Description: Author response to Eric Friedman’s comments on ‘The Case for Stochastic Present Values,” by Dimitry Mindlin

Description: This is an Excel workbook containing links to papers, articles and newsletters which are useful to the study of the principles of finance and their application to pension plans. Topics include accounting, assumptions/methods, actuarial standards, behavioral economics, design, financial economics, full funding, immunization, investments, minimum funding, market value, pension finance, PBGC, risk, and traditional defined benefit view. For each document listed in the workbook, its abstract or a short synopsis is also included to help the user choose appropriate readings.

Description: The article and guidebook of the same name use a stochastic simulation model to examine potential impacts of public pension plan risk-sharing policies on government employers and plan members. Policies examined include simple policies such as COLAs and employee contributions that are contingent upon investment returns or funded ratios, and more-complex policies similar to those used in the Wisconsin Retirement System.

Description: This paper examines the discrepancy that seems to exist between classical financial theory and the widely adopted portfolio selection theory, and proposes that the roles of agents and the interests of corporate insiders need also to be considered. From Current Pension Actuarial Practice in Light of Financial Economics Symposium, M-RS04-1.

Description: This paper takes the position that it is possible to compute annual pension costs without computing liabilities first, or at all, even implicitly. Moreover, such an approach can be shown to have powerful advantages in stochastic financial environments. From Current Pension Actuarial Practice in Light of Financial Economics Symposium, M-RS04-1.

Description: This paper attempts a model for a mix of DB and DC retirement plans that meets the dual objectives of predictability of employer cash contributions, and sufficient employee retirement benefit. From Current Pension Actuarial Practice in Light of Financial Economics Symposium, M-RS04-1.

Description: This paper assesses the extent to which equity investors were fooled by pension accounting. Simulations show that a failure to differentiate between core and pension earnings induces large valuation errors for many firms, although this pension effect did not materially contribute to aggregate overvaluation before 2000. From Current Pension Actuarial Practice in Light of Financial Economics Symposium, M-RS04-1.

Description: This Excel spreadsheet will perform examples of the tax arbitrage described in Section 4 of the 'Pension Actuary's Guide to Financial Economics' and should only be used in conjunction with the guide.

Description: This paper examines the use of alternative investments for pension funds in the Netherlands facing the three requirements of minimum funding, solvency, and continuity. From Current Pension Actuarial Practice in Light of Financial Economics Symposium, M-RS04-1.

Description: This paper uses economic principles to evaluate methods that may be used to assign the cost of employee benefits to accounting periods. From Current Pension Actuarial Practice in Light of Financial Economics Symposium, M-RS04-1.