Description: Many factors contribute to one’s ability to save and prepare for retirement. This essay examines the influence family structure has on retirement preparedness.

Description: Investment Fallacies: Gambler’s Fallacy: Probability of Reversion

Description: How to work with boards of directors when working through the ORSA process.

Description: International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans research shows that financial education programs succeed when customized to and convenient for the audience.

Description: Lessons learned in the financial crisis - global ramifications and need for better financial reporting standards and market oversight.

Description: Interest rates rose from 2004 through 2007, so adjustable mortgage rates increased and many borrowers fell behind. After home prices topped out in 2006, speculators and some buyers who had overstretched found it impossible to refinance. This caused mortgage insurance claims. Insurers may want to study others’ missteps.

Description: This paper introduces a rich stochastic modeling framework for understanding risks in multiple-decrement contracts. The example in the paper is a 20-year Term insurance contract. Not only are mortality and lapsation considered stochastic, but the parameters governing them are. For example, mortality risk is composed of four risk elements, including error generated in the underwriting process, volatility around the best estimate, catastrophic events that impact mortality, and the trend in mortality improvement or deterioration. When stochastically modeled, the relative contribution and risk profile of each risk element can be evaluated. Generating stochastic mortality results provides a distribution of results that an organization faces and the severity and incidence of the tail events.

Description: This article advocates for a lower variable part in salary and increase focus on other mechanisms (goal setting, simpler product, management, culture and processes). The psychological aspect of belonging to the incentive compensation pool is more important that the financial aspect.

Description: This paper will provide demonstrations of the following three statements: That the calculation of principles-based reserves should ignore federal income taxes That the currently required statutory deferred tax calculation would need to be changed to permit an appropriate deferred tax asset to accompany such reserve so that the result can be correctly principles-based on a post-tax basis That the Tax DAC, pursuant to Section 848 of the Internal Revenue Code, is effectively a negative tax reserve.

Description: Retirement income can be provided by Social Security, employer-provided pension plans, personal savings and family support. With the growth of Social Security and employer-provided pensions, and the decline in birth rates and marriage rates, the role of families in the U.S. retirement system has declined.