Description: This 1978 session focused on valuation techniques for pension plans. Topics covered: 1. Asset Valuation Methods 2. Use of projections and forecasts 3. Has application of forecasts allowed the actuary to determine short range best estimate of future costs different from traditional methods? 4. Treatment of salary scales, turnover assumptions, retirement decrements

Description: The study is based on a sample of actuarial reports attached to the form 550C3, Schedule B, which were sent to the Department of Labor during the period June 1976 to May 1977.

Description: This research provides a literature review on the topic of post-retirement financial strategies from the perspective of an individual who is approaching retirement age. The body of knowledge surveyed is the post-retirement financial strategies literature that is related to the risks of longevity, inflation, and investment. The literature sources are both academic and practitioner-focused. The end product is a documentation of and commentary on the state-of-the-art in the post-retirement financial strategies area. The intended audience is retirement professionals, and others, who need to be well informed about the current state of post-retirement financial strategies, as reported in the literature.

Description: The two basic considerations in a pension plan valuation are the choice of actuarial cost methods and actuarial assumptions. This paper deals with the assumptions. The concern in this regard is what actuaries are doing and why. There are explicit criteria why particular assumptions are chosen, and these have often been discussed in the pension literature. However, there also are implicit criteria, which, while seldom discussed in the literature, can dominate the valuation. The goal of this paper is to quantify some of these criteria, and thereby provide a basis for further discussion and research.

Description: The note begins with a short overview of key characteristics of a modern tontine. This is followed by a representation of a tontine flowchart that explicitly displays the components of a tontine and their relationships. The remainder of the note discusses the specifics of those components, including: the valuation and buy-in module, the active life test, settlement options, and periodic payments.

Description: The purpose of this paper is to discuss modified cost methods that have been proposed for small-plan valuations, The first portion of the paper deals with criteria for choosing a cost method. The next portions deal with small-plan characteristics and the potential shortcomings of conventional cost methods when applied to these plans. The final portion discusses two classes of modified cost methods that have been proposed for circumventing these shortcomings. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1983, Vol. 35.

Description: What is the 'best' post-retirement financial strategy for a particular participant of a defined contribution plan? The answer to this question must accommodate a number of risks, the most obvious of which are related to longevity, inflation, investment, and health. Moreover, what makes this question especially intriguing is that its solution must be molded to the wealth, features and agenda of a particular individual and/or family. Many of the constraints and goals are qualitative, and standard market and population metrics may have limited significance. This is the abstract of a paper that deals with implementation issues, qualitative goals and constraints, and tailor-made solutions.

Description: This paper uses a Bayesian approach to persistency to explore retirement cost projection variability. The analysis is divided into two parts. In the first part a subjective population projection model is developed, based on a beta-binomial distribution for the number of participants persisting through a given age. Probability statements regarding such items as the number of participants at a given age and the distribution of retirees are developed. The second part shows how the model might be used to generate confidence intervals for retirement cost projections. Both the single-entry-age case and the multiple-entry-age case are considered. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1979, Vol. 31.

Description: The purpose of this research is to analyze recent court cases that focused on excessive contributions to small defined benefit plans. The implications of the cases is important because it provides insight into appropriate paradigms for the funding of private retirement plans. From the Actuarial Research Clearing House 1994, Vol. 1 .

Description: This paper attempts to reduce several variables to their bare minimum and to investigate how the cost of vesting depends upon those few that remain. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1972, Vol. 24, Pt. 1, No. 70.