Description: SOA Asset Valuation Method Survey Results by Jim Paterson & Larry Pinzur from Pension Section News, June 1999, Issue No. 40.

Description: This article announces the availability and provides an overview of the Study Note for Course P–461U-Valuation of Pension Benefits for Disabled Participants. From Pension Section News, April 1998, Issue No. 36.

Description: This article discusses that mortality tables should reflect improving mortality. The Group Annuity Mortality table GAM-83 is probably the most common table used by pension actuaries—75 percent of the plans in Watson Wyatt’s “2003 Survey of Actuarial Assumptions and Funding” use GAM-83 for funding calculations. However, there are three more recently published tables that warrant consideration for use in pension valuations: UP-94, GAM-94 and RP-2000. From Pension Section News, January 2006, No. 60.

Description: This article summarizes the approach taken by the Canadian Institute of Actuaries to develop mortality tables and mortality improvement scales for use in Canadian pension plans based on Canadian population data. It also summarizes the additional factors pension actuaries have to consider in using the new tables and scales.

Description: Kevin Binder, chair of the Pension Section Research Team, shares a summary of two recently completed projects that are now posted on the SOA website.The first topic is on the drawing down of retirement savings and the second is on the valuation of pension plan embedded options. From Pension Section News, October 2011, Issue No. 75.

Description: This is an essay on the measurement of the reasonableness of each individual non-economic actuarial assumption. From the Pension Section News, September 2008, Issue No. 68.

Description: This articles features three study notes for used for the Retirement Benefits course 8 exam: Current Issues in Social Security by Steven McKay Mortality Tables for Pension Plans by D. Grubbs and M. Oliver and Valuation of Pension Benefits for Disabled participants by Edward Sypher

Description: Spending down (decumulating) assets during retirement involves complex decisions about which specific assets to liquidate in what amounts, in what order, and at what times. No established methodology exists for making these decisions in individual cases. This paper describes a manual process that individuals can follow, a process that could be automated for wider use.

Description: This paper is a follow-up to the papers in the January and April 2005 editions of the Pension Forum, which focused on the interest assumptions to be used in pension funding. This paper focuses on the other assumptions used to calculate pension liabilities—mortality, early retirement and expense. From Pension Section News, April 2006, No. 61.

Description: This article announces the availability and provides an overview of the 2003 SOA Pension Plan Turnover Study. From Pension Section News, June 2004, Issue No. 55.