Description: The Actuary Vol. 22, No. 1. This article discusses the impact of a change in procedure in the financing of the US Military Retirement System. The change requires amortizing the past service liability. The impact will depend upon whether the amortization is achieved by increasing current taxes and decreasing the current deficit, or by merely increasing the national debt and leaving the current deficit unchanged. The author asserts that the new financing method will not weaken the financial condition of the military retirement system, and that it has the potential to strengthen its financial condition if the funding of the past service liability is handled appropriately.

Description: Retirement benefits have become a seamless worldwide web. Thus actuaries who go to war in the international arena are painfully aware of the impact of U.S. technology on the battlefield. The debut of that awesome awful weapon, ERISA, and all its derivatives has persuaded many countries to adopt counterparts.

Description: In 1986, the Society of Actuaries identified a number of external trends that could have a substantial impact on future retirement patterns. An analysis of demographic trends clearly indicated that more people would be reaching older ages and that they would live longer.

Description: In recent months, many significant developments in Canada have affected employee benefits, particularly pensions. Other Canadian issues discussed in this article are unemployment insurance and taxation of pensions.

Description: The author discusses and provides an example of how some companies’ enterprise risk management (ERM) programs are designed and implemented in ways that can unwittingly weaken the organization.

Description: This is a report on the Faculty meeting on 21 March regarding the funding of defined benefit pension schemes.

Description: The author shares the story of his actuarial career and provides insight into the development of retirement today and the past and future of the pension actuary.

Description: This article focuses on retirement decisions, phased retirement and related policy issues, calling for actuaries to take on leadership roles in retirement public discussion.

Description: This article is the first of two parts - the second part published in the December, 1981 issue of The Actuary - and provides a summary of Canada’s National Pension Conference. The author of this article, a participant at the conference, notes that the prevailing view in Canada is that the government and employer, not the employee, jointly share the responsibility of providing financial security in old age.

Description: This article discusses the U.S. military retirement system, an unfunded non-contributory defined-benefit plan, and the legislative proposal that would convert the system to an entry-age-normal funding method.