Description: The SOA is pleased to make available a report updating the 2012 risk assessment performed by Porteous et al. The report also provided an economic capital analysis for a stylized US plan with the same member profile and the USS provisions modified to reflect a typical US DB plan.

Description: This paper was the results of an invitation by the SOA’s Pension Section Research Team to explore the current state of defined benefit plans in Canada and future visions of them.

Description: Summary sheet of the report, Tale of Two Pension Plans: Measuring Pension Plan Risk From an Economic Capital Perspective.

Description: The purpose of this paper is to sketch the mathematical functions which are needed in valuing the benefits of a self-insured plan, and to study certain problems that arise in connection with the valuation of these plans. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1950, Vol. 2, No. 2.

Description: Private defined benefit pension plans must, by law, pre-fund the retirement benefits. This requires the periodic valuation of liabilities and calculation of contributions. Because valuation assumptions are seldom borne out by reality, a surplus [or deficit] ensues and varies over time. When the surplus becomes sizable, there often arises a desire to distribute part of it so as to bring it down to a more reasonable level. This paper provides a brief overview of cooperative game theory and, in particular, sharing rules. Then, using certain sharing rules, it determines how to split the surplus or deficit among the plan participants and sponsor. In general, the participant's share in the surplus depends on the total of his contributions. Other considerations, such as the actual investment income received on his contributions or the years of service, may influence the distribution of the surplus. It may even appear desirable to take account of the accrued liability. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 1998, Vol. 1.

Description: This study examines reductions in retirement benefits from the decline in defined benefit plans and increases in defined contribution plans during the past 20 years and what effect this has on workforce management. In particular how this change is affecting older workers’ decisions to retire and what effect this could have on companies. An underlying assumption implicit in evaluating the benefit of retirement of older workers is that productivity declines in old age while pay does not, leading to a pay productivity gap that could have an adverse effect on the employer from delayed retirement. The validity of this assumption was also examined.

Description: This is a discussion of the paper, Actuarial Note: The Valuation of Self-Insured Retirement Plans by Joseph C. Noback. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1950, Vol. 2, No. 4.

Description: The Society of Actuaries is pleased to make available a research report that investigates defined benefit retirement plan de-risking activities for U.S.-based companies and the relative impact of various implemented strategies.

Description: Recognizing the increase in the rate of inflation over recent years in the United States, pension plans have been improving benefits for retired employees. In this paper, a planning model is developed for such increases, based on periodic examination of the increase in pension necessary to keep a replacement ratio constant. This ratio is initially related to the private pension plus Social Security benefit, divided by final average salary. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1982, Vol. 34.

Description: The Society of Actuaries Retirement Section is pleased to make available material that addresses the challenges in communicating pension risk to stakeholders.