Description: This panel discussion is from the 1991 Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held May 16-17 in New York. The panelists debunk myths, the conventional wisdom that actuaries have no place in the public policy arena, whether because the profession is too small to influence public policymakers, or legislators just don't want to hear from professionals whose work is so technical in nature and specialized in its application, or that It's not really necessary to become too involved in public policymaking, because what goes on in legislatures just doesn't affect actuaries’ day-to-day working lives. The panelists provide insights on lending actuarial expertise to policymaking debates. Discussion from participants is included. From the Record of Society of Actuaries, Volume 17, No. 2.

Description: This article contains reviews of the following books: 1. 'The Analysis of Mortality and Other Actuarial Statistics' by B. Benjamin and H. W. Haycocks, 2. 'Life Insurance, Annuities & Pensions' by A. Pedoe, 3. 'Vesting and Termination Provisions in Private Pension Plans' by Carl H. Fischer, 4. 'Decision Analysis: Introductory Lectures on Choices under Uncertainty' by Howard Raiffa, 5. 'Mathematical Methods in Risk Theory' by Hans Buhlmann, 6. 'Early Retirement Benefits-Panacea, Purgatory or Palliative' by Harry E. Blagden, 7 'Early Retirement: A Survey of Company Policies and Retirees' Experiences' by Mark R. Greene, H. Charles Pyron, U. Vincent Manion, and Howard' Winklevoss, 8. 'Guaranty Fund for Private Pension Obligations' by Dan M. McGill, and 9. 'The Automobile Worker and Retirement: A Second Look' by Richard E. Barfield. Notices of other articles and studies are also included. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1971, Vol. 23, Pt. 1, No. 65.

Description: 2003 Valuation Actuary Symposium, San Diego, CA. In this open forum participants' questions were addressed by experts in the field. Some of the questions: 1. How does actuarial practice develop with regard to questions about interim results and asset-adequacy analysis projections? 2. If the present value measures used in typical asset-adequacy evaluation include a favorable adequacy opinion, are there patterns of interim results that under commonly accepted actuarial practice would require additional reserves to be established? 3. What is the most extreme stochastic modeling that you have seen? How many scenarios on how large a block, on how complex a model, on how many PCs or what type of computer that ran for over how many days? 4. Is codification retroactive? Does it impact any previous reserving methodologies put in place on policies issued before codification was effective? 5. What are your individual views on whether the federal government should provide a backstop to group or individual life insurance to handle terrorism catastrophes? 6. What are your thoughts are on the move toward stochastic methods for setting reserves?

Description: 1999 SOA Annual Meeting, San Francisco. Senior executives in various financial services companies discussed the future of financial services and the role the actuary can play.