Description: Latest installment in series that applies Buddhist philosophy to the actuary's daily activities. This installment discusses the challenges for actuaries in dealing with the ongoing ups and downs of the COVID-19 pandemic and discusses mindfulness tools to cope with the resulting stresses in a peaceful and effective way.

Description: This article addresses the importance of remembering to respect ourselves and others during times of uncertainty and stress, and offers practical tips on how to do so

Description: there is virtually no possibility of true balance in our lives because to chase “balance” between your work and family is unachievable and therefore futile. That’s because we are all actually living seven different lives, or “slices,” not just two

Description: This panel discussion session reported on the status and content of the Actuarial Standards Board standard dealing with the selection of assumptions. The discussion covers what the effects would be on practitioners.

Description: In the absence of a generally accepted guide to actuarial principles and practices for pension plans, a new professional firm offering actuarial consulting services has both the freedom to establish and the burden of establishing the professional policies by which it will be guided. Our thinking about the practical and professional necessity of annual valuations is reflected in this paper. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1972, Vol. 24, Pt. 1, No. 69 AB.

Description: Describes a process for identifying relevant industry experience to credibility-weight with relevant company experience to set modeling assumptions and margins.

Description: An article describing a hypothetical workplace dilemma involving defined benefit pension plan funding.

Description: This article shows readers' responses to a case study presented in the April 2010 issue of Stepping Stone. The part time in house actuary for a defined benefits pension plan feels the plan is under funded and recommends corrective action. The needed corrections are not felt needed by senior management.

Description: A review of the classic business book Built to Last, originally published in 1994. Looking at the past twenty years -- how have the BTL companies done? How have their comparison companies fared? Read the review and find out!