Description: A discussion of the similarities and differences in social security benefit design, indexation, and financing in Canada, the United States and other countries.

Description: This paper is the final report in a project commissioned by the Society of Actuaries Social Security Committee. The paper considers a variety of possible risk classification factors that could be used in estimating the value of any mortality based benefit for retirees. As many countries consider mandatory individual retirement accounts as their answer to a secure Social Security system, the question arises as to whether all workers can get true 'market value' annuities when they retire. It is clear today that private sector life annuities are priced assuming that the applicant is healthy-very healthy. Very little underwriting or risk classification now exists in the individual annuity marketplace. This paper reviews 45 recent research papers that look at factors that affect mortality after retirement. In particular, factors that seem to be important in predicting retirement mortality include: age, gender, race and ethnicity, education, income, occupation, marital status, religion, health behaviors, smoking, alcohol, and obesity. For each factor, this paper gives highlights relative to the named factor of the impact expected from that variable as described in the 45 reviewed research papers.

Description: Panelists at this session of the SOA Maui II Spring Meeting discuss how well the U.S. and Candian social security systems have met the criteria for an equitable system. An Australian actuary discusses his paper 'The Development of Some Criteria for Equity and National Retirement Income Systems.'

Description: Participants learn about the demographic, economic, and investment aspects of Social Security systems. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Volume 27, No. 2, Session 30PD of the Toronto Spring Meeting.

Description: This special session 72OF of the Dallas Spring Meeting is structured in a guided forum style, much like a town meeting, and led by SOA President Robert L. Brown. It is designed to cover issues vital to the proposed Strategic Plan of the SOA. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Volume 27, No. 1, Session 72OF

Description: The paper presents arguments to show that a fully funded social security scheme is no more secure economically than a pay as you go scheme....that is, for real retirement income security the funding mechanism is irrelevant. From Actuarial Research Clearing House, January 1996, VOL. 1.

Description: The first objective of this paper is to test the hypothesis that higher levels of income inequality are directly related to lower levels of population health with updated data from around year 2000. The second goal is to examine the inequality-health relationship across the life course with particular focus on old age when income distributions often shift dramatically.

Description: The importance of financial wellness has been increasingly recognized in the last few years. More organizations are sponsoring programs to assist people in different stages of their life

Description: In this paper the authors discuss the official decennial Unites States Life Tables for 1979-81, presenting age-specific mortality rates and expectations of life. Mortality trends are examined going back to the first decennial tables published at the beginning of the century, and brief comparisons with mortality in other industrialized countries are made. The paper includes written discussion. From the 1985 Transactions Vol. 37.