Description: Design and future maintenance of an asset portfolio backing a new line of business is critical for proper asset and liability management for that business. Most portfolio optimization methods utilize linear or quadratic programming and require the user to specify the asset and liability attributes and cash flows into the program. The programmer must also supply an objective function to allow the program to find the optimal asset mix for the associated liabilities. Two problems with this approach are that the liability cash flows are fairly static and that one must frequently rebalance the portfolio. An alternative approach would be to develop a corporate model of both the assets and liabilities and incorporate various economic scenarios as input into the model. Asset strategies would be measured against a specific objective function that is calculated by the corporate model. Unfortunately, the majority of maximization algorithms available are very time consuming, and obtaining a reasonable portfolio mix becomes impractical. This paper overcomes this difficulty by using a very rapid optimization method from the chemical engineering profession called the Floppy Triangle. The paper includes an example of the use of this process to determine an optimal portfolio. It also discusses modifications of the algorithm that is required when the shorting of assets is not permitted.

Description: Mortality rates for a local community are desired in conjunction with the calculation of health-adjusted life expectancy HALE, an indicator of population health.

Description: Equity-indexed annuities [EIAs] can be viewed as mutual funds wrapped around with various guarantees. A recent paper derived a closed form formula for pricing this dynamic guarantee if early withdrawal from the fund [before maturity] is not permitted. This paper studies the pricing of dynamic protection without a maturity date, i.e., the investor chooses the date to cash in the fund accumulation.

Description: This paper is the final report in a project commissioned by the Society of Actuaries Social Security Committee. The paper considers a variety of possible risk classification factors that could be used in estimating the value of any mortality based benefit for retirees. As many countries consider mandatory individual retirement accounts as their answer to a secure Social Security system, the question arises as to whether all workers can get true 'market value' annuities when they retire. It is clear today that private sector life annuities are priced assuming that the applicant is healthy-very healthy. Very little underwriting or risk classification now exists in the individual annuity marketplace. This paper reviews 45 recent research papers that look at factors that affect mortality after retirement. In particular, factors that seem to be important in predicting retirement mortality include: age, gender, race and ethnicity, education, income, occupation, marital status, religion, health behaviors, smoking, alcohol, and obesity. For each factor, this paper gives highlights relative to the named factor of the impact expected from that variable as described in the 45 reviewed research papers.

Description: In this paper the author shows that the aggregate claims distribution of a portfolio modeled by a mix of the individual and collective models can be obtained with a single recursion under some conditions. He discusses why the collective model is not necessarily an approximation of the individual model in the context of pension funds, for example. An application to a Swiss pension fund is presented. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 2003, Vol. 1.

Description: This paper presents a discussion on the paper titled, 'Work Life Expectancy as a Measure of Damages' by Thomas C. Smith and Frank L. Griffin, Jr. The technical aspects of the original paper are discussed, legal precedents for damage findings, and additional factors to be considered in determining damages.

Description: Several of the insurance problems discussed are far short of a final definitive solution - the objective is rather to suggest some coherent patterns for developing effective practical methods of cost analysis. Problems are considered in the areas of company policy and practices, operational cost control, and premium and dividend calculations.

Description: This is a discussion of the title paper by Eugene A. Rasor and Robert J. Myers. Included is an alternative proof of the theorem provided in the paper.

Description: This section presents a book review of, "Society of Actuaries' Textbook on Life Contingencies" by Chester Wallace Jordan. Also included are summaries of other recent publications. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1952, Vol. 4, No. 10.

Description: The purpose of this paper is to outline some of the points to be considered in arriving at a method of making cost estimates and funding calculations and their practical application.