Description: Read the September 2016 issue of Pension Section News published by the The Pension Section. Newsletters provide practical information for the working actuary, articles on trends that impact sections and news about section activities.

Description: This paper discusses the marketing implications of the baby boom generation and the aging of the Canadian population in general. From the Actuarial Research Clearing House 1991, Vol.1.

Description: This paper presents a new method for blending census and Medicare mortality rates for the U.S. Decennial Life Tables. From the Actuarial Research Clearing House 1992 Vol. 2 .

Description: This article uses a fairy tale to tell a story about life annuities and gender.

Description: Part One of a three part discussion of A Social Security System for the 21st Century, this part focuses the broader international, social, political, cultural and economic trends that will govern the viability and sustainability of a social security system in the 21st century.

Description: Highlights of the International Experience Study (IES), a joint research venture of the SOA’s International Section and Research Department, the International Actuarial Association, local actuarial associations and corporate sponsors to provide actuaries around the world with practical experience information in emerging markets.

Description: Can immigration in Europe actually help to mitigate the looming pension crisis.

Description: Suicide is one of the ten leading causes of death in the United States and the only one of those causes that is trending in the wrong direction over the last 15 years. This article examines several aspects of suicide in the United States with a focus on its impact on the insurance industry. The findings were compiled from publicly available data through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from internal RGA data, and also from interviews with topic experts. The article highlights the difference in suicide rates between the general population and the insured population, the proportion of claims from suicide, the spike in suicide rates at the end of the contestability (or exemption period), and current thoughts from counseling experts on prevention. It also demonstrates an increase in suicide rates during times of economic turmoil.

Description: This article is a book review of Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism written by Anne Case and Angus Deaton. The book highlights factors that have attributed to the decline in life expectancy in the U.S. over the past two decades. Overall, there has been a significant increase in deaths of despair from drug overdoses, suicides, and alcoholic liver disease that has impacted life expectancy. The review of this book highlights key points and factors in this increase in deaths of despair based on the research of the authors. From an actuarial perspective, this book identifies areas within the U.S. society and economy that would continue this trend and impact future mortality rates and improvement scales.

Description: All things considered, caution needs to be applied to the use of so-called “standard” mortality tables. Sharpening up these blunt estimates by using individual assumptions reveals material differences in the structure of longevity, both between plans and within plans.