Description: Latest installment in series that applies Buddhist philosophy to the actuary's daily activities. This installment discusses the challenges for actuaries in dealing with the ongoing ups and downs of the COVID-19 pandemic and discusses mindfulness tools to cope with the resulting stresses in a peaceful and effective way.

Description: This is a summary of a multi-faceted research project focusing on how to help people better manage money when they no longer can. Article includes interviews with the three co-researchers. Research is focused on understanding when people need help and what actions will encourage them to make proper arrangements. Research includes focus on words and actions that lead to implementation of plans. The team is multi-disciplinary and the research included interviews with experts and individuals, focus groups, and a survey. The research was sponsored by the Society of Actuaries Aging and Retirement strategic research initiative.

Description: Congress authorized the creation of the RAISE Family Caregiving Advisory Council in 2018. The Council, comprised of family caregivers and experts from a wide variety of stakeholder organizations in both the private and public sector, have been engaged in an in-depth research effort over the last two years to develop recommendations and an implementation plan to address our national caregiving crisis. This article describes their work and the newly released Report to Congress.

Description: Discussion of how to mature value-based contracts between health insurers and provider organizations to improve population health and financial sustainability. Centers around contract parameter consistency, revenue predictability and risk assessment. Intended audience are health plan and ACO actuaries and leaders. Authors are writing from the provider perspective in value-based contracts.

Description: Retirement plan trustees are tasked with retirement plan administration. Trustees are responsible for hiring service providers and monitoring the quality of their work. This article discusses actuarial audits as a due diligence tool for public plan trustees.

Description: Wright State University is a public research university in Dayton, Ohio, with approximately 11,000 students. With the lowest tuition fees in Ohio, the university has an access mission and plays a critical role in the region by offering high-quality, affordable education. I joined Wright State University in fall 2019 as the director of the Actuarial Science program. In spring 2020 we attained the Universities and Colleges with Actuarial Programs (UCAP)-AC designation from the Society of Actuaries (SOA), becoming one of only three universities in southwest Ohio at this recognition tier. In this article, I would like to tell you about the journey our program has taken—its successes and its challenges. The goal is to offer a resource to other universities seeking to upgrade their Actuarial Science programs.

Description: A summary of the recent SOA Product Development Section webinar, Challenging the Status Quo: Emerging LTC Product Designs. Summarizes discussions on how the LTC industry can overcome existing hurdles and evolve to meet consumer needs.

Description: Article describing content and key takeaways from experience completing the SOA PA Certificate

Description: The article introduces a cashflow matching strategic asset allocation (SAA) framework for life insurers. Given the recent shift to higher interest rates after two decades of persistent low interest rates, insurers have an opportunity to enhance their asset liability management by rebalancing asset portfolios to narrow duration gaps and attain higher risk-adjusted yields. The framework aims to align investment objectives with economic, regulatory, and rating agency requirements. It prioritizes cashflow matching as the primary optimization goal and incorporates security-level asset information to assist portfolio managers in executing SAA seamlessly. The article highlights the benefits of the cashflow matching SAA framework, including greater attention to cashflow matching, unbiased results, readily executable strategies, and stable economic reserves. A case study is included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the framework in improving risk-adjusted return and cashflow matching for a representative liability block.

Description: Distribution channels matter because they impact how products reach the clients, client experience with the company, and are a key driver in total company performance. Think about this, the pricing actuaries could design innovative products that meet client needs, but without distribution channels communicating the right messages to the clients and addressing their questions, the products probably would not sell.