Description: This report series is being informed, in part, by online conversations of the listserv the SOA maintains for its Committee on Post-Retirement Needs and Risks, and the Aging and Retirement Strategic Research Program. The listserv is comprised of professionals involved in retirement security issues from a wide variety of disciplines and perspectives. This report summarizes thoughts and questions raised during the conversation focused on how COVID-19 impacts families and their role in retirement and economic security across generations.

Description: An interview of the winning co authors of the SOA essay contest on how differences in wealth and retirement outcomes are experienced by people of different races and ethnicities and to promote a better understanding of the underlying issues surrounding the differences.

Description: This article addresses how the ARPA has lessened the financial burden on sponsors of corporate defined benefit plans.

Description: The Society of Actuaries’ Aging and Retirement Strategic Research Program and LIMRA’s Secure Retirement Institute are pleased to release a report summarizing a series of interviews with retirement plan recordkeepers and subject matter experts regarding industry practices in financial crimes and fraud prevention.

Description: The Society of Actuaries and the Retirement Income Institute, a project of the Alliance for Lifetime Income, are partnering to explore ideas and thoughts on identifying current and alternative means of achieving and measuring retirement income adequacy. In issuing this call for essays, the organizations aim to gather perspectives, opinions and data on how to advance the state of effective retirement planning to assist individuals, actuaries, financial advisors, employers and other stakeholders.

Description: The 2021 Society of Actuaries Generations Survey offers results by race and ethnicity. This article is an interview with Alan Newsome and shares the results of the survey as well as broader issues to understand the differences in retirement security by race and ethnicity. It documents that there are major differences, and that the COVID-19 pandemic affected different groups very differently. It also raises issues related to societal conditions.

Description: As the population and workforce age, it is important to rethink how and when we retire. This article provides a big picture overview of issues related to opening up more options for exit from the labor force and gradual retirement. It reviews developments in the last few years that are important including the growth of gig employment, more remote work, more technology, workforce shortages, and changes in employee benefits that previously were a barrier to gradual retirement. It calls for more focus on adaption to the aging society. Several publications are cited and it includes a reference list.

Description: There is no silver bullet to improving retirement income outcomes for retirees. However, a combination of changes can be of significant value in addressing this overlooked issue. Although QLACs on the surface have potential value, they are not nearly as efficient as they could be. So far, employer plans have provided limited options for retirement income solutions. IRAs may not cost effectively serve the best interest of retirees. Employer plans should be encouraged to become retirement income providers and alternative approaches should be considered. The current prohibition on allowing plans to modify benefit payouts based on mortality experience should be reconsidered to allow for innovative plan income designs. Improvements to the deaccumulation stage of the retiree nest egg are challenging yet necessary.

Description: An interview with actuary Lee Gold reveals preliminary results of a recent SOA research project which surveyed employees on what retirement plan features they prefer.

Description: This article focuses on personal experiences and observations, what risk managers say about emerging risks, how climate and emerging risks fit into the bigger retirement picture for the individual, and how they affect actuaries and plan sponsors. During the last few years, there has been an increasing concern about the impact of emerging risks and about concerns about them. Climate change is a top emerging risk. At the end of 2022, climate change was highlighted in the news as a major concern. At the 2022 annual meeting of the SOA, it was clear that actuaries accepted the importance of climate change and the need to think about how it affected many areas of practice. It is however clear that disruption can also come from other emerging risks. This article focuses on the broader picture of emerging risks but with more detail about climate change. It looks at the issues through SOA research, personal experience and other data to provide a big picture insight into these risks and retirement security.