Description: The Bermuda International Life and Annuity Conference highlights Bermuda’s enhanced capital and solvency framework, and growing long-term (re)insurance sector.

Description: This essay explores the role that the emerging defined contribution retirement system may be playing in the growth of wealth inequality in the United States. The current system leaves many Americans with little or no retirement savings. Those with higher accumulation levels appear to invest proportionally more in equities, which may have an exponential effect of balances over long time periods. The author hypothesizes that willingness to take investment risk involves the relationship between the amount an investor has accumulated and what she/he needs in order to cover basic costs of living. This is one reason that investors with greater accumulation levels may be able to earn higher rates of return. The essay concludes by suggesting that the U.S. defined contribution system should include all workers and provide additional fiduciary guidance. Examples reforms, both in the U.S. and other countries, are provided.

Description: Obesity is poised to overtake smoking as the leading preventable cause of death. What parallels can be drawn between public and reinsurance industry responses to these two lifestyle choices? Swiss Re investigates.

Description: This table is an analysis of engagement among adults age 55 and older by health status. Engagement is defined as time spent in paid work, formal volunteering informal volunteering and caregiving activities.

Description: This table is an analysis of engagement among adults age 55 and older. Engagement is defined as time spent in paid work, formal volunteering informal volunteering and caregiving activities.

Description: This article highlights the paper presented by Eric Short, F.I.A., actuary and journalist with the London Financial Times, presented to the Students Society of the Institute earlier this year. His conclusion was bleak he quoted from Hagel: What experience and history teach us is that people and governments never have learned anything from history or acted on principles deduced from it.

Description: This is an article about the lack of savings by the baby boomers and how it will affect retirement and the ramifications for Social Security. The author believes that baby boomers will choose to continue to work and alleviate some of the burden on social security.

Description: This article gives an overview and explanation of behavioral finance.

Description: This article summarizes a series of surveys that explore how the public perceives retirement risks and manages related financial resources. It also provides examples of conflicting perceptions and behavior related to retirement and how retirees manage assets in retirement.

Description: While the major market crash subsequent to the widespread contagion of the COVID-19 virus was readily predictable, the rapid recovery and ongoing growth subsequent to it was not. Market dynamics around the recovery resist characterization by most traditional analytical approaches. In examining the circumstances around the emergence of a large retail class of investors, one sees that ingrained human tendencies, particularly optimism bias, have fueled much investor behavior responsible for the recovery. Understanding this makes it possible to predict potential future crashes and develop behavioral interventions for subsequent market recoveries.