Salary
Average Salary: $93,680
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $3,911,000
As someone who likes numbers, you'll definitely like these: actuaries typically make between $90,000 and $120,000 per year (source). There are only about 25,000 actuaries at work on the entire continent, and more and more types of companies are now looking to hire actuaries to help reduce the element of risk in their business.
We mentioned that actuary is becoming one of the country's most desired jobs, and the above figures are a big reason why. Top earners in this field take home between $150,000 and $200,000 a year (source).
Where you're working makes a difference, too. You'll make more working in the banking industry as a financial manager than you will in the health insurance industry—but either way you'll be making bank and can afford to be in good health.
All you really need to know is this job has routinely been ranked in highest-paying job lists for the past several years and is only expected to go up from here. It doesn't take an actuary to know that an actuary's risk of poverty is pretty low.