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Allan Kaufman Maxims
10) Don't stop till you see the dusty files. Ok, sometimes dirty files.
9) Never create more triangles than there are claims in a dataset. ("The
Kaufman Rule").
8) If it looks wrong it probably is.
7) Forget what you learned about underwriters in school. UWs
aren't the ones stopping the bad insurance company from
writing your poor grandmother who suddenly needs glasses.
UWs WANT to write business. It's the actuaries role to apply the
brakes.
6) Spilling water on the floor and nobody falls doesn't make good risk
management.
Bold = applies to soft market; some literary license taken
Allan Kaufman Maxims
5) The body soon forgets pain - so do markets, but quicker.
4) Make sure you've worked out your cost of capital before getting into
the lift with the CEO - it might not be a dream. (recent London
addition)
3) You have to look at all the angles - even the ones greater than
180°.
2) One in a million events do occasionally occur. But when two of
them occur, it's time to check your model. (originally Chap
Cook)
1) Glass, China, and Reputation are easily cracked and never well
mended. (This last one was actually said by Ben Franklin but easily
applies to Allan and his continual professionalism and service to the
actuarial community)