Description: This discussion looks at the main trends in substandard insurance, including: changes in medical impairments subject to substandard ratings or declination, increased availability of substandard insurance and reinsurance, changes in occupational and special hazard ratings, and progress with offerings of substandard individual health and accident coverages.

Description: Informative discussion about pricing techniques, including: [1] uses of return on investment [ROI], GAAP return on equity [ROE], and universal life [UL] and other profit measures, [2] scenario testing, [3] expenses, [4] target surplus, and [5] federal-income-tax considerations. From the 1988 Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 14, No. 2.

Description: Feature article describing how the Society of Actuaries (SOA) partnered with the Association of Home Office Underwriters (AHOU) and the Canadian Institute of Underwriters to conduct research focused on new medical tests and markers that may have significance and relevance to the life insurance markets to get a sense of where underwriting practices are going in the future.

Description: Feature article describing a simple and ready solution that allows a hedging program to operate effectively without risk of mismatch due to mortality fluctuations.

Description: In physics and engineering education, Fermi problems require solutions based on good approximate calculations with little or no actual data, involving making justified guesses and deducing bounds without using sophisticated tools. The idea of Fermi problems are of particular relevance to today's actuaries, as pricing, reserving, and financial reporting involve more and more complex stochastic components. The paper discusses some approximate solutions developed in academia in the spirit of Fermi problems.

Description: In our rapidly changing world, it is becoming hopeless to try to arrive at a satisfying description of future conditions, even in the short run. Yet prices for new life insurance must somehow reflect one’s view of events even in the far distant future. futurism

Description: The article highlights key considerations as companies begin to reserve for their IUL products under PBR.

Description: discussion of a LIMRA survey on the quantity and types of recent product development efforts of life insurance companies and the considerations driving these efforts

Description: Discusses the importance of coordinating the trends in investment markets with product characteristics, investment strategies, and asset modeling. From the 1987 Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 13, No. 2.

Description: Discusses pricing assumptions – including expenses, mortality, investments, persistency, and margin for adverse deviation – for various life products and other situations. From the 1987 Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 13, No. 2.