Description: Many retirement actuaries have experience developing, implementing, and monitoring Liability Driven Investing (LDI) strategies for plan sponsors. These strategies typically involve modifying a plan’s investment strategy to remove a significant portion of the investment and interest rate risk now or at some point in the future when specific triggers are met. The tactics often involve the use of fixed income assets to cash flow and/or duration match the liabilities. In the spirit of helping actuaries expand their roles in an evolving defined contribution world, this article explores the application of LDI and derisking strategies within defined contribution and individual retirement accounts. The economic theory behind this approach is called the lifecycle hypothesis, or lifecycle finance. The benefits of the lifecycle finance method are that it provides a safe approach to save for retirement and a secure source of floor income during retirement. Similar to pension plans, each individual has his or her own idiosyncratic needs, wants, and risks that should be considered. Actuaries are uniquely situated to help defined contribution plan sponsors, individuals, and even themselves implement the lifecycle finance approach by developing and distributing tools and methods that focus on income (rather than wealth), LDI strategies, and personalization.

Description: This article presents asset/liability matching, including techniques for pension plans. Application of techniques to stabilize expense and protect plan surplus against economic fluctuations will also be discussed. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 21, No. 4b.

Description: Legislative changes and the economic environment have created a need for plan sponsors to understand and manage pension risk and volatility. Dynamic asset allocation glidepaths reduce risk as plans become better funded. But what about the risk that plan sponsors face when their plans are underfunded? The presenters will discuss the challenges of managing pension risk when assets don't keep pace with liabilities.

Description: Panelists at this session of the SOA 1998 Maui II Spring Meeting present methods for scenario generation and establishing stochasitc models for pension plans.

Description: The investment risk taken by a pension fund comprises strategic risk and active risk. This paper discusses the relative merits of these two types of risk to the pension fund, possible rationales for the levels of strategic and active risk typically adopted mechanisms for capturing manager skill without taking on equity risk, and issues in setting liability-based benchmarks for investment managers

Description: Paper presents a conceptual approach that could improve the security of retiree benefits while reducing the variability of employer contributions and improving the long-term prospects of the plan as a whole.

Description: 1992 SOA Regional Meeting, Chicago. This session was about the impact of pension plan design on investment strategy. The speakers covered a broad philosophical basis, the nuts and bolts of particular pension plan provisions in a defined-benefit area, and executive benefits.

Description: This session at the SOA 1990 Dallas Spring Meeting is about the importance of matching assets and liabilities within a pension plan. Models, methodology and strategy for accomplishing ALM are discussed.