Alvar Chambers. Career model

Alvar Chambers FFA/FIA: 1996 Company: Insight Investment Role: LDI Portfolio Manager

Current work

I am a portfolio manager, designing, implementing and managing Liability Driven Investment strategies (involving swap overlays and physical assets) and broader OTC derivative solutions for pension fund and insurance fund clients.

Other actuaries in the company

We have various actuaries working in product specialist, quantitative analyst and business development roles.

Opportunities for others

Insight Investment is a growing asset management business and there is potential for other actuaries to work in similar fields depending on skills and experience.

First job

Bacon and Woodrow graduate intake 1992

Career history

• Pensions Actuarial student 1992-1995, Bacon Woodrow (now Hewitt Associates)
• Investment Consulting 1995 - 2001, Senior Investment Consultant, Bacon & Woodrow (now Hewitt Associates)
• Investment Consulting 2001 - 2004, Investment Principal and Actuary, Aon Consulting
• LDI Portfolio Manager, 2004 - 2010 (current), Insight Investment

Key steps between first job and current one

1. Switch from pensions actuarial to investment consulting in 1995.
2. Switch from investment consulting to asset management in 2004. Liability Driven Investment was in its infancy and there was a need for investment professionals in the fund management team with good understanding of actuarial liabilities and skills to model them and design investment strategies.

Hurdles to surmount

Switching from consulting to fund management 12 years into my career was a huge change in the nature of my job. My actuarial background brought very valuable knowledge and insights to the new role, but at the same time I had to learn a lot about practical fund management from the ground up, as my previous roles had all been advising clients rather than implementing investment strategies.

Original reason for becoming an actuary

Interesting financial career allowing specialising in investment area using mathematical skills with a good professional qualification.

Subsequent thoughts

Actuarial training provided a solid base of education and work experience, resulting in a respected qualification, and opened the doors to investment management for pension fund and insurance fund clients.

Other comments

Investment consulting for pension fund clients provides a great way to learn about institutional investment in its broadest sense. While being a very satisfying career path in its own right, it also provides plenty of opportunities to specialise in areas of interest for those with an interest in exploring the wider fields of investment.