Description: This issue wraps up the publication of essays to explore solutions available to address risks in retirement and focus on risks in a DC environment.

Description: This article discusses the non-qualified market opportunities presented by the new limitations imposed on qualified pension plans.

Description: Over the last several decades, mortality trends and life expectancies in developed countries have been improving and are expected to continue to improve in the future. This paper discusses issues of longevity risk and volatility faced by small defined-benefit DB pension plans in Canada and outlines the opportunities available for entrepreneurial insurance companies interested in providing solutions to address these issues.

Description: This is a book review of 'Pension Mathematics for Actuaries' by Arthur W. Anderson. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1985, Vol. 37.

Description: The editorial provides an overview of articles in this issue that explore and illustrate solutions to current retirement challenges.

Description: This article provides a basic introduction to the taxation of qualified annuities held in qualified retirement plans and IRAs. The article has been updated for the SECURE Act and the SECURE 2.0 Act. The article describes the basic types of employer-based plans, provides of overview of the taxation of contributions and benefits when annuities are held in connection with plans and IRAs, explains the required minimum distribution rules, and offers a brief introduction to recent legislation impacting qualified annuities.

Description: Summary of the annual cost-of-living adjustment and changes in other wage-indexed programs parameters for Social Security in 2024.

Description: Article, written by the Economist and Director of the Research Department of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, discusses the nature and quality of the CPI and the use of it to adjust pension benefits.

Description: This article, another in the popular series devoted to tax basics, provides an overview of how the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the law governing employment-based retirement and health plans, impacts the use of annuities in pension and 401(k) plans. The article explains which types of plans are subject to ERISA, and which are not; why the concept of "plan assets" is critical; what duties an insurance company or distributor might take on when an annuity is placed with a retirement plan; and finally what disclosures may be required. The article also includes a brief introduction to terminal funding annuities. This article is intended for those with no prior experience in ERISA. Because the vast majority of retirement assets are saved originally in employment based plans like pension and 401(k) plans, understanding the basics of ERISA is important for anyone who will have a career in annuities and life insurance.

Description: This article describes the Joint and Survivor Factor. In defined benefit plans, ERISA requires that the normal form of the pension must be on a qualified joint and survivor basis. If the plan defines the pension in terms of a lifetime pension to the participant only, the lifetime pension must be multiplied by the joint and survivor factor. This article shows what happens to the factor as the interest rate increases.