Description: This article discusses pension plans in North America as compared to pension plans in Japan from the perspective of the author, who has lived in both places, currently residing in Japan. From Pension Section News, January 2006, No. 60.

Description: The Employee Retiree Income Security Act, or ERISA, establishes an important statutory role for pension actuaries in the United States. As part of its statutory goal to protect the retirement security of America’s workers, ERISA requires tax-qualified defined benefit plans to obtain an actuarial valuation of plan reserves each year. When valuing the plan’s reserves, the actuary is required by ERISA to act on behalf of plan participants. Thus, the plan actuary fulfills an important role in maintaining the plan’s ability to meet its on-going obligations to the plan participants and their beneficiaries. From Pension Section News, April 2006, Issue No. 61.

Description: This article reviews the new standard of practice, ASOP 6, and its impact on the actuarial assumptions that actuaries use for valuations of retiree group medical and life benefits.

Description: This article provides a brief synopsis of the paper Limitations on Liabilities for Actuarial Services and describes the paper's availability. From Pension Section News, March 2004, Issue No. 54.

Description: Conflict of Interest Notifications Aid Client’s Fiduciary Obligations by Theodore Konshak from Pension Section News, January 1998, Issue No. 35.

Description: This article provides a summary of the Actuarial Standards Board work and hearing evaluating whether a new ASOP is needed for public sector pension plans.

Description: This article discusses adjusting IRC 415 limits for prior distributions. The proposed IRC 415 regulations issued last May contained guidance regarding how to adjust the benefit limits for prior distributions. This is commendable on the part of the IRS. How to adjust the IRC 415 limits for prior distributions has long been a source of confusion even for experienced pension actuaries. The best methodology is not immediately clear, and some methods have become common practice even if they can lead to inconsistent or unreasonable results. From Pension Section News, January 2006, No. 60.

Description: In this article the author responds the current defined benefit pension plan concepts that are being challenged and presents his proposal for revised plan design, funding and investment concepts. From Pension Section News, March 2004, Issue No. 54.

Description: This article focuses on the challenge of validation of quality data particularly with regard to outsourcing, reviews the standards of practice concerning data quality and the steps that can be taken to ensure data quality.

Description: An update on the Capital Market Assumptions used for asset allocation maybe useful to actuaries given the parallels with the assumptions an actuary uses to measure plan obligations.