Description: The author offers his proof that an annuity for the life expectancy exceeds a life annuity.

Description: This presentation proposes a solution to the student actuarial paradox “I mastered the syllabus but failed the exam,” by utilizing the two-dimensional syllabus vehicle which pedagogically focuses on the two dimensions of content and problem difficulty. This presentation advocates the PMR characterization of three levels of problems difficulty: Plug-ins (easy), Monkey-wrench (intermediate), and Research-type(hard) questions. PMR was developed by examining difficulty levels in SOA exams, and problems of various software vendors. The author's students routinely score high on the SOA FM exam; it is hoped that these methods will assist other instructors in their quest for good pedagogy. Very briefly: “Plug-ins,” refer to multi-part problems, for example, calculating the price of an annuity that is first increasing and then level; “Monkey-wrench” problems specifically refer to plug-in multi-part problems where one component is a monkey-wrench, an issue the candidate has not previously encountered. It might be a non-typical modeling or it might be a non-typical algebraic simplification or it might be an unexpected integration of distinct modules in a manner that the candidate has not yet seen. “Research-type questions” refer to problems requiring some type of experimentation for example, looking at initial cases, seeing a pattern and then applying methods

Description: Results of HIAA’s 1999 Study of LTCI Contract Reserves by William C. Weller from Long Term Care Newsletter, April 2000, Issue No. 2.

Description: This paper uses the power series expansions in relation to the annuity coefficients presented in the 1987 Actuarial Mathematics textbook. From the Actuarial Research Clearing House ARCH 1987 Vol. 1.

Description: Article from The Actuary October 1992 – Volume 26, No. 08 is a mathematical illustration about amortized life annuities.

Description: In November 2020 the Life Actuarial (A) Task Force unanimously passed APF 2020-08 which adds a third permissible method in the Valuation Manual to determine company experience mortality rates. This article describes the three methods

Description: Editor of the newsletter addresses the readership and talks about the U.S. health care policy and the interactive software tool CHAT, a different approach to benefit design involving trade-offs. Issue No 59

Description: The Expanding Horizons section chair discusses the SOA Doctoral Stipend.

Description: In the United States, there has been much industry discussion of the challenges associated with a sustained low interest rate environment, which impacts both the asset and liability sides of the balance sheet in unfavorable ways. The intent of this article is not to focus on these strategic issues. Rather, we attempt to shine a spotlight on some of the modeling challenges that practicing actuaries may experience when incorporating negative interest rates into their models.

Description: Summary of upcoming seminar, scheduled for August 14-15, 2017.