Description: This article discusses the use of financial economics in managing pension plans and warns of issues with rapid change in this area.

Description: This article is a synopsis of a 2017 Society of Actuaries annual meeting session of the same title.

Description: Feature article discussing the creation and effects of orphaned VEBAs, Voluntary Employee Benefit Associations.

Description: Is the New CPI Different? The article discusses the changes made to the CPI, whether it is an accurate measure of inflation and the implications for pension plans.

Description: All things considered, caution needs to be applied to the use of so-called “standard” mortality tables. Sharpening up these blunt estimates by using individual assumptions reveals material differences in the structure of longevity, both between plans and within plans.

Description: The investment risk taken by a pension fund comprises strategic risk and active risk. This paper discusses the relative merits of these two types of risk to the pension fund, possible rationales for the levels of strategic and active risk typically adopted mechanisms for capturing manager skill without taking on equity risk, and issues in setting liability-based benchmarks for investment managers

Description: This article aimed to make Liability Driven Investing LDI more accessible by providing a simple definition and by showing how plans of different sizes and circumstances may adopt an appropriate LDI approach.

Description: Chairperson’s column discussing the state of the world today and how that influences investment strategies and describes to seminars the section sponsored to keep members apprised of changes.

Description: This article discusses the demographic trends as the “baby boomer” generation begins to retire, including implications for retirement plans, Social Security, and other considerations. Reprinted from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Economic Letter, Number 98–20, June 26, 1998.

Description: As we meet with pension plan sponsors and consultants across Canada we find that the subject of liability-driven investing LDI comes up repeatedly even when we do not initiate the discussion. We also find that LDI seems to mean something different to each person we meet. Is LDI just a new name for asset/liability management ALM? Or is LDI just about hedging interest rate risks with fancy securities? In this article we describe a framework for understanding what LDI is, how it relates to ALM, and how it can be used to solve real-life problems for Canadian pension funds.