Description: Part 5 addresses various purposes for measuring a public sector pension liability and which measures have the most practical usefulness.

Description: Exploration of sources of volatility in retiree health valuations, noting how volatility arises and might be mitigated, with discussion of valuation parameters more problematic for retiree health benefits than for pensions. Three significant influences on retiree health valuation volatility are covered-- changes in benefit level, fluctuations in cost level, and alterations in eligibility for, or duration of, benefit – and attention focused on the last two. Specific conclusions result in recommendations, which are supported by practical examples contrasting volatile measurement results with those likely from the recommended practices. Theoretical discussion includes health claim variation, health trend usage, financial economics, option pricing, discount rates, and deterministic vs. stochastic modeling.

Description: 1993 SOA Spring Meeting, San Diego. This session discussed the proposed standards for determining the economic assumptions for the purposes of measuring pension obligations. The actuary's determination of the interest rate assumption was the primary focus of the discussion.

Description: This is an essay on the measurement of the reasonableness of each individual non-economic actuarial assumption. From the Pension Section News, September 2008, Issue No. 68.

Description: 1994 SOA Meeting, San Antonio. This session covered the SEC letter on FAS 87, discount rates analyzing the current yield curve, matching bond portfolios to benefit payments, selection of salary scale, selection of return on assets, update on ASB proposed standards, and the relationship, if any, of funding assumptions to accounting assumptions.

Description: 1993 SOA Annual Meeting, New York. This session is about the ASB proposed standard for pension economic assumptions. Topics included: 1. Methods of choosing discount rates. 2. Subsidiary assumptions that tie into discount rates. 3. Thoughts about the status report, comments received during the comment period, and insights into what the ASB is thinking about. 4. A financial viewpoint applied to economic assumptions.

Description: The article has formulas for calculating the geometric return of a portfolio using the arithmetic return and the variance

Description: Panel discusses the selection of both economic and demographic assumptions in funding pension plans. They include the impact on selection of economic assumptions from the recently released Actuarial Standard of Practice [ASOP] No. 27, 'Selection of Economic Assumptions for Measuring Pension Obligations.' From the 1997 Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 23, No. 3.

Description: This 1981 discussion session focuses on economic assumptions for defined benefit pension plans including: 1. Investment return 2. Salary scales 3. The Spread - Investment return minus salary scale 4. Post-retirement increases 5. Increases in Social Security benefits 6. Effects of inflation and economy on other assumptions 7. Assumptions varying by calendar year

Description: This meeting session, which occurred at the June 1980 SOA meeting in San Deigo, covered economic assumptions for pension plans. Topics included: 1. How should an Inflation Assumption be chosen? 2. Who should and can be involved in the process? 3. What Economic Assumptions are used for Social Security Canadian and U. S. projections? 4. What is the future of productivity and general wage increases? 5. How are Turnover and Retirement Age Assumptions related to Economic assumptions? 6. Are actuaries using variable or indexed Economic Assumptions? How are they doing it? 7. Should Economic Assumptions vary by plan size? By Benefit design? By valuation method? By investment strategy?, and 8. How should the assumptions be communicated to the plan sponsor? From Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 6, No. 3.