Description: This article contains a summary of some of the presentations given at the 2016 Life and Annuity Symposi

Description: This article contains a summary of some of the presentations given at the October 2013 SOA Annual Meeting in San Diego.

Description: This article is a review of the book by Joshua Foer. It covers the history of memory techniques, the way a human brain organizes memory, and various problems and successes in memory recall. The author starts by interviewing memory savants, and learns from them that the ability to perform seemingly impossible memory tricks is simply a matter of studying and practicing proven techniques used for millennia. This review suggests that actuaries can benefit greatly from some of these techniques despite the availability of electronic hand-held devices to recall facts because the person who does not need to rely upon such devices can have a huge perceptual advantage in executive presentations.

Description: Article Description * “Agile” development is all the buzz in the IT world. You may have heard your IT teams talk about scrums, sprints, and the war room and wondered if they were playing a strange new sport. Or perhaps you are already applying agile techniques in your product development. This article will discuss what agile methodology is, pros and cons, and how you might apply it to insurance product development.

Description: This author summarizes tips for creating, promoting and sustaining innovation found in the book Weird Ideas That Work by Robert Sutton.

Description: This article describes services of a reinsurance intermediary and the use of reinsurance to meet financial objectives.

Description: The column summarizes tax and retirement matters that ACLI and its member companies have been actively addressing. These include IRS 2015-2016 priority guidance items, the Department of Labor proposed fiduciary rule, proposed IRS hedge fund reinsurance rules, and new IRS notional principal contract rules.

Description: This paper discusses the issues of an independent actuary providing product development, or more accurately sales development, services to a life insurance company. The author explores the process, and proposes “compensation to the entrepreneurial actuary who accepts the challenge of operating in a setting where true success is not measured by isolating theoretical profit margins or business sold, but rather focusing attention on the unfolding experience of what is hopefully to be truly profitable policies.” Instead of basing the actuary’s compensation on time spent, the author is suggesting compensation based on results.