Description: This document is a summary of a session which was presented at the 1975 SOA Annual meeting. It includes discussions on the following topics: Effects of ERISA on valuation methods, discussion of Claude Y. Paquin's paper A Review of Actuarial Cost Methods for Defined Benefit Pension Plans, funding standard account, asset valuation and allocations, plan mergers, a discussion of Josiah M. Lynch's paper A Practical Approach to Gains Analysis, information related to Individual policy pension trusts.

Description: Exploration of sources of volatility in retiree health valuations, noting how volatility arises and might be mitigated, with discussion of valuation parameters more problematic for retiree health benefits than for pensions. Three significant influences on retiree health valuation volatility are covered-- changes in benefit level, fluctuations in cost level, and alterations in eligibility for, or duration of, benefit – and attention focused on the last two. Specific conclusions result in recommendations, which are supported by practical examples contrasting volatile measurement results with those likely from the recommended practices. Theoretical discussion includes health claim variation, health trend usage, financial economics, option pricing, discount rates, and deterministic vs. stochastic modeling.

Description: Chapter 3 presents a very general overview of the data from public employee retirement systems in California, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, and Texaseach in respect to demographic and economic assumptions. From A Study of Public Employees Retirement Systems, M-RS96-1.

Description: Six appendices are presented: Study Methodology and Response, Column Names and Data Codes, Listing of Respondents and Reports Received, Experience Study Data, Valuation Report Data, and Investment Data. From A Study of Public Employees Retirement Systems, M-RS96-1.

Description: Authors’ response to Ryan Lab Asset Management’s Comments on their paper which examines the degree to which certain actuarial methods satisfy public pension plan funding objectives.

Description: Paper examining the degree to which certain actuarial methods satisfy public pension plan funding objectives.

Description: Chapter 6 summarizes the findings for key actuarial assumptions in each of the following categories: active mortality, disablement rates, withdrawal rates, retirement rates, retiree mortality, disabled mortality, interest rates, salary scales, actuarial cost methods, ans asset valuation methods. From A Study of Public Employees Retirement Systems, M-RS96-1.

Description: The methods of pension funding are generally understood, but references in the actuarial literature are rather sparse. This paper attempt, in some measure, to get at least the fundamentals of pension funding into the actuarial literature. From Society of Actuaries 50th Anniversary Monograph, M-AV99-1.

Description: Chapter 2 describes the general categories of results that the study gleaned from the vast amount of data gathered: active mortality rates, disablement rates, termination rates, retirement rates, retiree morality, disabled mortality, interest rates, and salary scales. From A Study of Public Employees Retirement Systems, M-RS96-1.

Description: Part 5 addresses various purposes for measuring a public sector pension liability and which measures have the most practical usefulness.