Description: This article is a book review of 'Adventures and Misadventures in the Stock Market' by retired actuary, James G. Bruce, who talks about his personal finances. Asked by the reviewer why he believes that actuaries might appreciate his book, Mr. Bruce mentions that actuaries have curiosity about how people, especially fellow actuaries, reason, act and react that they may relish judging how wise or foolish he’s been and that comparisons of his views with those of others may prove useful.

Description: This article pays homage to the outgoing Editor of The Actuary, Andrew C. Webster.

Description: This article describes the membership of the SOA outside of the United Sates. An informal count places the number of such members in active practice at 406.

Description: This paper discusses decoupling of social security - meaning that the coupling of actual benefits for those already beneficiaries and potential benefits for future beneficiaries be broken. The purposes are to describe the environment, the problem which decoupling addresses and the importance of a rational solution. The paper discusses the wage-indexing approach and the price-indexing approach. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1977, Vol. 29.

Description: On the eve of dissemination of an interim report by the President’s Commission on Pension Policy, The New York Times has printed four articles May 18-21 entitled “The Pension Tangle.” This addresses the first of this quartet, regarding the threat of inflation to the private pension system.

Description: Summarization of address at the SOA annual meeting, October 1979, by William W. Whitson, Ph.D., of the Congressional Research Service. He conducted a study on the prospects of socio-political change, and concluded there could be some disturbing discontinuities.

Description: Article from The Actuary, June 1983, volume no. 17, issue no. 6, that discusses the New South Life Case which happens to be one of the mercifully few life companies in which a major deficit has been directly linked to miscalculation of policy reserves.

Description: Ed. Note: We hope readers will find this account composed from the Minutes by one who wasn’t there so inadequate that they will complain to the Secretary at his Ontario address. 1. A Year Book Editor was appointed.See his message elsewhere in this issue. 2. Rules for expressions of opinion by Society committees were drafted. 3. A task force was appointed to explore new guidelines for professional conduct. See its message in our March issue. From The Actuary VOL. 15, No. 8

Description: This article shows the census of pre-1889 actuaries in North America.

Description: This article analyzes the number of FSAs attending SOA meetings in the period 1966-1983.