Description: The projection methods used by the Social Security Administration's Office of the Chief Actuary are important. The resulting projections are cited regularly by policy-makers, academics and others interested in the long-term financial solvency of the OASDI system. However, a complete description of this projection methodology that is vital for serious policy discussions is not available to the general public. This summary was constructed in connection with the Social Security Advisory Board's 1999 Technical Panel on Methods and Assumptions. A goal of the Methods and Modeling working group of the Technical Panel was to 'work to ensure that the projection methods used by the Office of the Chief Actuary become more public.' From Actuarial Research Clearing House 2000, Vol. 1.

Description: This session from the 1976 SOA Fall Meeting is about the comparison of social security systems in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the relationship between social security and private pension plans, and the contrast of Canadian and European governmental medical insurance programs to the continuing controversy in the United States over government health insurance.

Description: This paper explores and develops some initial ideas of roll-forward reserve funding of Social Security. It reports on the work of actuarial students and teachers for an 8-week study period coordinated with the National Science Foundation program of Research Experience for Undergraduate grants. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 1994, VOL. 1.

Description: Concomitant with the industrial revolution, the function of providing old age income shifted from families and local institutions to government social security and private pension plans. The history of this change in the U.K. and U.S. is reviewed. A simple mathematical model provides insights into the role played by three rates [the rate of increase of the working population, the time preference rate, and the rate of real wage growth] in determining optimum funding policy. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 1994, Vol. 2.

Description: This paper reviews and compares the Canadian and U.S. Social Security systems as to their adequacy, actuarial equity and progressiveness. It concludes that the Canadian system[s] provide larger minimum benefits and, thus, greater adequacy than the U. S. On the other hand, the analysis indicates more emphasis on actuarial equity in the U.S. system [in total] than in Canada. Finally, both systems are shown to be highly progressive in that lower-wage earners get larger benefits per dollar of contribution than do higher wage earners. The paper concludes by noting that while the systems in these two countries have remarkably different actuarial formulae for determining benefits, and remarkably different structures, that the benefits that result from the two systems are surprisingly similar. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 1999, Vol. 1.

Description: President Bush is to be commended for making social security private account reform a top legislative priority, but the mixed defined-benefit/defined-contribution model that he has in mind has been criticized for transferring too much investment and longevity risk to account holders. In response, President Bush should consider an alternative approach to private account design - indexed benefit offsets - that would retain the existing defined-benefit model and eliminate this risk transfer. From Pension Section News, April 2005, Issue No. 58.

Description: From the 1960 Transactions Vol. 12 No. 32, this ‘Digest of Informal Discussion’ addresses current developments and proposals with respect to Social Security legislation in the United States and Canada, and individual retirement legislation.

Description: Personal highlights of a pension actuary's 10 years with the U.S. Social Security Administration and Senate staff, applying his experience and skills to emerging issues. He recommended that the Thrift Savings Plan for federal employees use index funds for common stocks, giving employees an attractive way to invest while keeping politics out of stock selection.

Description: This discussion from the 1983 SOA Vancouver Meeting looks at recent developments in pensions for the United States including TEFRA and Section 415 limits on defined benefit and defined contribution plans, the taxation of social security benefits, and FASB views on pension assets and liabilities. From Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 9, No. 3.

Description: Article from The Actuary October 1992 – Volume 26, No. 08 is a book review of Social Security: What Every Taxpayer Should Know