Description: The administrators of Social Security offset-type defined benefit plans commonly encounter two difficulties when attempting to calculate the Primary Insurance Amount 'PIA' offset. The first difficulty is in obtaining the Social Security earnings history. The second difficulty is in performing the calculation itself. This paper explores the possibility of substituting a variant of the employee's final average salary for his or her Social Security Average Indexed Monthly Earnings 'AIME'. The acceptability of this substitution is then critiqued with illustrations. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1980, Vol. 32.

Description: This report provides a framework of analyses and methods that can be use to compare and assess strategies for developing lifetime retirement income.

Description: This research report investigates the mechanics and practicalities of introducing retirement investment income tontines (RITs) in today’s market place.

Description: Since the Internal Revenue Service updated its rules for integration of qualified pension plans [Revenue Ruling 71-446] nearly ten years ago, major changes have taken place in the structure of Social Security benefits. The lack of a consensus as to what constitutes a good set of rules for integration is a reflection of the many existing social and political viewpoints on this subject. This paper proposes a single theoretical basis for the integration of qualified pension benefits with Social Security retirement benefits and examines the implications of that proposal. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1982, Vol. 34.

Description: This paper analyzes the design and funding of privately sponsored retirement programs in an inflationary environment. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1982, Vol. 34.

Description: This material summarizes work done to date to develop a model for a quantitative evaluation framework for retirement benefit systems.

Description: The Federal Employees' Retirement System 'FERS', enacted into law on June 6, 1986, covers civilian employees of the U.S. Government who were hired after 1983. FERS supplements Social Security with a basic annuity plan and a thrift-savings plan. The Civil Service Retirement System 'CSRS' remains in effect for employees hired before 1984 who do not elect to transfer to FERS. Besides discussing the benefit changes, this paper covers the following related subjects of broader interest: 1. The federal legislative process, including the roles of interest groups, the Congress and the Administration, and the actuaries assisting them, 2. Investments in stocks and bonds by the new thrift plan, and why these use index funds, and 3. How FERS serves as a model for other large public retirement systems, using a defined contribution plan to help meet its retirement objectives and giving the private sector opportunities to provide benefit services. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1988, Vol. 40, Pt. 1.

Description: Much has been written about the problems facing not only the Canadian retirement system but that of almost all countries. The author states that the current Canadian regulatory framework is disjointed, inconsistent and bureaucratic. The focus of this paper is to define, describe and discuss what the author sees as the fundamental first step in redefining Canadian pension plans.

Description: The SOA's Aging & Retirement Strategic Research Program and Financial Finesse are pleased to make available a series of briefs focused on retirement literacy issues. The Retirement Planning Tools brief provides a resource for better understanding retirement tools.

Description: This paper explores the relationship between the Wealth Transfer Index, a statistic defined by Brown and Bilodeau 1997, and retirement age, which is the age at which the workers in an economy cease to be economically productive. There appears to be a strong positive correlation between the Wealth transfer Index and retirement age based on Canadian historical data.