What is an Associate In Research And Planning (ARP)?

The Associate in Research and Planning refers to the professional designation awarded by the Insurance Institute of America to those individuals that successfully complete six national exams. 

Of the six exams, two are for the ARP program, while four are for the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter course. 

The ARP program was developed with the support of the Society of Insurance Research, also known as SIR.

What Does an Associate In Research And Planning Do?

The ARP program covers areas related to health and life insurance research and planning. It focuses on market feasibility analysis for insurance firms. 

The analysis includes risk margins and loss projections of expected levels of loss as well as higher than expected levels of loss. 

The program is designed for personnel in the insurance firms. These are personnel that works in areas such as planning, research, including other related decision support functions. 

Consultants in Association in Research and Planning have a duty of making summaries of financial statements, including those statements that demonstrate the likelihood of serious financial impairment or loss. 

They provide consultancy that focuses on the following:

• Economic damages analysis for plaintiff counsel
• Defense counsel
• Insurance carriers

During the analysis, they usually put into consideration the rates and rate structures, the confidence level, and degree of capitalization in their collective findings, covering investment income and premiums. 

The consultants may come from varied professional backgrounds, to ensure that they come up with a comprehensive analysis by pulling together their research knowledge and skills. 

The consultants may be individuals with the following profession:

• Economists
• Physicians
• Lifecare planners
• Vocational evaluators
• Forensic accountants

These groups of professionals are in a position to offer development and management support to the insurance firms with regard to their general financial and strategic planning process. 

In addition, they help in collecting and organizing data and information that is later used to perform both qualitative and quantitative analyses. 

The data is also used to prepare templates and presentations to communicate financial and strategic plans to pertinent parties.

How does ARP Certification help you become an Actuary?

There is a projection that there will be demand for actuaries in the near future. Note that most of the actuary jobs involve carrying out research. 

So, taking the ARP certification to become an associate in research and planning may be a good move. It enables you to become an actuary. 

Actuaries are professionals who use disciplines such as statistics, mathematics, and financial theory to conduct a risk assessment for various potential events. 

This way, they help clients as well as businesses to come up with policies that will help them reduce risk-related costs. 

Generally, the holders of associated in Research and Planning designation are considered to possess the right set of skills that allow them to become actuaries. This is because they are believed to understand the subject matter much better. 

Most financial planners, insurance firms, as well as other multinational corporations, see the ARP holders as reliable professionals who can contribute well to actuaries. 

They are able to confidently to prevent financial catastrophe by providing a safeguard against it.