Description: This articles explores the notion of whether the old rules and paradigms of investment strategy and caution may no longer be applicable in today’s financial environment, because things were “different this time.”

Description: Read the February 2017 issue of Risks and Rewards published by the Investment Section.

Description: Dynamically Hedging Insurance Product Risk by Marshall C. Greenbaum from Risks and Rewards Newsletter, April 2000, Issue No. 34. A dynamic hedging program cab be an effective solution to insurance company market risk management problems.

Description: Recaps the evolution of VA products and hedging programs. Reflects on strategic considerations that contributed to relative performance in this market.

Description: The author, head of Alternatives Investment Specialists at Fortis Investments, recently presented a research paper on the potential benefits and possible pitfalls of investing in illiquid assets. This newsletter provides a brief summary of that paper. The full paper is available upon request.

Description: This article discusses capital market cycles, specifically considering whether or not 2008 was a good time to buy. It concludes that “stocks have likely only recently entered the buying opportunity range on an aggregate basis. However, from a psychological and risk management perspective, we should strongly consider that stock prices will revert beyond the mean for many years, perhaps even decades, before they get better.”

Description: Reviews anecdotal evidence that the current shift to passive investing is an indication that investors are irrationally ignoring market risk.

Description: This article discusses Variable Annuity products with significant guaranteed minimum benefits, and hedging strategies used by insurers due to the mark to market accounting requirements for these liabilities under GAAP. It focuses in particular on delta-hedging and the implications of the 2008 market volatility.

Description: Invites readers to submit topics on the theme of "This Time It's Different. Members will then be invited to submit essays for and against.

Description: In this article the author concludes that “terrorism may foster a sense of conservatism that we may now need in the marketplace. Now that policy may have to be changed. In the process, risk will become better understood, common sense can replace, to some extent, the irrational behavior or excessive risk taking of the past and we will all appreciate our financial situation much more, and won’t expose ourselves to unrealistic expectations as much Hopefully the actuarial profession can respond to the challenge, since we are the best qualified to quantify such risks in the marketplace.”