Description: This is a review of the book, 'Guide to the Technical Side,' by Barnet N. Berin. The book was produced for the non-technician in the form of an easy-to-understand review of the technical aspects of pensions. Although this book has relatively little value for someone well-versed in the actuarial mathematics of pensions, Mr. Berin’s book could be useful for the non-pension actuary or the consultant who wants to familiarize himself with this subject. It should certainly prove a helpful volume for administrators of pension plans and for employers.

Description: Article provides an excellent summary of the importance of mathematics, computer models for determining the future for human-based financial security models, and the importance of recognizing how human behavior effects the financial security program.

Description: A review of the book 'Indexation of Pensions and Other Benefits' by Robert J. Myers, which deals with the indexing of Social Security and government employee pension plans in the U.S., Canada, and other countries, as well as private pension plans, for which the author advocates the voluntary adoption of automatic indexing.

Description: Article from The Actuary, December 1971 – volume 5 - Issue 10 that discusses the work of the Bank Administration Institute BAI, in particular, measuring the investment performance of pension funds for the purpose of inter-fund comparison.

Description: The author of this article notes that “valuing pension or long-term disability plans with Social Security offsets generally requires some assumptions about the future course of the wage base and benefit formula,” and “the usual approach is to select annual percentage increases for these two variables which relate reasonably and well to the valuation salary scale, and then to project Social Security on that basis.” The author goes on to discuss how the actuary and plan sponsor can be comfortable with a particular choice of parameters, given that “costs can be very sensitive to the Social Security projection and recent history offers little guidance.”

Description: This article describes behavioral finance and its relevance in identifying analytics and processes suitable for a control environment for the actuarial aspects of an insurance company.

Description: Presents concerns regarding assumptions for inflation.

Description: A summary of the October 31 meeting of the Board of Governors, where topics included education and examination requirements, SOA organization, pension terminology, publications, didivend philosophy, subcommittee operations, financial statement certifications, the Executive Director position, and consolidation of North American actuarial organizations.

Description: A critique of the SOA's co-sponsoring of the Manhart Brief which addressed sex discrimination in pension rates. The critique argues that the brief fails to satisfy standards of academic rigor reflected in other SOA publications.