Description: In this article the author identifies and delimit 's the public's interest in defined benefit plan funding as a practical response to the chaotic deluge of of overlapping measurements and restrictions designed to regulate the funding of pensions plans in the US.

Description: The authors present the myriad of issues affecting an individuals retirement decision and highlight studies from Mercer and AARP. They find that Americans are increasingly creating their own personalized phased retirement programs in this evolving area of human resources management.

Description: An excerpt from the 2002 Annual report of the Boards of Trustees for the Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds which describes the basic assumptions and methods used in the estimates under the intermediate assumptions. Also, presented are projections of program costs under two alternate sets if assumptions.

Description: The impact of bond default risk on retirement benefit obligations describes how the probability default on a bond is similar to the probability of death for an annuitant. Bonds are used to cash flow match retirement obligations cash flows to funding from bond. Just as the probability of non-payment happens on the liability side, we can do the same with selected bonds. The end result may be an adjustment to the discount rates used.

Description: A summary from the Trustees report: SMI Trust Fund: Estimates under Alternative II Assumption for Aged and Disabled Excluding End-Stage Renal Disease Enrollees

Description: This excerpt from the 2001 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund describes the basic methodology and assumptions used in the estimates for the intermediate assumptions. Also presented are the projections of program costs under the twp alternative sets of assumptions.

Description: Defined contribution plans need to do more than simply offer participants a menu of investment choices--the average worker is not building a secure retirement. Because both employers and employees face constraints, the solution is not as straightforward as delaying retirement or boosting contributions. Features like automatic enrollment can help somewhat, but are not enough. Truly innovative solutions are needed. There are numerous different proposals for improved retirement plans, both in the US and internationally. Individual proposals often contain an evaluation section dealing with benefits and risks, but what is lacking is a full quantitative evaluation framework that can be uniformly applied to a number of different proposals. This essay lays the groundwork for a potential research project to build such a quantitative assessment framework.

Description: This article notes that actuaries can play a crucial role in assisting the couple, the attorney's and the human resources professional in alleviating headaches spawned by QDROs and provides simple steps to follow to minimize complexity, thereby saving legal and consulting fees for the divorcing couple and easing their stress.

Description: Part 2 of an article which presents simplified problem and and presented alternate models. Answers are presented in this article. The author's final question is: If traditional actuarial models stumble over these issues, can we get it right for real world funding pension plans and funding practices?

Description: This article reviews the new standard of practice, ASOP 6, and its impact on the actuarial assumptions that actuaries use for valuations of retiree group medical and life benefits.