Description: Retirement isn't a solo endeavor and the prospect of retirement looks starkly different depending on your family, your generation, your income and a host of other socioeconomic factors. The presenters will review the study, 'Financial Perspectives on Aging and Retirement Across the Generations' with an eye towards how these findings impact public policy, plan design for employers and financial planning for individuals and families.

Description: This 1981 discussion session is about public social policies and their impact on public and private retirement plans in the United States and Canada. The key issues discussed pertain to age, sex and marital status, and income level. Also discussed is the possible impact of public social policies on future trends in disability benefits, death benefits, termination benefits, and other factors in private and public retirement plans.

Description: 1994 SOA Meeting, San Antonio. This session provided information on executive compensation plans in the US, with special emphasis on nonqualified deferred compensation programs. Topics included: 1. The growing importance of nonqualified deferred-compensation plans and the description of those plans typically used to supplement retirement income. 2. Issues relating to severance plans. 3. Deferred compensation via stock and other equity-type compensation.

Description: This session discussion will review rulings, regulations and announcements which have been issued in the last year. This is intended to be an overview and not a detailed analysis. Focus is on pension plans.

Description: A pension plan uses Actuarial Equivalence to determine a 'fair' adjustment to pension benefits for form and timing of payment. The definition of Actuarial Equivalence is set in the Plan Document which may not have been reviewed for decades. With a wave of recent pension litigation in the U.S., plan sponsors, attorneys and actuaries now pay more attention to how pension plans define Actuarial Equivalence. How does a change in mortality table or interest rate affect the ultimate benefit? What are the requirements under ERISA and pertinent regulations? Are there court cases that have examined this question before? What are the issues behind the recent lawsuits and what can a plan sponsor do now to reduce their legal exposure? What alternative strategies are available for changing or not changing the definition in the plan document?