Description: This document is a summary of a session which was presented at the 1975 SOA Annual meeting. It includes discussions on the following topics: Effects of ERISA on valuation methods, discussion of Claude Y. Paquin's paper A Review of Actuarial Cost Methods for Defined Benefit Pension Plans, funding standard account, asset valuation and allocations, plan mergers, a discussion of Josiah M. Lynch's paper A Practical Approach to Gains Analysis, information related to Individual policy pension trusts.

Description: SOA Asset Valuation Method Survey Results by Jim Paterson & Larry Pinzur from Pension Section News, June 1999, Issue No. 40.

Description: A discussion of the various Pension Plan Asset Valuation Methods. FromThe Pension Forum, August 2001, Volume 13, Issue No. 1.

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: This presentation of the panel discussion from the 1977 Record of the SOA Vol. 3 No. 4 examines pension valuation and assumptions particularly assumption setting for Social Security Benefits, assumptions and methods for smaller plans, early retirement assumptions and funding of supplementary benefits, gain/loss and valuation assumptions.

Description: The motivation for various asset valuation methods and their properties are briefly described. Some smoothed value or market-related methods based on arithmetic averaging and exponential smoothing are considered and their effect on funding is discussed. Suggestions for further research are also made.

Description: This paper examines the valuation of assets and poses the following questions: A. What bases, other than cost or market, are in use for valuing pension trust assets and acceptable under the Internal Revenue Code and Rulings? and B. How can a retirement plan having assets valued on a book or cost basis utilize existing unrealized appreciation for purposes of improving benefits or reducing current funding costs without changing to a market value basis? From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1961, Vol. 13, Pt. 2.

Description: This paper examines some of the methods used to determine the value of the assets held by a pension fund and used in actuarial valuations to determine the required contributions for a pension plan. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1968, Vol. 20, Pt. 1, No. 58.

Description: ERISA funding requirements for defined benefit pension plans require an asset valuation method which takes reasonable recognition of fair market value. In this article, the author proposes three asset valuation methods in which market values could be averaged to eliminate the detrimental effects of periodic fluctuations in the bond and stock markets.

Description: Exploration of sources of volatility in retiree health valuations, noting how volatility arises and might be mitigated, with discussion of valuation parameters more problematic for retiree health benefits than for pensions. Three significant influences on retiree health valuation volatility are covered-- changes in benefit level, fluctuations in cost level, and alterations in eligibility for, or duration of, benefit – and attention focused on the last two. Specific conclusions result in recommendations, which are supported by practical examples contrasting volatile measurement results with those likely from the recommended practices. Theoretical discussion includes health claim variation, health trend usage, financial economics, option pricing, discount rates, and deterministic vs. stochastic modeling.