Description: This presentation from Session 34 of the SOA June 2005 New Orleans Health/Pension Spring Meeting discusses the changing risks faced by sponsors of defined benefit pension plans and how actuaries can help these plan sponsors adopt investment and funding strategies that will help manage these risks. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 31, No. 2.

Description: The current financial model put forth as the market value of public sector pension benefit liabilities is simply the expected cash flows of the accumulated benefit obligation, as defined for current private sector financial reporting, discounted using a risk-free yield curve. This model is in serious need of an overhaul. This monograph addresses this issue.

Description: Changes to Social Security for 2019.

Description: Recently completed research projects from the Society of Actuaries.

Description: Open Architecture retirement advice for average Americans is still in the future; business model biases across all industry business silos may impact SPIA sales

Description: The authors of this report have identified three key corporate finance metrics and measures impacted by corporate pension plans that are increasingly being used by corporate decision-makers. The first is corporate leverage. The second is accounting adjustments made by rating agencies to income statements and cash flow statements. The third is the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) where it is felt that the calculation of the WACC from market data may be biased if corporate pension plans are ignored.

Description: This essay explores the role that the emerging defined contribution retirement system may be playing in the growth of wealth inequality in the United States. The current system leaves many Americans with little or no retirement savings. Those with higher accumulation levels appear to invest proportionally more in equities, which may have an exponential effect of balances over long time periods. The author hypothesizes that willingness to take investment risk involves the relationship between the amount an investor has accumulated and what she/he needs in order to cover basic costs of living. This is one reason that investors with greater accumulation levels may be able to earn higher rates of return. The essay concludes by suggesting that the U.S. defined contribution system should include all workers and provide additional fiduciary guidance. Examples reforms, both in the U.S. and other countries, are provided.

Description: Argues that most retirees face multiple financial risks that need to be considered simultaneously so that limited resources can be applied in a manner that is rational and satisfying. A specific procedure for developing such an individualized risk strategy is described.

Description: If your organization’s objectives involve taking on other people’s risks, you need some pretty complicated goals for your risk taking: diversification, risk selection, control cycle, consideration and provisioning.

Description: Introduction and table of contents of essay collection.