My first actuarial post in a very large insurance company was in the department dealing with industrial branch surrender values. While it introduced me to the world of utterly boring repetition, it didn't quite dissuade me from becoming an actuary.

Having qualified as an FIA during 4 years (it took me 7 years all in all!) with Duncan C Fraser (now part of Mercers), I then spent 12 years at Clay & Partners (now part of Aon), followed by 28 years at GAD until May 2018. All in all, I have been a UK pensions consulting actuary for over 40 years and I also qualified as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (which was no easier than becoming an FIA). In December 2022, due to severe concerns over how the Institute and  Faculty of Actuaries had been pressurising members over a few different  matters, I resigned as an IFoA member but I remain an actuary.

Now I am Treasurer of 2 UK charities ( Lawyers Against Poverty and Tech4All).

Apart from worrying about actuaries focusing on risk without taking account of reward, I also maintain websites on trying to estimate long-term inflation  in a sensible manner (with Con Keating) and long-term equity returns. Although they are still online, I doubt I shall be updating FRS17 in pictures, or arbitration in pictures any time soon. However, smoothed pension valuations was updated in Jan 2024 and I intend to revisit that this year.