Description: This paper applies the research in Prospect Theory of Kahneman and Tversky to explain why sales of annuities lag sales of life insurance products. The author theorizes that life insurance is easier to sell because customers perceive themselves to be in the domain of losses, while potential annuity customers perceive themselves to be in the domain of gains. Kahneman and Tversky showed us that people are mostly risk averse in the domain of gains and risk seeking in the domain of losses. Purchase of an annuity or life product is a risky investment. Customers will find it easier to take the risk in the life insurance domain of losses than the annuity domain of gains. The author then proposes a hybrid life annuity product that might address both mortality and longevity risk in one product that would allow both products to be more competitive than stand-alone products.

Description: Three papers use sophisticated actuarial methods to develop a straightforward retirement income strategy that can be implemented in virtually any IRA or 401(k).

Description: Increasing life spans and fluctuations in the equity markets have raised awareness of the potential of outliving one's income. This presentation from Session 30 of the SOA June 2004 San Antonio Spring Meeting discusses single premium immediate annuities as one solution to this growing issue. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Volume 30, No. 2.

Description: This discussion examines the following questions: Do current immediate annuity rates reflect present conditions as to mortality, interest, and expense? To what extent do statutory reserves that exceed gross premiums less expenses represent a serious problem? What is being done in the way of using generation type annuity rates for settlement options?

Description: Income i.e., immediate annuities are insurance products that benefit from mortality pooling, so they can generate the highest level of lifetime “income now” per dollar of retirement assets put to work. Including an income annuity as a portion of a retirement portfolio often results in an immediate increase in the level of income generated by that portfolio while at the same time ensuring that a portion of the total income is payable for a lifetime.

Description: Embedded Risk in Settlement Options on Older Life and Annuity Contracts

Description: The paper summarizes results from two doctoral dissertations. The first discusses integration of insurance products with investment products to mitigate the risk of outliving one’s assets. The second discusses modeling and pricing for the longevity risk in the secondary market in insurance, including a provision for adverse deviation PAD.

Description: This paper considers the risk that actual mortality will be lower than the mortality assumed when pricing life annuities on impaired lives. It develops a method for managing this risk through a Provision for Adverse Deviation PAD.

Description: This study is designed to analyze new planning approaches and strategies that combine SPIAs with other techniques to create retirement income synergies. Using historical scenarios, it evaluates how different retirement income strategies hypothetically would have met four separate client goals: sustainable income, liquidity, accessibility and legacy. This report summarizes study findings and includes “planning points” to help readers interpret the study data.

Description: Discusses the extent to which various influences are reflected in premiums, dividends and settlement options: improved mortality, interest rate trends, federal taxes, agent compensation and increasing expenses.