Description: Retirees and their advisors should construct diversified portfolios of retirement income, allocating among various retirement income classes that include Social Security, annuities, and systematic withdrawals from invested assets. This essay discusses the pros and cons of various retirement income generators and the issues with constructing retirement income portfolios.

Description: This essay advocates that the transition from DB to DC plans won't be complete until plan sponsors offer programs of retirement income in their DC plans. The essay discusses the relevant actuarial and behavioral issues.

Description: New Zealand is about to launch its first variable annuity with guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits. The product design is mindful of the lessons from the financial crisis in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Description: This article explores the development of the annuity market in the UK over the past 20 years. It examines the explosive growth achieved by the enhanced annuity market and delves into the kinds of customers attracted by these products and the kinds of enhancements typically presented. It also explores the impact of government policy changes which have lead to annuity volumes declining and 'drawdown' product becoming more popular.

Description: The 1990s saw the rise of many types of variable investment products within the life insurance industry. It was only natural that hedging strategies and products would emerge in response to the inherent risk of loss of value in variable life and annuity products. This article explains a 21st-century twist on the concept for annuities, the Enhanced Earnings Death Benefit EEDB Rider.

Description: The paper is an individual risk theoretical examination of annuities for the aged. Through retirement systems, social security and insurance plans, annuities for the aged are a very significant matter and are worthy of inquiry. From the Actuarial Research Clearing House 1992 Vol. 2.

Description: Recent guidance in the form of Rev. Proc. 2006- 13 provides a general safe harbor for the fair market value of a deferred-annuity contract when determining the amount includible in income on conversion of a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.

Description: This article discusses the opportunity for annuity carriers created by the SECURE Act to distribute annuities through Employer Sponsored Defined Contribution Retirement Plans. The article covers a high-level overview of the changes enacted by the law that create the opportunity, as well as the potential opportunity for future annuity sales.

Description: Discussion of NAIC efforts to amend the annuity nonforfeiture laws to respond to falling interest rates.

Description: This article delves into a new line of statistical thinking of the author, that may be useful for product development actuaries. The key concept is how product design can produce products that diversify quickly, meaning that the company can be confident of a profitable product line, based on fewer sales than might be true for other designs.