Description: This is a discussion about actuaries, stochasticity and risk management. This article is a response to Max Rudolph's ERM As A Competitive Advantage: Moving Beyond PBA to Add Value The Actuary, April/May 2007.

Description: Our paradigm constrains our view of the world, but also provides guidance on how we address and solve problems.

Description: Full version of The Financial Reporter, Issue No. 65, June 2006.

Description: Discusses: [1] the effects of Financial Accounting Standard No. 97 [FAS 97] on recoverability and loss-recognition issues, [2] interest-crediting strategy, ways and means of maintaining the planned interest spread, the effects of the various strategies on lapse experience, and the ultimate effect on recoverability of the deferred acquisition costs, and [3] premium-deficiency testing and the modification of interest, mortality, and expense margins to satisfy the question of loss recognition, or lack of the ability to recover the remaining deferred asset. From the 1988 Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 14, No. 3.

Description: This paper discusses contracts sold by states which promised to provide tuition in the future for a fixed price. Because these contracts provide a benefit whose dollar value is uncertain at the time of sale, these contracts contain significant risks to the states and create a challenge to the actuaries who opine on the adequacy of the trust funds to provide the benefits promised by these contracts. This article discusses some of the implications of the method used by the major states to project tuition inflation and explores other possible methods. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 1993, VOL. 3.

Description: There is surprisingly little guidance on whether negative GAAP term reserves should be floored. This article addresses some of the considerations for flooring.

Description: A question from a reading regarding the accuracy of a comment from the December 2016 issue of The Financial Reporter article titled “Negative GAAP Term Insurance Reserves—to Floor or Not to Floor?”

Description: Deep learning neural network applied to experience analysis for post-level term lapse and mortality.

Description: A discussion of the limitations of the use of spreadsheets versus formal programs in actuarial processes. including limited documentation, inability to incorporate new features without significant coding and subtle bugs that may appear.

Description: Effective documentation is a critical component of model risk management. Several types of effective documentation are discussed.