Description: This paper examines the valuation of assets and poses the following questions: A. What bases, other than cost or market, are in use for valuing pension trust assets and acceptable under the Internal Revenue Code and Rulings? and B. How can a retirement plan having assets valued on a book or cost basis utilize existing unrealized appreciation for purposes of improving benefits or reducing current funding costs without changing to a market value basis? From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1961, Vol. 13, Pt. 2.

Description: Book review of The Fundamentals of Pension Mathematics by Barnet E. Barin. Mr. Griffin supports the text as a valuable contribution in particular his analysis of gains/losses by source during the transition to utilizing computers for pension valuation.

Description: Discussion of the use of traditional individual insurance products for pension plans of employers with small numbers of employees. Also discusses the new products in use, or under development for such plans. Also discusses the pros and cons of shifting individual policy funded plans to some other basis when the number of participants becomes larger. Finally, a discussion of products and methods under development in contemplation of enactment of a Keogh-type bill to provide retirement benefits for the self-employed?

Description: This is a discussion of the paper Fundamentals of Pension Funding by Charles L. Trowbridge. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1952, Vol. 4, No. 10.

Description: The premise underlying the method illustrated is simply that, in a suit for damages based on earnings lost by reason of premature death or permanent disability, the value of future earnings should not be measured in terms of the whole of life but rather in terms of a more realistic work life expectancy.

Description: This paper presents a discussion on the paper titled, 'Work Life Expectancy as a Measure of Damages' by Thomas C. Smith and Frank L. Griffin, Jr. The technical aspects of the original paper are discussed, legal precedents for damage findings, and additional factors to be considered in determining damages.

Description: This is a discussion about employee benefit plans after retirement. The following questions are addressed: 1. To what extent are death benefits and medical benefits for employees and dependents kept in force after the employee retires?, 2. Where there is a continuation of such benefits for a retired employee or his dependent, what special problems can result from remarriage or reemployment, or in the event of the enactment of a federal plan?, 3. What methods of paying for or funding such costs are used?, and 4. What are the tax implications to both the employee and employer of the various approaches? Also discussed are insured vs. non-insured plans and valuation standards for pension plans. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1964, Vol. 16 Pt. 2.

Description: The following topics were discussed at concurrent sessions: 1. Pension benefit security bill, 2. Variable insurance products, 3. Trends in hospital and medical care utilization, 4. Insurance distribution and marketing systems, 5. Deferred and incentive compensation, 6. Annual Statement accounting, 7. Social Security and employee benefits in western Europe, 8. Individual medical expense insurance, 9. Reserves and related problems for variable annuities and cost-of-living benefits, 10. Topics for consulting actuaries, 11. Profit and other objectives in group operations, and 12. Life insurance operations overseas- problems and opportunities. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries, 1969 Vol. 21 Pt. 1 No. 61.

Description: This article is a review and analysis of the article “The Statistician as Expert Witness,” by Joseph G. Van Matre and William N. Clark, from the Feb. 1976 issue of “The American Statistician.” The author of this article notes that the article he is reviewing has general application to anyone serving as an expert witness in a court of law, especially in its remarks about the ethical responsibilities of such a person and in its advice on preparing to give testimony. Written from the viewpoint of a statistician, it has equal applicability to an actuary serving as an expert witness. The SOA has reprinted this article with permission from The American Statistical Association.

Description: Both company and employee objectives with regard to pension plan funding tend to enhance employee security in its broadest sense, and differences are primarily those of emphasis. Company stress is apt to be on flexible pension contributions within the framework of stable long-range costs, while employee stress- when not on increased benefits- is likely to be on the funding of accrued benefits. The purpose of this paper is to examine certain funding guidelines which reflect both viewpoints in a logical and consistent fashion. It is concerned with principles as well as with the broad impact of actuarial assumptions and cost methods but is not concerned with specific application of the latter. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1966, Vol. 18, Pt. 1, No. 51.