Description: This session from the 1995 SOA Vancouver Meeting focuses on the equation of balance and how different pieces of the funding standard account FSA and the unfunded accrued liability UAL are tied together. It also looks at the charges and credits that flow through the FSA from the General Agreement on Terriffs and Trades 'GATT'. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 21, No. 3b.

Description: Presented at October 1996 Annual Meeting. Now that plan sponsors are required to purchase only the “safest available” annuities, companies encounter a number of difficulties when they attempt to terminate a defined-benefit plan. This session addresses the lack of available insurers and the resulting effect on competition, a situation in which the plan sponsor may have difficulty finding any insurer to take plan benefits, the effect on prevalence of lump-sum distributions, and the role of the PBGC as insurer of last resort.

Description: This session from the 1995 SOA Vancouver Meeting discusses assumptions for pension valuation including rates of termination, retirement, disability and mortality. Also addressed is the SOA Pension Section Council's research on rates of termination and the new mortality tables. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 21, No. 3b.

Description: This panel discussion, which occurred at the May 1982 Society of Actuaries meeting in Colorado Springs, led a discussion related to employer's accounting for pensions and other post-employment benefits. Topics included: 1. Present accounting rules and background in connection with pension plans 2. The purposes for pension accounting rules in general 3. The nature of pension arrangements and the implication of their character for: a. Corporate liabilities and net worth h. Periodic charges to corporate income on account of pensions 4. Effect of actuarial gains and losses and the relationship of non-penslon post-retirement benefits to pensions, from an accounting viewpoint

Description: This discussion from the 1983 SOA Vancouver Meeting looks at recent developments in pensions for the United States including TEFRA and Section 415 limits on defined benefit and defined contribution plans, the taxation of social security benefits, and FASB views on pension assets and liabilities. From Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 9, No. 3.

Description: This meeting session, which occurred at the April 1982 Society of Actuaries meeting in Orlando, presented a discussion of U.S. Social Security issues. Questions discussed included: 1. What is the financial status of the Social Security program? 2. What changes have been recently adopted and what changes have been proposed? 3. How would these changes affect the private pension system costs and plan design? 4. What is the proper role of the actuarial profession regarding the Social Security program? Included discussion of the paper, Constant Replacement Ratios in Retirement: A Theoretical Approach,' by Barnet N. Berin and Anthony B. Richter.

Description: This is a discussion about pension plan design and mechanics including: 1. Adjustment of pension benefits for inflation, 2. Major revisions or plan terminations, 3. Development of group pension contracts, and 4. Design problems of negotiated plans. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1967, Vol. 19 Pt. 2, No. 55.

Description: This panel discussion is from the 1991 Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held June 3-5 in Colorado Springs. The panelists discuss the future, if any, of defined-benefit pension plans, and whether they have been “legislated” out of existence, in particular the role of the Internal Revenue Service as the primary regulator of pension plans. From the Record of Society of Actuaries Vol. 17, No. 3B.

Description: In defined-benefit plans, a portability problem arises, especially in an inflationary economy. Final salary plans were designed to cope with inflation. However, transfer of employment during a career can result in long service at a prior employer with outdated final compensation and short service at a current employer with appropriate final compensation. Thus the problem. This presentation discusses possible solutions. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries Vol. 17, No. 3A.

Description: This session from the 1984 SOA Toronto Meeting discusses defined benefit issues including flexible funding methods, plan design, ad hoc arrangements and formal funding objectives. From Record of the Society of Actuaries Vol. 10, No. 4A