Description: The Actuary Vol. 22, No. 1. This article discusses the impact of a change in procedure in the financing of the US Military Retirement System. The change requires amortizing the past service liability. The impact will depend upon whether the amortization is achieved by increasing current taxes and decreasing the current deficit, or by merely increasing the national debt and leaving the current deficit unchanged. The author asserts that the new financing method will not weaken the financial condition of the military retirement system, and that it has the potential to strengthen its financial condition if the funding of the past service liability is handled appropriately.

Description: This article summarizes the views of the Interagency Task Force about the need for regulation of private pension plans with a focus on protecting vested benefits.

Description: A critique of the SOA's co-sponsoring of the Manhart Brief which addressed sex discrimination in pension rates. The critique argues that the brief fails to satisfy standards of academic rigor reflected in other SOA publications.

Description: The author shares the story of his actuarial career and provides insight into the development of retirement today and the past and future of the pension actuary.

Description: Discussion of the need to understand the implications of demographic and family diversity for the design of retirement programs. The design of retirement programs is a design of programs for the elderly, who are more often women, because women live longer and because their work histories often lead to reduced levels of pension and social security benefits.

Description: Background of the Manhart case on sex discrimination in pension rates, summary of the brief prepared for the case by an SOA task force, and text of a letter submitted to the court by SOA members critical of the brief.

Description: This is an article from The Actuary that discusses the need to reform defined benefit plans. The number of defined benefit plans in the United States has declined significantly over the past 20 years. If Congress overlooks the interests of plan sponsors in its reform, we're likely to witness further erosion of an already weakened defined benefit system, and America's workers would be the ultimate losers.

Description: This article on pensions and tax expenditures discusses the problems in the development of the numbers provided by the Office of Management and Budget. Tax reform proposals that quantify increases in tax revenue that would result from elimination of tax advantages of qualified pension plans are flawed in the author's opinion.

Description: This Eugene Strum article is about what changes happened in the contributions to employer-sponsored benefit plans after The Arizona Government Committee vs. Norris.

Description: This article discusses the non-qualified market opportunities presented by the new limitations imposed on qualified pension plans.