Description: How can we maintain our sanity while staring at the same screen all day, clicking into and bouncing out of meetings? To be successful in today's (remote) world, we must learn how to relate to individuals virtually. Topics include: How can we best establish a professional and dynamic presence while working remotely? How can we develop rapport with our virtual colleagues as well as with those working in the office? What is considered to be appropriate etiquette when interacting with a co-worker via a computer screen? How can we effectively collaborate while working from home? What is the best way to present to senior management without the ability to be in the room to read their body language? Hear from a panel of actuaries discuss their perspectives and lessons learned over the last few years on how to optimize our communication effectiveness in the virtual work environment.

Description: Hot Topics in Setting Pension Return Assumptions is the third in a series, following Mathematics of Pension Return Assumption and Inflation, focusing on Effects, Forecasts, and Role in Pension Valuations. What time horizon is more appropriate for Capital Market Assumption (CMA) forecasts: mid-term or long-term time horizon, or a blend of both? How do we map the asset classes of a plan's own investment policy to the asset classes of investment forecasters' CMAs? If we use asset-smoothing for valuation assets, should we use market-driven expected returns or smoothed/average versions of them?

Description: Modeling Approaches and Challenges focuses on approaches to real world simulation and the challenges and considerations in real world simulation. Topics include: A frequency domain approach to build realistic multi-horizon scenarios. (Ortec approach) Cascade models structure linking models for major asset classes and economic variables. (Moody’s approach) Overview of models, calibrations & approaches within the context of different use cases. Deterministic & stochastic approaches. Importance of model re-calibration flexibility. We will also discuss specific insights into considerations and challenges in real world simulation, which include topics like: Setting capital market assumptions and/or calibration targets. Assumptions about correlation and causality. Calibrating the model to capital markets assumptions. Validating the model against capital market assumptions. Role of history, market data and stylized facts. Importance of back testing. Calibrating the model to multiple investment horizons. Inclusion of alterative asset classes such as private equity, infrastructure, and direct real estate. Associated issues of limited data, illiquidity and greater uncertainty about calibration targets.

Description: Hear from three actuaries on their experiences working remotely in 2020 and beyond. Each participant will have a distinct viewpoint on remote work based on their situation, including: Liz Dietrich, who led her Prudential team through the initial shift to remote work during the pandemic and will address the team’s next steps. Amanda Hug, who joined Willis Towers Watson during the pandemic by interviewing remotely and then learned to integrate into the corporate culture the same way. Vincent Xuan, who will provide insight around how his team at Equitable adapted to remote work. During this webcast, the panel will share: Their perspectives based on their unique situations Best practices and leadership tips for managing teams and workloads remotely Thoughts on how we did as an industry with the shift to remote work Leadership skills that are critical for moving forward in a hybrid (remote and in-person) world