Although many people may never have even heard of an actuary, let alone what they actually do, they play a very important role in all of our lives today. Basically they are in the numbers game. Calculating, collecting and interpreting numbers and statistics. So how does this affect us? Let's say you have booked your flight to Italy, you have reserved your apartment through your awarded Rome rentals agency and now you want to take out travel insurance in case anything goes wrong during your holiday. Who calculates the premiums? An actuary!

They work with numbers, statistics and past data and through exact mathematical calculations they assess the risk of any number of mishaps occurring during your trip, such as cancelled flights, being robbed or needing hospital treatment. As a result of these complex calculations the insurance company sets the price of the insurance policy accordingly.

The beauty is that it all seems so simple to us, especially if we get an on-line quote. Depending on certain factors, such as geographical cover, age of insured, whether winter sports are to be covered, and the length of the policy, we can quickly and easily obtain am amount of quotes at the click of a button.

You would never realise the amount of work that goes into producing these quotes by a human being!