Description: This paper is designed to be a single reference source for an actuary who wants to increase his or her understanding of a Guaranteed Investment Contract 'GIC', its risks, and how to control them. The paper emphasizes the practical difficulties of matching asset and liability cash flows and discusses in detail how the sponsor and/or participants of the plan being funded by the GIC can antiselect against the insurance company. It also discusses how the actuary should go about pricing and reserving for GICs. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1984, Vol. 36.

Description: Many pension funds have recently established dedicated or 'matched' portfolios. These are portfolios of fixed-income securities whose cash flows from interest and maturities match the expected benefit payment stream on a block of liabilities. With particular reference to ERISA, this paper explores the actuarial mechanics of pension funding under dedication, including the selection of assumptions, the valuing of assets, funding of the initial change in unfunded liability, and funding of subsequent gains and losses. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1983, Vol. 35.

Description: In today's atmosphere, the high returns available on bonds have attracted much investor interest, and it is only natural that fixed income investors look for ways to assure the maintenance of high returns on their bond portfolios. This paper explains how bond immunization offers that potential.

Description: This paper models minimum pension guarantee using a simulation approach. Lachance and Mitchell [2002] have shown that it could be important if and when individual accounts are introduced in the United States. This paper's model uses real data from Mexico where individual accounts are already a reality and the minimum pension guarantee is already enshrined by law. The authors calculate the probability of the government needing to honor the guarantee and estimate the cost of such a promise using a real options approach. Higher investment in the stock market turns out to be the key. The higher the proportion of investment allowed by law in stocks, the lower the probability of government support.