Description: Issue Introduction and editorial on how PAF tools and techniques can ease the angst of competing in the financial risk arena.

Description: A summary of the Global Trends 2030 report, the fifth such report produced every four years by the National Intelligence Council. The report is based on the research and analysis of the 17 major intelligence agencies in the US. The summary covers the highlights of the report.

Description: What do data, technology, offices, skills, and cultural perspectives all have in common? Significant transformation.

Description: The author presents autoencoders in a clear manner and then goes on to show an intriguing application where an autoencoder can alert us to events out of the ordinary.

Description: The author reviews a book the debunks some of the hype we read about using quantity at the expense of quality. She also points out some unrealistic outcomes when data scientists lack business knowledge.

Description: This actually is a copy of an appendix of a research paper sponsored by the SOA Committee on Finance Research. You can read the entire research paper: “Lapse Modeling for the Post-Level Period—a Practical Application of Predictive Modeling” at the SOA site https://www.soa.org/Research/Research-Projects/Finance-Investment/lapse-2015-modeling-post-level/#sthash.W9lERSls.dpbs, but you can read this valuable appendix copied here in this issue to see how to build a PM step-by-step using your data and the R programming language. We thank Richard Xu, Dihui Lai, Minyu Cao, Scott Rushing, and Tim Rozar for their excellent paper and the Society of Actuaries, for the permission to reprint this portion of the paper.

Description: Read the November 2020 issue of Predictive Analytics and Futurism published by the Predictive Analytics and Futurism Section. Newsletters provide practical information for the working actuary, articles on trends that impact sections and news about section activities.

Description: Read the August 2020 issue of Predictive Analytics and Futurism published by the Predictive Analytics and Futurism Section. Newsletters provide practical information for the working actuary, articles on trends that impact sections and news about section activities.

Description: A discussion of what to do in the face of unprecedented change. With so many negative indicators of the economic future, suggestions are made for individual actions.