Description: Responding to Sandy Mackenzie's "Report", these comments primarily suggest additional disclosures for assessing public pension plan financial health.

Description: Living beyond ones life expectancy poses many challenges. Among them are financial issues. Though there are products and strategies available that retirees could use to mitigate this financial risk they are seldom used. Reasons range from high cost, lack of awareness of the available options, and general underestimation of longevity risk. This paper poses the question as to whether the federal government can provide a solution to this potential problem in a fair and cost efficient manner. Ideas are presented as well as a discussion of the pros and cons of such a program concept.

Description: This article focuses on retirement decisions, phased retirement and related policy issues, calling for actuaries to take on leadership roles in retirement public discussion.

Description: The Society of Actuaries, the SOA Pension Section, the Conference of Consulting Actuaries and the American Society of Pension Actuaries are contributing funds in support of efforts to get the actuarial profession more involved in modeling that addresses national retirement income policy and health care reform. The first project will be a feasibility study to analyze each major existing database/model and investigate whether it would be practical to access it or to extend it into a new macrodemographic model.

Description: This paper explores a proposed compulsory savings program combined with transparent investment vehicles designed to promote competition based on expense levels, fund performance and customer service. At retirement 50% of the account is annuitized in Participating Variable Annuity (PVA) backed by TIPS. All investment experience, expenses, and pooled longevity experience is passed to annuitants through periodic benefit adjustments. Annuities are priced uniformly based on age at commencement.

Description: A review of a book by a former Commissioner of Social Security, in which he shares his thoughts on what Social Security is, the new law, the financing, the benefits, the types of employment covered, the benefit amounts, the retirement test, and several subsidiary topics.

Description: A look at recent changes to Canada's social security system - the politics, stakeholder views and implications for retirement readiness.

Description: Recent studies have suggested that teachers would be better off with DC or Cash Balance plans than with DB. Detailed data from CalSTRS support the opposite.