Description: In this paper we will describe how richer actuarial programs can be provided if a number of schools with smaller programs combine resources by forming a regional cooperative or consortium. We have already formed our own consortium, the Southwest Actuarial Education and Research Consortium SWAERC. The strategies proposed here have already been used in SWAERC, and we will illustrate each of them by describing our own experience with it.

Description: A review of the book 'Indexation of Pensions and Other Benefits' by Robert J. Myers, which deals with the indexing of Social Security and government employee pension plans in the U.S., Canada, and other countries, as well as private pension plans, for which the author advocates the voluntary adoption of automatic indexing.

Description: Many top-performing businesses aren’t just risk aware, but rather risk intelligent. Such a posture helps prepare companies for a major event and can demonstrate to a regulator or auditor that an appropriately strong control framework is in place. Better still, companies gain real strategic value from a “risk adjusted” understanding not only of their threats and vulnerabilities, but also the upside opportunities associated with various risks. It starts with having both qualitative and quantitative information to identify, assess and manage risks. Strategic risk management, at its core, is about creating value by increasing transparency and accountability, and quality of information. More than a mere compliance exercise, effective risk management enables more informed strategic decision making, increased accountability and transparency, a greater likelihood of organizational success, and – ultimately – competitive advantage, as borne out by many studies that correlate risk management and financial results.

Description: Several requirements are common to all professionals - this article discusses how actuaries doing with regards to the pension dilemma caused by inflation.

Description: An actuary talks about his career, his firm's ventures into partnerships between actuaries and health care professionals, and his role in the role in the largest actuarial malpractice settlement in history.

Description: On October 30, 2015, the SOA Assumption Development and Governance Group, an informal discussion group consisting of nearly 200 interested actuaries with topics pertaining to actuarial assumption development and governance, organized an industry discussion call on end-to-end assumption documentation practices. The purpose of this call was to generate a large list of ideas for best-practice assumption documentation. More than thirty companies were represented in the call, including direct insurers, reinsurers and consulting firms. This article is the work product of the discussion written by Laurie Li and Alex Zaidlin.

Description: Describes a process for identifying relevant industry experience to credibility-weight with relevant company experience to set modeling assumptions and margins.

Description: Remarks on the pricing of joint LTC policies illustrate the need for an actuary's responsibility to the law, and to best practices, to take precendence over serving sales, marketing and underwriting objectives.

Description: Third installment in a series of articles applying Buddhist principles to the challenges that actuaries face in applying their craft. The themes are adapted from the book "Awake at Work", by Michael Carroll. This particular installment covers the concept of "li" to the compliance aspects of an actuary's work, moving beyond minimum or literal compliance to a work product that provides multiple uses and meets a much higher standard