Description: The SOA Research Institute has executed research for over twenty years on some repeating themes and topics. The reports build on each other and add content. This article summarizes and discusses a summary report on long-term care, caregiving and housing linked to long-term care and caregiving.

Description: Trends in mortality have a huge impact on the insurance industry and its products, risks and profitability. Worldwide, life expectancy has increased continuously over the past decades. However, this progress—even without considering the Covid-19 pandemic—has been subject to strong fluctuations. In recent years, an increase in volatility can be observed. Various aspects—medical science, environment, lifestyle—have influenced the trend in the past. How can the life and health industry move forward in these uncertain conditions? In this article, we examine what has gone before and what can be learned from a closer analysis. What are the main drivers of the historical increase in life expectancy? What characterizes the dynamics of the recent past? How can mortality be projected into the future? How good are our methods of prediction and what are the risks? What risk management options are available?

Description: Imagine that the insurance purchase process is a bridge. The customer is coming from one direction and crossing the bridge and the insurer is coming from the other side. The point at which they meet is the transaction point. At one time, customers were willing to completely cross the bridge to get to the insurer. They knew that they needed insurance, and like any retail purchase, they would “travel” to make it happen. Today, the insurers are normally the ones “journeying” across the bridge. This is the future of insurance — useful, convenient, intelligent protection that does its best analytic and protective work on the client-side of the bridge.

Description: The 2021 Society of Actuaries Generations Survey offers results by race and ethnicity. This article is an interview with Alan Newsome and shares the results of the survey as well as broader issues to understand the differences in retirement security by race and ethnicity. It documents that there are major differences, and that the COVID-19 pandemic affected different groups very differently. It also raises issues related to societal conditions.

Description: Scenario analysis for a pension plan is the process of assessing the effects of hypothetical events on the plan’s future financial position, providing tangible real-world examples of risks facing the plan. Long term risks for a pension plan can often feel abstract. Providing strong narratives around possible future events makes it easier for stakeholders to engage with these risks and potential mitigation strategies

Description: This article identifies why insurance innovations take so much effort and digs deeper into the underlying causes. It shows and explains the importance of taking an efficient, tactical, and intentional approach when innovating to avoid over-building and over-investing.

Description: Feature article with helpful hints on video conferencing and more!

Description: Heart disease, critical illness insurance and the path to change – a personal essay by Jing Lang, FSA, FCIA, FLMI.

Description: Anna and Maria report on the “Older Women in the Future: Adapting to Longer Lives” session that they jointly presented with Terry Kozlowski at last year’s World Future Society Conference, and provide brief summaries of selected other sessions they found interesting and/or surprising.

Description: Discusses the market, demographic, and macroeconomic factors that affect actuaries' choices for the assumptions they use in the pricing and valuation of many insurance products.