Description: Discusses the Canadian Institute of Actuaries report on whether the normal retirement age in Canadian social security programs and private programs should be increased and possible impacts.

Description: The article endorses broader use of lifetime income in DC plans. It explains why the use of DB plans will continue to decline. The article points out that plans sponsors will not willingly take on additional ERISA fiduciary exposure. The article endorses three regulatory reforms that would increase the use of lifetime income in DC plans. 1. A robust annuity issuer safe harbor that would free employers from fiduciary exposure for putting an annuity provider on the DC platform. 2. A requirement that a plan offer a lifetime income option to qualify for the 404(c) safe harbor. 3. A revision to 404(c) to allow plan sponsors to allocate part or all of the employer match to lifetime income.

Description: Recent studies have suggested that teachers would be better off with DC or Cash Balance plans than with DB. Detailed data from CalSTRS support the opposite.

Description: Drivers for mortality are apparently linked to socio-economic differentials within different societal groups. Actuaries are not the only profession interested in unravelling the mystery of why different groups within society experience such different mortality rates. The author gives examples from occupational pension plans in Canada, the UK and Germany.

Description: This article is a review of the book “Public Employee Pension Funds,” by Robert Tilove, published in 1976 by Columbia University Press. The book concentrates on the major public policy issues affecting plans of state and local governments. A more detailed review of this book will be published in the “Transactions.”

Description: Article E&E Development by Lauer in The Actuary, September 1978, Volume 12, Number 7