Description: From the 1960 Transactions Vol. 12 No. 33, this ‘Digest of Informal Discussion’ took place at the 1960 Eastern Spring Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held in Washington, D.C. March 24-25. The participants discussed whether the regional meetings of the Society of Actuaries were successful in stimulating more informality of discussion, permitting programs of more interest, and integrating with local actuarial clubs. The discussion also covered the current procedures for publication of the “Transactions’ and ‘Committee Reports,’ and the presentation and discussion of papers.

Description: This discussion on pensions raises the following questions: For employers with less than 25 employees, what pension arrangements have been found to be efficient from marketing, actuarial, and administrative standpoints? What are the different problems involved in investing for an insurance company and for a private pension fund? From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1960, Vol. 12, No. 34.

Description: This article is a review and discussion of the 1976 “Report of the Consultant Panel on Social Security to the United States Congressional Research Service.” The report contains the results of another government-initiated study of the OASDI system which puts forth a second solution to a problem first publicly identified by the 1975 Advisory Council on Social Security, a problem which has come to be known as the “decoupling issue.” Because the solution proposed by the actuaries and economists making up this consultant panel is significantly different from that of the Advisory Council, this report has inspired some degree of friendly debate among actuaries and others interested in the technicalities of the OASDI benefit formula. Panel members are Peter A. Diamond, James C. Hickman, Ernest J. Moorhead, and William C. Hsiao, Chairman.

Description: This paper attempts to develop an actuarial rationalization for the governance of a mutual life insurance company. It addresses setting surplus targets, long term growth objectives, internal performance accounting, and mergers and acquisitions. A discussion of the paper follows. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1979, Vol. 31.

Description: This paper discusses a brief history of policy loans, a description of the problems being experienced by companies and possible solutions. A discussion of the paper follows. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1977, Vol. 29.

Description: This is a discussion of the paper, Funding Group Life Insurance by Charles L. Trowbridge. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1955, Vol. 7, No. 19.

Description: This meeting session was presented at the SOA's 1976 Spring Meeting in Washington D.C. The session focused on facts and opinions about the economic impact of life insurance in meeting people's needs for retirement security and security against death and disability.

Description: This paper examines tandem levels of salary and interest rates and finds that the absolute level of each assumption as well as the differential are significant cost determinants for defined benefit pension plans. In forming best-estimate salary and interest rate assumptions, the actuary must reconcile the difference, if any, between the currently observed rates and the valuation assumptions. Common practice is to choose expected long-term rather than observed rates for valuation purposes. The error in this procedure is analyzed and found to be tolerable for strictly temporary discrepancies between observed rates and valuation assumptions. For situations where these discrepancies are expected to persist for some time, a need is shown for nonuniform, calendar-year assumptions or their equivalent in order to develop best-estimate assumptions. Followed by several discussion papers submitted

Description: This paper shows how net costs of virtually all life insurance contracts may be compared, using, for each contract, the ratio of two interest-adjusted cost indexes denoted as Interest Adjusted Cost indexes. The paper includes a discussion of how the relative cost of early termination of the contract may best be shown to the buyer. Followed by discussion papers submitted by various authors

Description: This panel discussion session focuses on the financial security of retirees including examining the role of personal savings in meeting the financial security needs of retirees. From Record of Society of Actuaries 1980, Vol. 6, No. 4.