Description: Book review of a book on pensions written by Ralph Nader and Kate Blackwell. Review is relatively balanced, yet clearly points out the shortfalls of the analysis put together by Mr. Nader and Ms. Blackwell.

Description: This session from the 1995 SOA New York City Meeting examines ethics from the standpoint of the actuary. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 21, No. 2.

Description: Full version of The Actuary, December 1995, Volume 29, No.10.

Description: This paper examines tandem levels of salary and interest rates and finds that the absolute level of each assumption as well as the differential are significant cost determinants for defined benefit pension plans. In forming best-estimate salary and interest rate assumptions, the actuary must reconcile the difference, if any, between the currently observed rates and the valuation assumptions. Common practice is to choose expected long-term rather than observed rates for valuation purposes. The error in this procedure is analyzed and found to be tolerable for strictly temporary discrepancies between observed rates and valuation assumptions. For situations where these discrepancies are expected to persist for some time, a need is shown for nonuniform, calendar-year assumptions or their equivalent in order to develop best-estimate assumptions. Followed by several discussion papers submitted

Description: This is a discussion of 'The Generalized Family of Aggregate Actuarial Cost Methods for Pension Funding' by John R. Taylor. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1967, Vol. 19, Pt. 1, No. 54.

Description: This is the author's address at the SOA annual meeting on October 18, 1994 as the incoming President. He talks about areas of discussion regarding the SOA's future.

Description: This panel discussion which was presented at the SOA's 1976 Spring Meeting in Washington D.C. focused on various pension plan issues which have arisen in difficult economic times in the mid-1970's.

Description: Recognizing the increase in the rate of inflation over recent years in the United States, pension plans have been improving benefits for retired employees. In this paper, a planning model is developed for such increases, based on periodic examination of the increase in pension necessary to keep a replacement ratio constant. This ratio is initially related to the private pension plus Social Security benefit, divided by final average salary. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1982, Vol. 34.

Description: In this article, the authors describe the flaws in our current determination of the Consumer Price Index CPI and other economic indicators, and propose a series of refinements for improving the CPI calculations. The article emphasizes the importance of accuracy, given the significant influence on business and investment policies, psychological effect on the marketplace, as well as on consumer confidence, and the direct impact on Social Security increases and other benefit plans.

Description: Actuaries have been thinking about how to improve North American retirement systems in big and small ways for a number of years. This web page contains Bob Berin’s thoughts on this topic from the September 1990 Pension Section News, followed by Cindy Levering’s update on the Retirement 20/20 initiative.