Description: Correspondent's report from the Investment Section Breakfast at the SOA Annual Meeting in Austin 2015

Description: Comments on how US insurers have compensated for low interest rates by investing in a range of less liquid and lower quality assets.

Description: This article summarizes key points from the recently published research paper “Deep Learning for Liability-Driven Investment,” which applies reinforcement learning and deep learning techniques to liability-driven investment (LDI).

Description: While the major market crash subsequent to the widespread contagion of the COVID-19 virus was readily predictable, the rapid recovery and ongoing growth subsequent to it was not. Market dynamics around the recovery resist characterization by most traditional analytical approaches. In examining the circumstances around the emergence of a large retail class of investors, one sees that ingrained human tendencies, particularly optimism bias, have fueled much investor behavior responsible for the recovery. Understanding this makes it possible to predict potential future crashes and develop behavioral interventions for subsequent market recoveries.

Description: Feature article describing the use of arithmetic means in the production of return results predictions.

Description: Read the August 2019 issue of Risks & Rewards published by the Investment Section. Newsletters provide practical information for the working actuary, articles on trends that impact sections and news about section activities.

Description: This article speculates on the presence and magnitude of the benefits attributable to regular rebalancing of one's investment portfolio. It surveys the extant literature, discusses certain implications, and presents conclusions.

Description: In this article the author notes that investment strategy development is fundamentally a communications exercise between the investment and actuarial functions. The article explores four questions with respect to investment strategy: 1 how to make money 2 how to avoid earnings fluctuations 3 how to avoid catastrophic loss and 4 how to choose a new investment idea.

Description: This 2001 article discusses the requirement to assess hedge effectiveness in the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s new statement on derivatives accounting, FAS 133, Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities, as critical for qualifying for “special” hedge accounting. The article provides analysis of different approaches and the potential difficulties encountered. This article is reprinted with permission from Derivatives Week.

Description: Why Write Variable Products When You Can Put the Money Directly into the Stock Market?