The Journey of Becoming with Liting Chen

Tell us what you thought of this episode! What's next? It's a question that can sit quietly in the back of your mind for years. For Liting Chen, it was the question that ended one chapter and started another. After 17 years building a successful actuarial career across AXA, AMP and AIA Australia, Liting walked away, not because anything had gone wrong, but because she couldn't stop asking herself "what's next?" In this episode, she talks candidly about starting a business from scratch, the loneliness of entrepreneurship nobody warns you about, and how training for her first marathon taught her more about limiting beliefs than about running. It's an honest, generous conversation about identity, uncertainty and what Liting calls "Becoming", the idea that while we might be made from the same clay, our shape doesn't have to stay the same. Key takeaways: \- Recognise that actuarial skills travel with you. Liting's superpower was more than her technical knowledge, it was the problem-solving, risk-thinking and discipline that transfer to almost any path. \- Expect the loss of expertise to sting. Going from answering everyone's questions to needing the answers herself was, in Liting's words, like going from the smartest person in the room to the dumbest. \- Be prepared for the loneliness. Entrepreneurship is sold as freedom, but Liting found the everyday human connection of corporate life - the coffees, the gossip - was what she missed most. \- Reframe "impossible" as "unfamiliar." Every new running distance felt impossible until Liting did it, and this is a lesson she now applies well beyond the pavement. \- Hold onto "different shapes, same clay." However your work roles and identity might change,  Liting argues the person underneath stays the same. If you've ever wondered what else might be possible for you, inside your career or well outside it, what shape might you be curious to try on? Liting Chen is an actuary and entrepreneur with 17 years of actuarial experience across life insurance and wealth management. During her actuarial career, Liting held roles across AXA, AMP and AIA Australia, progressing from actuarial analyst to management and leadership roles, with a specialty in pricing life insurance and wealth management products. In 2023, Liting decided to leave her actuarial career and explore a different path. Today, she is the founder of Plenitude Financial, working in mortgage broking with a focus on developing partnerships with organisations and communities that share an aligned value of enhancing wellbeing. Over the three years since leaving her actuarial career, Liting has continued to explore what else might be possible. She began writing and sharing more openly about her experiences, took up running despite never seeing herself as a runner and, within a year of starting, completed her first half marathon and began training for her first marathon. These experiences have shaped an idea she calls “Becoming”, remaining curious about who we are, what we are capable of, and the versions of ourselves we may not have discovered yet. Connect with Liting on LinkedIn. Visit Plenitude Financial. Click here to learn more about the Guardian Actuarial Leadership Program. Read Julia’s leadership development books written especially for actuaries: - For new and aspiring managers: "Aspiring Actuarial Leaders: The Modern Manager’s Toolkit" - For new and aspiring senior leaders: "Senior Leadership: An Essential Guide for Actuaries" We are featured in the Top 21 Actuary Podcasts on Feedspot. Thank you for listening to the We Are Actuaries podcast. Connect with Julia and Guardian Actuarial on LinkedIn. For more interviews and articles, visit our website.