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?

Description: The presenters will provide an update on discount rates developed from the expected return on assets used in going concern pension funding. They will include recent research on discount rates being used for U.S. public sector plans, U.S. Multiple Employer Pension Plans, and Ontario and British Columbia plans. A discussion of the emerging regulatory framework in Canada and the U.S. and changes to ASOP 4 and 27 will also be covered. Components of discount rates such as expenses and margins (PfADs) will also be covered.

Description: Study of the impact of IRS proposed mortality tables on private sector pension plan costs, including liabilities, contributions and PBGC premiums.

Description: What role do retirement accounts and insurance products play in wealth inequality pre- and post-bankruptcy in Washington, DC, in 2011?

Description: Study of the impact of IRS proposed mortality tables on private sector pension plan costs, including liabilities, contributions and PBGC premiums.

Description: The SOA Research Institute is seeking researchers to update and expand the work done in "Disparities in the Pursuit of Financial Security in Retirement by Race and Ethnicity: A Review of the Disparities and Key Metrics to Monitor Them in the Future" by looking at disparities in retirement assets across races and ethnicities by various combinations of socioeconomic and demographic factors.

Description: Updated study of metrics for measuring whether US mulitemployer pension plan contributions paid down unfunded liabilities or met regulatory benchmarks

Description: This report considers trends in public defined benefit plan maturity metrics, asset allocations and assumed rates of return among 139 state-based and large local defined benefit pension systems or plans in the United States from 2001 to 2018.

Description: Updated longitudinal study of metrics for measuring whether US corporate pension plan contributions paid down unfunded liabilities or met regulatory benchmarks.

Description: To help familiarize actuaries in industry with statistical methods for imputing or modeling race and ethnicity in the U.S., the Institute’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Research Program is seeking a researcher to outline the various methods, including their strengths and weaknesses. The project intent is a methodology review rather than original thinking. The review should assume that the user will be working with structured datasets in an insurance context, for example, data associated with an in-force life or health insurance product.