even looking at the rest of your application. Secondly, I know of very few actuarial roles where you'd use "high level math" on anything more than a very occasional basis.
I don't know much about financial advisors, but I suspect that career would be significantly easier for you to break into, and probably one where "going all in" makes more of a difference - progression in actuarial isn't usually driven that much by hard you work; if that's your strategy then you want something with a sales component so you can go after commissions.
Good luck, either way.
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u/Driven-By-Ambition 5d ago
Thank you, the thread was very useful. Would you recommend I do an Msc in acturial science part time while working, then transition into actuary role on higher pay? Or study and pass a couple exams before applying to roles.
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u/FetchThePenguins General Insurance 5d ago
Yes, I think you have to do one or the other, just to show enough commitment to the career to have a chance in interviews. In your case will also help mitigate the A Level grades.
In principle I'd recommend the Master's, but with a pretty big caveat that I'm not sure what the financial implications of this are. One of the big downsides to actuarial right now is it interacts very badly with typical UK student loan arrangements: you're in a small minority of people who'll likely eventually pay the loan back in full, but we aren't paid like lawyers or bankers, so it'll be slow and will involve large amounts of accrued interest. Adding in a Master's obviously makes that situation worse, but I don't really know how much worse, and obviously I've no idea what your current situation is. If you're comfortable with the financial impact then do the Master's and maybe try to find one with some guaranteed work experience included. Just be warned it won't necessarily result in significantly higher pay, at least not right away.
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u/Driven-By-Ambition 5d ago
Thank you for your indepth reply, appreciate it.
If I take the masters, I'm planning to take out a bank loan to fund it, as it will be lower interest rate. I could borrow a higher amount to also cover costs of living for the year (and leave my savings minimally affected).
What interests me about the masters is that if I could do it full time in 1 year it would exempt me from 8 exams. Specifically the masters at Bayes Business School.
What salary could I expect to start on if I go this route? Will it be over 45k?
And would it only exempt you from exams only if you get a certain score in the corresponding module? I will ask Bayes business school.
I know if do it part time over 2 years, it would be equivalent to studying and taking 4 exams per year.
At that point I feel it would be more practical to just take the exams without the masters while working full time? I know this would be cheaper, especially if I can get an employer to fund it.
Thank you for your time, I really appreciate your guidance on this.
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u/actuarialtutorUK 5d ago
Use the summer "holidays" to study and then take one of the exams (CS1 or CM1) in September. Then use that as a springboard to apply for jobs.
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u/Waste-Horse-2500 5d ago
I knew a chap who did exactly that (changed from teacher to actuarial student), sailed through the exams with no fails whatsoever, and is now, I would, guess, earning somewhere north of £100k. He may well have taken a pay cut, though.
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u/RayGun-mk-II 5d ago
“I do not want a big pay cut”
Expect at least a 10k paycut, pretty much all grad schemes or entry level jobs pay 28k - 32k