Description: Abstract of a paper examining the degree to which certain actuarial methods satisfy public pension plan funding objectives.

Description: Defined benefit DB pension plans continue to dominate the retirement landscape for the roughly 20 million state and local government workers in the United States. In most state and local plans, pension benefits are protected by constitutional, statutory, or common law guarantees. In many cases, these guarantees make the benefit promises to participants virtually free of risk. Finance theory is unambiguous that the discount rate used to value future pension obligations should reflect the riskiness of the liabilities.

Description: Panel discusses the selection of both economic and demographic assumptions in funding pension plans. They include the impact on selection of economic assumptions from the recently released Actuarial Standard of Practice [ASOP] No. 27, 'Selection of Economic Assumptions for Measuring Pension Obligations.' From the 1997 Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 23, No. 3.

Description: Paper that discusses a new funding method that would make the recommended contribution for funding purposes for public DB plans subject to an overriding minimum contribution OMC calculation.

Description: This presentation of the panel discussion from the 1977 Record of the SOA Vol. 3 No. 4 examines pension valuation and assumptions particularly assumption setting for Social Security Benefits, assumptions and methods for smaller plans, early retirement assumptions and funding of supplementary benefits, gain/loss and valuation assumptions.

Description: This article summarizes the approach taken by the Canadian Institute of Actuaries to develop mortality tables and mortality improvement scales for use in Canadian pension plans based on Canadian population data. It also summarizes the additional factors pension actuaries have to consider in using the new tables and scales.

Description: Discussant comments by Ryan Labs Asset Management on paper “Actuarial Methods and Public Pension Funding Objective: An Empirical Examination,” by Norman L. Jones and Brian B. Murphy and Paul Zorn

Description: Excel spreadsheet illustrating a specific proposal outlined in the paper, with detailed explanations.

Description: Introduction to the paper that documents the flaws of the current financial model.

Description: Part 1 proposes solutions to the first of three flaws of the current financial model to obtaining the fair value of the public sector employer’s pension benefit liability.