I have been asked about what ALM or actuarial tools I used during my 30 years of career in insurance asset management. Well, the real answer goes back further than 30 years. My father’s abacus is the very first actuarial tool I ever used. And it is still the one I treasure the most.
I was born and raised in rural China. Both of my parents were farmers, like 90% of the population then. My father had one year of informal education and my mother had none. Somehow, my father managed to become proficient in abacus and became the accountant of our small farming community unit. That was my first exposure to abacus. I started learning to perform arithmetic calculation on my father’s abacus when I was in second grade, and fell in love with it.
When I came to the U.S. and got exposed to the world of actuary and insurance asset management, I was immediately attracted to it. When I visited my parents in subsequent years, I never forgot to play with this precious actuarial tool. I eventually brought it with me back to the U.S. when my father passed away.
Now I am frequently asked what ALM tools I use. Every time the question comes up, it always reminds me my father’s abacus.
