Description: This summary is intended to provide the pension actuary with guidance in interpreting and using the termination and retirement information in the 2003 SOA Pension Plan Termination and Retirement Study. The tables in the study were developed based on 1.7 million life years of data from 112 plans collected primarily from actuarial consulting firms for the period 1995 – 2000.

Description: This is a discussion of the title paper by Robert M. Duncan which outlines the use of a contributory money purchase plan with death benefits, and investments in equities, to fund pensions. The approach is critiqued.

Description: This paper is part of The research project dealing with pension accounting, more precisely with Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 87 [or FAS 87]. The goal of the project is to study the variability of pension accounting costs under FAS 87. In this paper, the author addresses only one specific point, namely the behavior of experience gains and losses over time. This is directly related to the corridor approach to amortization of gains and losses. However, what is said also applies to experience gains and losses in other areas, particularly in pension funding and insurance. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 1993, Vol. 1.

Description: This paper presents the fundamentals of creating and using projections. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1950, Vol. 2, No. 4.

Description: 1959 SOA Regional Meetings in Atlanta and San Francisco. These panel discussions reviewed procedures, techniques and vehicles used to provide benefits to retired employees. The panels also discussed Group Insurance Dividends and Major Medical issues.

Description: This paper discusses mathematical modeling and pricing of 'Stable Value' financial products offered to pension plan providers. These products target a risk-averse population of investors who have a significant preference for a stability of returns. The paper offers a quantitative methodology that reflects a decision making process applicable in the situation of incomplete markets where traditional arbitrage free arguments are invalid.

Description: The authors have been involved with the development of an economically unbiased model for the distribution of pension benefits in divorce. While the research is not completed, it was felt that some of their findings and insights might be of interest to the actuarial community. In view of this, the purpose of this article is to: 1. Present the findings of the authors with respect to their review of major court cases, and 2. Identify major actuarial issues which are as yet unresolved. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 1990, Vol. 1.

Description: In this paper the author shows that the aggregate claims distribution of a portfolio modeled by a mix of the individual and collective models can be obtained with a single recursion under some conditions. He discusses why the collective model is not necessarily an approximation of the individual model in the context of pension funds, for example. An application to a Swiss pension fund is presented. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 2003, Vol. 1.

Description: The purpose of this paper is to outline some of the points to be considered in arriving at a method of making cost estimates and funding calculations and their practical application.

Description: Pension funds are usually either defined benefit or defined contribution funds. In Australia in recent years, for a number of reasons, some pension funds have offered the 'greater of,' these two benefits. Such a benefit design can be valued using contingent claims valuation techniques since it is equivalent to an option on the maximum of two random benefit amounts - one equal to a multiple of salary and the other the accumulation of a percentage of salary at an earnings rate. This paper overviews some of the issues in applying contingent claims valuation techniques to the valuation of this style of benefit. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 1993, Vol. 1.