Marty:

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I considered Actuary as a career when I was a kid. Aren't they also required to carry some certification? I mean, if an actuary completely botched an estimate, what's the worst thing that could happen?
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I was a certified actuary. Certification is fairly expansive (several hundred dollars per exam), difficult (an average person will study over 3 years and 2500 hours to get his Associateship), and uncertain (the passing rate is well below 50%). After going through those, I have very little respect for the
IT Certifications (MS, Cisco, Oracle, etc) because you can pass an exam after attending a 1 to 5 day class (or read a book over a long weekend).

I was responsible to invest a small portion of the reserve (about $800 million) and I don't want to think what would have happened if I really screwed up.

Daniel