Description: This presentation at the 1989 Valuation Actuary Symposium discusses the differences in viewpoint and mind-set between the valuation actuary and the chief investment officer. How these differences played out in an exercise to determine asset strategies is reviewed.

Description: The article discusses the use of the keyword strategy in teaching. The literature with a negative view of keywords is reviewed and responded to by advocating keywords with multiple meanings supplemented with relevant instructional guidance. Numerous examples are presented from the SOA preliminary exams. Additionally, advanced use of keywords to problems not having them are presented.

Description: This discussion at the 1989 Valuation Actuary Symposium focuses on methods and considerations that are currently being used in analyzing various risks of concern to the health valuation actuary. The session looks at concepts and types of risks, considerations and influences affecting the actuary, formulas and methods for evaluating risk, and the present status of the health insurance valuation actuary concept.

Description: The Life Meeting, is the result of combining the Life & Annuity Symposium (LAS) and the Valuation Actuarial Symposium (ValAct). The Life Meeting will offer sessions specific to pricing and valuation as well as sessions on emerging issues relevant to both groups. These common themes include InsurTech, diversity, accounting change and the current economic environment.

Description: This article studies the syllabus as a dynamic, interactive teaching tool that informs and is informed by both solutions of complex course problems and student difficulties with these problems.

Description: This is a listing of the members of various 1954 committees including Mortality and Morbidity Among Lives Individual Insured, Mortality and Morbidty Under Group and Self-Administered Plans, Mortality Under Ordinary Insurances and Annuities, Group Insurance Mortality, Accident and Sickness Experience in Plans Insured on the Group Basis, Aviation, Group Annuity Mortality. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries, 1954 Reports

Description: This discussion is about the new ways of using computers in connection with various aspects of actuarial work. From Transaction of Society of Actuaries 1961 Vol 13 pt 2

Description: This presentation proposes a solution to the student actuarial paradox “I mastered the syllabus but failed the exam,” by utilizing the two-dimensional syllabus vehicle which pedagogically focuses on the two dimensions of content and problem difficulty. This presentation advocates the PMR characterization of three levels of problems difficulty: Plug-ins (easy), Monkey-wrench (intermediate), and Research-type(hard) questions. PMR was developed by examining difficulty levels in SOA exams, and problems of various software vendors. The author's students routinely score high on the SOA FM exam; it is hoped that these methods will assist other instructors in their quest for good pedagogy. Very briefly: “Plug-ins,” refer to multi-part problems, for example, calculating the price of an annuity that is first increasing and then level; “Monkey-wrench” problems specifically refer to plug-in multi-part problems where one component is a monkey-wrench, an issue the candidate has not previously encountered. It might be a non-typical modeling or it might be a non-typical algebraic simplification or it might be an unexpected integration of distinct modules in a manner that the candidate has not yet seen. “Research-type questions” refer to problems requiring some type of experimentation for example, looking at initial cases, seeing a pattern and then applying methods

Description: This article describes activities of the Board of Governors to strengthen the role of research within the SOA. The Board actions include approving two additional professional staff positions for the Research Department and including $150,000 in a Research Development Fund to serve as seed money for research projects.

Description: One of the most fundamental concepts in actuarial practice is the time value of money. For any work in which future cash flows are allowed for, such as reserving or pricing, it is natural to discount to present values so that an appropriate amount of money can be set aside today, allowing for future investment returns. This article discusses yield curve extrapolation methods along with the benefits and drawbacks of these methods.