Description: The pension risk transfer (PRT) market has increasingly expanded to include the complexity of deferred participants who have additional options that do not exist for a retiree already receiving their benefit. Assumptions on the timing of benefit commencement and form of payment elected are highly dependent on specific pension plan provisions and the census population. These assumptions can have significant impact on the reserves and cash flows affecting not only the initial price but the future profitability of the deal and require a balance of both pension experience and annuity pricing. Learn about considerations for assumptions fit for purpose from pension actuaries working in the PRT market and who specialize in the assumption setting process for deferred lives.

Description: Explore the use of conjoint analysis to understand what employees say they want and/or need in a retirement plan in newly released research material sponsored by the SOA’s Retirement Section. Retirement plans of the past were defined as a benefit or a defined contribution in nature with their attendant features. As today’s hybrid plan designs consider features of the two historical archetypes, this research methodology identifies which features of a retirement program are most important to employees. This research, coming from the SOA’s Aging and Retirement Strategic Research program, includes a tool for testing preferences for different combinations of features by different demographic groups (age, income, gender, race/ethnicity, etc.) By attending the webcast, you will be able to understand: What conjoint analysis is and how it works. Which features of retirement programs are most important to employees. How to use a tool to compare the importance of features for different demographic groups. How to use a tool to compare the level of acceptance of different retirement packages for various demographic groups. Come look at alternative plan designs (either inside or outside of what is possible today) to better understand how employees in different situations are likely to respond to the design combinations.

Description: The Society of Actuaries is committed to fostering a more inclusive and diverse environment in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world for members, candidates and customers wherever they live. An important aspect of this commitment is dedicated research that the Society of Actuaries has sponsored to further advance this effort. Explore diversity, equity and inclusion issues from the aspect of retirement preparedness and other aging issues. Results from a recently released research report and author's views from an invitation to write essays on these issues will be presented with an opportunity for audience suggestions for future work.

Description: Required Minimum Distributions are the minimum amounts that a retiree must withdraw from their qualified pensions. The Secure Act made major changes to the rules surrounding RMDs, updating the Life Expectancy and Distribution Period Tables. In this joint-sponsored session of the Retirement and Taxation sections, the changes in these rules will be discussed. Focus on their impact to the retirees, the amount and timing of their distributions, and the retiree's potential tax ramifications.

Description: The Society of Actuaries, in conjunction with the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, recently commissioned a research project on Benefits at Risk and Jean-Francois Begin is conducting the research. Prepare to review Professor Begin's findings and review other work related to determining capital adequacy for benefits payable in non-insured pension payout schemes. This session will be of interest to actuaries working with non-insured defined contribution solutions and to actuaries working in trusteed defined benefit pension plans.

Description: How might retirement income strategies be designed, and their suitability assessed, when retirees may differ substantially in their objectives, preferences and personal circumstances? This webcast provides a wide-ranging overview of the key elements involved in formulating retirement strategies, drawing on the “Primer on Retirement Income Strategy Design and Evaluation” that was recently released by the SOA. It will cover three types of income objective – income floor, income target and income optimization – and how they imply different retirement strategies along with a different set of metrics to evaluate outcomes. It will also touch on: key member attributes to account for; the nature of income risk; approaches to investing and drawing down on available assets to generate income; and how stochastic modelling can support the analysis. This webcast should deliver something of interest for all attendees, regardless of prior familiarity with strategies for retirement.

Description: This webcast provides an overview of the key provisions of the recently enacted SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, which significantly changed the rules that apply to qualified retirement plans and IRAs. The presenters will examine a history of the legislation and focus on some of the key provisions of the Act. In particular, we will discuss provisions that give individuals more flexibility on how they will contribute to their retirement accounts and provisions that provide new ways for individuals to save. Explore certain significant structural changes to the rules such as the automatic enrollment for new plans and the elimination of lifetime RMDs for designated Roth accounts. The panel will also focus on the provisions that provide greater access to retirement funds through new distribution exceptions and how this might affect a company’s reporting obligations. Come learn about some of the relief provisions included in SECURE 2.0, including an expanded EPCRS program to cover errors relating to IRAs.

Description: Join us for an Economic Outlook Panel that will explore topics like "what are markets saying about likelihood and severity or a recession?" and "how is inflation impacting investment decisions?" Our investment experts speaking at this panel have backgrounds in asset management, insurance and pensions and plan to speak on current macroeconomic trends and their impact on the market. Audience members will have the opportunity to participate and ask question during this live webcast. Prepare for a lively conversation with a panel focused on impacts of our economic environment.

Description: Investing for retirement in other countries is different from investing for retirement in the U.S. and Canada. In developing countries, there are fewer investment opportunities and domestic markets are smaller and less liquid. National retirement systems may be established in part to support government debt issuance and to help develop domestic capital markets. Investment policy objectives tend to evolve over time as a country and its retirement system(s) develop together. Come broaden your horizons by painting a picture of a different investment paradigm than you are used to using examples from many countries around the world.

Description: In the U.S., public pension plans vary dramatically in size, complexity, funding position and more. The discussion will start by going over the current status of public plans within the U.S. You will then quickly dive into case studies on two systems, the South Dakota Retirement System and the Wisconsin Retirement System. Both systems use variable benefits or risk sharing measures to control contributions and achieve long term sustainability in a purposeful and stable fashion. During this webcast, you will learn about: The funding approach Historic success Future perspectives of the two retirement systems