Description: By definition, actuaries are preeminent in making actuarial analyses. Nevertheless, in some areas, such analyses can be adequately performed by persons from other professions, such as economists and statisticians. This article describes the misuse of life expectancy data by the Heritage Foundation when they 'calculated' that low-income, single African-American males born after 1959 face a negative rate of return from Social Security. Unfortunately, this misinformation was widely disseminated through the news media and Web sites.

Description: This is a summary of 1972 discussions about: 1. the past and future dynamics of North American retirement systems, 2. alternatives for pension legislation, and 3. actuarial principles and practices for pension plans. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1972, Vol. 24, Pt. 2D, No. 68.