Description: Most investors give convertible securities less prominence than stocks and bonds in their investment portfolios. The attention span given to learning the intricacies and finer points of this hybrid security is quite narrow. In fact, most of us may not even know that a “golden age” existed or whether it has peaked. It’s far beyond our immediate concerns.

Description: This discussion focuses on the changing pattern of life insurance investing into public utilities, railroads, real estate, mortgages, corporate bonds and common and preferred stocks. This session also looks at the importance of the investment department, the impact on policyholder earnings, direct placement investing and a history of stock market performance since 1918. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1959, Vol. 11, No. 29 AB.

Description: The Long and Short (Runs) of Investing in Equities by Peter Yoo from Risks and Rewards Newsletter, March 1999, Issue No. 32.

Description: This report presents the results of the 1986-92 Credit Risk Event 'CRE' Loss Experience Study which represents a continuation of the 1986-89 pilot study analyzing loss experience by institutional investors on private placement bonds. This continuing study is being conducted under the auspices of the Society of Actuaries and involves thirteen institutional investors which accounted for between 34% and 42% of outstanding life insurance company private placement bond holdings during the study period. The study measures incidence rates, loss severities and economic loss rates associated with credit risk events for privately placed debt during the years 1986-92. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1997-98 Reports.

Description: This presentation is from session number 36, presented at the 1999 Valuation Actuary Symposium, held September 23-24 in Los Angeles. Today’s low interest rate environment has helped spark enthusiasm for new investment vehicles with a potential for higher returns than more traditional asset classes. The panelists discuss structured securities, convertible bonds, mortgage backed securities, and other investment vehicles.

Description: The article discusses the characteristics of the high-yielding bank loan asset class.

Description: Suspension of 30-year Treasury auctions will have minimal impact on bond market structure in the near term, but over the mid- to long-term, consequences could be profound. This article discusses that impact the suspension of the 30-year treasury will have.

Description: ETFs have seen explosive growth in the past decade. Due to its flexibility and embedded risk management features, insurance companies and pension funds, are showing increasing interest in this asset class. This session covers an introduction to ETFs and the risk/rewards for insurance companies and pension funds as an additional asset class.

Description: In this presentation, session number 10PD at the 1999 Annual Meeting of the Society of Actuaries held October 17-20 in San Francisco, the panelists discuss their experiences with asset valuation methods. Topics include characteristics of an effective asset valuation method, the extent to which recent economic activity should influence the smoothing period selected, whether one method smoothes valuation assets more than another, whether different methods for funding and expense make sense, and whether the current asset valuation method is accomplishing its intended purpose. Discussion from participants is included. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 25, No. 3.

Description: 1990 Valuation Actuary Symposium luncheon speech that discusses the demine of the junk bond market and other asset value problems.