Description: This article is part of the Digest of Informal Discussion, which took place at the 1956 Society of Actuaries Eastern Spring Meeting, held April 19-20 in Hartford, CT. It identifies the participants and summarizes each person’s comments. The participants discuss changes in investment policy over the last ten years, direct placement financing, differences among companies by size, equity investments and real estate ownership. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1956 Volume 8, Number 21.

Description: This session from the 1984 SOA New York City Meeting discusses setting investment policy with an emphasis on interest sensitive products, pricing objectives and investment returns, flexibility of product design/investment strategies, intermingling of the actuarial/investment roles and specific product considerations including an example of a single premium deferred annuity - SPDA. From Record of the Society of Actuaries Vol. 10, No. 3

Description: Investment Fallacies: The Best Model Doesn't Win

Description: The article compares the return characteristics, return, volatility, and correlation, to that of other possible selections as a DC safe option. It concludes that stable value is pareto superior to all other safe option candidates, and is therefore the optimal safe option.

Description: The purpose of the article is to highlight how a person or organization can excel in both a highly-competitive expert-driven environment and one where the environment is less so. One should focus on what can be done well and delegate the remaining tasks to those who are better at performing them. One should understand the environment they are operating in, how it impacts them, and how it may change through time. The principles have application to investment management, investment performance, organizational performance, business development, career progression and economics.

Description: The effects of climate change have been widely documented. Whether it’s rising temperatures, more frequent and violent storms or disruption to wild life, there is a consensus in the scientific community that these effects are real. What are the risks and opportunities that climate change brings to an investment portfolio? As society transitions to more sustainable sources of energy and tries to find more sustainable ways to consume, there will be winners and losers. In this presentation, speakers will discuss their process to identify winners in this changing world and highlight the risks to various industries.

Description: This presentation, session number 43PD at the 2004 Spring Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held June 14-15 in San Antonio, TX, discusses the use of mortgage-backed securities by life insurance companies. “Insurance companies in the United States have, for many years, invested in mortgage-backed securities MBS. The suitability of MBS for insurance company portfolios has been called into question by recent changes in interest rate volatility and increased capital requirements.” Discussion from participants is included. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Volume 30, No. 2.

Description: Adaptive Risk Management harnesses social intelligence to identify emerging risks. We have entered an age of disruption where exponential technologies are transforming every industry. The ability to pivot in a rapidly evolving ecosystem is essential. Centralized “predict and control” paradigms will increasingly fail as complex interactions drive phase transitions. Successful organizations will harness social intelligence to “sense and respond” to giant waves of change. Maps amplify intelligence to help us navigate challenging terrain. Maps play a central role in all command centres, enabling rapid risk identification with a shared visual language. Interactive financial network maps allow analysts to explore and diagnose systemic fragilities, and mitigate critical vulnerabilities. Dynamic financial maps can also build visual intuition to detect escalating risk patterns. After observing early warning signals, analysts can apply network analytics to estimate likely second order effects. This allows organizations to proactively manage emerging risk before tipping points are crossed.

Description: The purpose of the article is to summarize the results and conclusions of the C-1 Risk Task Force Report prepared for the Committee on Valuation and Related Areas. A key question: Is the risk to insurance companies of defaults on junk bonds sufficient to justify increasing required surplus levels?

Description: Investment Fallacies: Mathematical modeling of social phenomena