Description: In physics and engineering education, Fermi problems require solutions based on good approximate calculations with little or no actual data, involving making justified guesses and deducing bounds without using sophisticated tools. The idea of Fermi problems are of particular relevance to today's actuaries, as pricing, reserving, and financial reporting involve more and more complex stochastic components. The paper discusses some approximate solutions developed in academia in the spirit of Fermi problems.

Description: Section 807d of the IRC provides that the deductible reserve for a life insurance contract is the greater of net surrender value or the Federally Prescribed Reserve FPR calculated under prescribed interest rate and mortality assumptions, but in no event can the tax reserve exceed “aggregate statutory reserves” i.e., the statutory cap. This article logically concludes that deficiency reserves are included in the calculation of the statutory cap.

Description: Author traces the tax treatment of deficiency reserves, beginning with the 1959 Act, illustrating how the decisions made in the development of the 1959 Act continue to affect the tax treatment of those reserves today.

Description: Designing and Pricing LTCI Combination Products by Carl L. Friedrich from Long-Term Care Newsletter, December 2004, Issue No. 13.

Description: An interview with Sheryl Flum, chief, Branch 4, IRS Office of Associate Chief Counsel (Financial Institutions and Products) at the Internal Revenue Service, regarding her role at the IRS and current tax issues facing the life insurance industry.

Description: This article describes the mortality tables that the Board of Governors of the Society of Actuaries is recommending to the NAIC as successors to the 1958 CSO Table

Description: This article summarizes the key changes to VM-31 requirements in the 2020 version of the Valuation Manual for both life and variable annuities, and compares and contrasts the requirements for each. In addition, the article offers insights into common issues and recommendations for VM-31 reports from the viewpoints of a regulator, consultant, and company actuary.

Description: Background information on the calculation of the statutory valuation and nonforfeiture maximum interest rates and a brief discussion on the effect that changing interest rates will have on some typical life insurance products.

Description: The purpose of this article is twofold. Number one, to estimate the growing level of statutory reserves that are being reinsured offshore, supported by Letters of Credit, as well as by assets held within a trust. Number two, to quantify the redundancy in the reserves due to the conservative nature of the required methodology, combined with the utilization of an outdated mortality table.

Description: Formulas for changes in GAAP liabilities and liability accrual rates are shown for three assumption update methods—retrospective, prospective and immediate.