Joann Wilson:
CLASS OF 1988
Wasco Union High SchoolClass of 1988
Wasco, CA
Joann's Story
August 19, 2012:
After I left Wasco, I went to UCSB and graduated with a degree in statistics/actuarial science. I headed to Seattle, WA, starting out as a student actuary. I eventually finished my exams and became a fully credentialed actuary in 2001. I had several actuarial positions but was laid off twice due to company shutdowns. I eventually found my way to Farmers Insurance and stayed there for 11+ years. Farmers is a subsidiary of Zurich Insurance Company with home office in Switzerland. My current husband was really interested in moving abroad - mainly due to the economy - Switzerland just announced a budget SURPLUS - I think that is pretty normal here. That is hard to believe coming from the USA. When I told Zurich that I really wanted to move to home office, they wrote up a job description. Unlike the USA, good actuaries are not easy to come by in Europe. There is an incredible shortage here due to Solvency II requirements for all EU countries soon to be imposed.
My husband was also an actuary working at Farmers. We decided that moving to Switzerland, he should quit and be a stay-at-home dad (hausmann). The Swiss society does not make it easy nor does it encourage both parents working. Daycare costs 2 to 3 times more than in the USA. Elementary school kids come home for a 2 hour lunch every day. Kindergarten is only half day but they do have 2 years of kindergarten here so my youngest starts school next Tuesday.
We really enjoy it here but things are much different than in the USA. In the USA, we lived in 3,500 square foot home. Now we are in about a 1,200 square foot apartment whose rent is more than the mortgage we paid on the home in the USA. We, like many of our neighbors, really down-sized. Switzerland is very expensive. We did not realize how much until we moved here. I thought I had gotten a pretty good salary increase for coming here but did not know - LEVI jeans cost about 175, a lunch for 2 people at a normal restaurant is about 150, a car costs about 50% more than ...Expand for more
the USA, meat is ridiculously expensive. So, we just stopped doing some things. I have not bought a single piece of clothing for myself since I moved here over a year ago - the company shipped our stuff for us so I went on a good-sized shopping spree - however, I do need a few things mainly because I have gained weight from eating cheaper food here. Cheese, chocolate, and white bread are cheap. We do go to McDonald's regularly but have never eaten at a real restaurant here. So it has turned out to be a good time to visit the USA. I am packing my luggage with as many jeans, pants, and blouses I can possibly fit in. [Visiting Wasco August 29 to September 9, 2012]
I am on a local contract here so my sons attend Swiss local school. My oldest has had a difficult time learning German but with extra tutoring and a lot of yelling - we think he is keeping up with his German studies. Our little one will have no problem from what others tell me. By next year, he will probably speak to me only in Swiss German. My husband has been taking German for about a year so can communicate some. I finally decided to start about a month ago. I had originally opted to take Spanish because Zurich encouraged it due to a Latin America acquisition but since I am the country manager for Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Luxembourg, it felt odd to take Spanish. I decided to add the German class on Saturdays. Now I am taking Spanish 1 hour a week at work and German 3 hours a week on Saturday.
I am quite busy but lucky that my husband stays at home and takes care of all the laundry, shopping, and cooking. I do most of the cleaning. I also used to do most of the organizing of play dates but now he does this too, particularly now we have met another stay-at-home dad from the USA. Here we are lucky to have many, many expat friends. Since English speakers are not the norm, we really stick together and help each other out.
Would love to read what others have done.
Joann Gong WIlson
Actuary, Fellow of the Society of Actuaries
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