Description: This article from the Digest of Informal Discussion, Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1955 Volume 7, Number 17, identifies the participants and summarizes their comments. Discussion topics include: whether changes in ordinary insurance mortality are significant enough to consider preparing a more up-to-date mortality table for reserve purposes problems involved in constructing and securing statutory approval of annuity reserve tables with built in mortality improvement factors extent to which differences between current premium rate mortality assumptions and CSO mortality contribute to problems with deficiency reserves and arguments for and against the adoption of a different actuarial basis for deficiency reserves.

Description: A. Discusssion of the practical considerations involved in deciding whether or not to adopt projected mortality rates in connection with individual annuities, settlement options, retirement income policies, and the various forms of group annuities. B. In view of increased administrative expenses, discussion of the arguments for and against imposing limitations on the granting of settlement options with respect to size of policy, including the practicality of providing for the expense of administering supplementary contracts other than through the use of conservative mortality and interest assumptions.