Description: This paper examines some of the methods used to determine the value of the assets held by a pension fund and used in actuarial valuations to determine the required contributions for a pension plan. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1968, Vol. 20, Pt. 1, No. 58.

Description: In this paper, the long-term funding consequences of negotiated improvements in pension plans are examined. Particular emphasis is placed on the effects on both contribution rates and the overall funding position of the plan of such things as benefit increases to retirees, reductions in the average retirement age, economic events that affect the size of the active work force, and the interplay between the increases in pay and benefit rates and the other valuation assumptions. A simulation model is used to uncover the influence of each variable. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1981, Vol. 33.

Description: This is the presidential address by former SOA president, John M. Bragg. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1976, Vol. 28.

Description: The letter from the SOA president shares a personal history of actuarial education to achieve prestigious actuarial credentials, and emphasizes the importance of partnering with international actuarial organizations.

Description: A review of Mihir Desai's book The Wisdom of Finance, and why actuaries specifically should read this book.

Description: This article discusses change initiatives and how companies and executives need to take a proactive approach to manage the change in order to assure success.

Description: In session 9 PD of the Palm Desert Spring Meeting a panel of dental insurance companies discuss their approaches for paying dental claims and the reasons supporting their strategies for the dental product designs. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 23, No. 1.

Description: This is the abstract on the paper on optimal reinsurance retentions under joint survivorship of both insurer and reinsurer.

Description: Discusses the newly adopted actuarial guideline for variable annuity reserving which is principles-based. It requires the calculation of both, a standard deterministic scenario reserve and a stochastic reserve - of which the larger of the two is used. This article discusses why for some companies the deterministic reserves dominate and for others the stochastic one does.

Description: This article discusses three litigation issues: 1. Shelter Framing Corp. v. PBGC: This is a case recently placed on the Appellate Docket of the U.S. Supreme Court being appealed from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. That Circuit Court held that the Multiemployer Pension Plan amendments Act, which imposes liability on employers who withdrew from multiemployer plans, is unconstitutional as applied to employers who withdraw before the Act’s enactment but after its retroactively effective date. 2. Federal Trade Commission: The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has held that an investigation by the FTC into whether finance companies and auto dealerships were engaging in unfair and deceptive practices by representing that purchase of credit life insurance was required as a condition to obtain financing, was not outside the FTC’s power. 3. Baldwin-United Case: Under the rehabilitation plan for Baldwin-United, the Company would refund $3.7 billion to the annuity holders. Several groups are challenging this decision.