Description: In the determination of pension costs the actuary normally has available for use several turnover scales which indicate rates of turnover by attained age. This paper attempts to outline broadly one method for classifying selected industries into three groups approximating low, medium, and high turnover levels, so that a more appropriate initial selection of turnover scales may be facilitated. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1968, Vol. 20, Pt. 1, No. 58.

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: 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 article uses a Bayesian approach to persistency to explore pension cost projection variability. The analysis includes the specifications of the model and how the model might be used to generate confidence intervals for pension cost projections.

Description: In the U.S. in the late 1980’s, the Internal Revenue Service was taking steps to try to institute explicit boundaries for the actuarial assumptions being used in 'funding' valuations to determine the appropriate contribution levels for small pension plans. This article was written in the context of that environment, to defend the rights of actuaries to their professional judgement. The courts eventually supported this perspective.

Description: Chapter 5 reviews the investment plans of four Florida, Louisiana, Minnesota, and California public employee systems concentrating on three main topics: general summary of fund and portfolio characteristics, comparisons of target asset allocations policies, and reviews of investment policies. From A Study of Public Employees Retirement Systems, M-RS96-1.

Description: This session discussion is about application of actuarial analysis and models to evaluate investment features. From Record of the Society of Actuaries Vol. 15, No. 1.

Description: This paper discusses the limits placed on actuarial pension practice since the passage of ERISA. From The Pension Forum, January 2003, Volume 15, Issue No. 1.

Description: A presentation of various views on establishing principles and practices for pension plan construction and valuation, in light of the passage of the Pension Reform Act. Presented at the Spring 1975 Meeting in Los Angeles.

Description: In this article, the authors introduce a new policy-making model for pension plan funding which openly represents the uncertainty. The word 'policy' is used here to indicate a strategy which is intended to be followed most [but not necessarily all] of the time. In unusual circumstances, the policy will have to be modified at the end of the year to retain qualification. However, the frequency with which this remedial action is needed is controllable by the actuary [unlike the method of using expected values]. The simple substitution of expected values of random quantities produces an unknown frequency of last minute remedial actions at possibly disastrous investment costs to the pension plan. However, with this paper's techniques, once the actuary acknowledges the uncertainty associated with the various aspects of the pension plan, he/she can explicitly trade off the costs associated with remedial actions, tax penalties, etc. with the investment returns in order to meet the pension plan goals. The method that this paper introduces is a new Chance-Constrained Programming approach to selecting annual contribution levels and asset allocation [holding other factors fixed] that the authors believe will better fit the employer's goals while recognizing the many risks and constraints associated with defined benefit plans. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 1993, Vol. 3.