Description: Brief description of articles contained in the newsletter.

Description: An increasingly popular tool in estate planning is the Joint Life policy payable upon the second death. The design and pricing of this policy is influenced significantly by cash value and reserve requirements. This article discusses two methods for calculating these values.

Description: A critique of the SOA's co-sponsoring of the Manhart Brief which addressed sex discrimination in pension rates. The critique argues that the brief fails to satisfy standards of academic rigor reflected in other SOA publications.

Description: Chapter 2 describes the general categories of results that the study gleaned from the vast amount of data gathered: active mortality rates, disablement rates, termination rates, retirement rates, retiree morality, disabled mortality, interest rates, and salary scales. From A Study of Public Employees Retirement Systems, M-RS96-1.

Description: This panel discussion session focuses on the impact of double-digit inflation on pension plans including the impact on assumptions, design, prefunding of post-retirement indexing and prefunding of flat benefit plans. From Record of Society of Actuaries 1980, Vol. 6, No. 4.

Description: This discussion is about current practices and focuses primarily on a paper currently being written by the Committee on Pension Principles and Related Research regarding interest rate selection. From Record of the Society of Actuaries Vol. 12, No. 1.

Description: This general session discussion looks at: A. Methods available to decide the percentage of the premium that should be used for life insurance, weekly indemnity benefits, hospitalization and surgical benefits. B. Formulas devised for computing contingency reserves for possible losses on mortgage loans and real estate. C. Extent to which companies are using participating forms for the following coverages: 1. Annuities in the benefit stages and/or supplementary contracts involving life contingencies after expiry of the term certain period 2. Family income and other decreasing term rider benefits 3. Extended term insurance D. Methods developed for pricing annuities and settlement options derived from an annuity table without provision for mortality improvement

Description: This paper develops the theory for an exactly vested defined benefit model plan and is contrasted with the theory for a pure pension plan. From Actuarial Research Clearing House, 1978 , Volume 2.

Description: This paper demonstrates how, under the projected benefit cost methods whereby the gains are reflected in the normal cost rate, gains determined at a given valuation date are amortized over the future working lifetime of the active employees included in the valuation as of that date.

Description: Financing a defined benefit pension plan can be accomplished in various ways. With the help of a one-life example, this paper gives an elementary actuarial perspective of the problems that arise when a new defined benefit pension plan is initiated, and of the various actuarial concepts and methods developed to ascertain the cost of these pension benefits. The paper shows the range of the cost alternatives conceptually available upon creation of the pension plan. Actuarial formulas are provided in footnotes. The paper is intended as an introduction to defined benefit pension cost determination as well as an elementary example which may be of value in explaining cost alternatives to an actuary's client. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1975, Vol. 27.