Description: This article discusses the history of the Sun Life of Canada inserting a question about smoking in their life insurance applications. Actuary John M. Bragg used the Sun Life mortality ratios, supplemented by other data from life companies, from the Cancer Society, and from the U.S. Surgeon General, to construct his non-smoker and smoker mortality tables and to produce his Health Insurance Report which was the starting point for companies that have introduced smoker/nonsmoker differentials for health insurance.

Description: Review of Professor Belth's book 'Life Insurance: A Consumer Handbook'.

Description: This article discusses the formation, and work in progress or under consideration, of the SOA's Committee for Research on Social Concerns to identify social concerns with actuarial aspects on which objective analysis, research and creative input could be provided.

Description: This article describes behavioral finance and its relevance in identifying analytics and processes suitable for a control environment for the actuarial aspects of an insurance company.

Description: The series finale on thinking and decision making, this article explores when actuaries should use a heuristic or systems analysis method of decision making.

Description: Peter G. Moore, Reason By Numbers. Peter Moore looks at the ways of gathering, presenting and interpreting information and explains the essential arithmetic of resource allocation, planning and decision theory.

Description: The author discusses how sustainable enterprise risk management (SERM) is valuable for insurance companies and how actuaries can contribute to its development.

Description: This article announces the release of a handbook written by the DFCA Task Force for assisting actuaries who are doing Dynamic Financial Condition Analysis.