Description: 2004 SOA Spring Meeting, Anaheim, CA. This session was about various alternative skills that actuaries might need such as business acumen, communication skills, asset knowledge, knowledge of broader financial markets, and knowledge of corporate operations.

Description: This abstract describes an investigation into the use of Fuzzy Set Methodology.

Description: This paper asks the Modligliani-Miller question regarding the mortgage markets. The paper is essentially about the genesis of the credit crisis. The proposed answer is that the practice of risk should not be allowed without actuarial supervision.

Description: Abstract for the 2009 Housing Wealth monograph paper, “Modigliani, Miller and Mortgages.” This paper is essentially about the genesis of the credit crisis. The proposed answer is that the practice of risk should not be allowed without actuarial supervision.

Description: This is an article about the lack of savings by the baby boomers and how it will affect retirement and the ramifications for Social Security. The author believes that baby boomers will choose to continue to work and alleviate some of the burden on social security.

Description: The decline of importance of private defined benefit plans in relation to defined contribution plans in the United States is a major issue of interest to pension actuaries. This decline is undeniable, and has been attributed to numerous factors: costs of government regulation, societal and cultural changes, changed attitudes of employers, and employees' lack of understanding of defined benefit plans. It has also caused some to proclaim the end of a private defined benefit plan. This work analyzes possible macroeconomic factors contributing to the crisis of defined benefit plans, and proposes an alternative hypothesis for the cause of the crisis: the decline of relative attractiveness of defined benefit plans in relation to defined contribution plans due to the shift in the way relative returns to macroeconomic factors of production, i.e., capital and labor, are allocated in the national economy. Possibilities of improvement of the position of defined benefit plans are also discussed. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 1998 Vol. 2.

Description: These essays encourage actuaries to share how they incorporate financial risks of environmental sustainability into their work for employers or clients.

Description: Discussion of the US Social security system from the perspective of Asset Liability management theory. From Asset-Liability Integration, M-FI02-1.

Description: Part 4 presents an alternate approach to obtaining the fair value of the public sector employer’s pension benefit liability.

Description: In this session at the SOA 2003 Washington, DC Spring Meeting, the panelists discuss the value of deferred taxes to the owner of an IRA, 401k or similar product. The time it takes for tax-deferral benefits to overcome typical penalties levied on early distributions is reviewed. They also discuss the effect of tax deferral on the risk profile of investments.