Description: The 2020 ERISA Advisory Council of the Department of Labor had a project on Considerations for Recognizing and Addressing Participants with Diminished Capacity. I delivered testimony to the ERSIA Advisory Council on this topic in September 2020. This article summarizes some key points from the testimony and also offers ideas for how employers can help employees and retirees deal with these issues. There are two different audiences that employers deal with as a result of diminished capacity – the individuals whose capacity is diminished, and those who help them.

Description: Many retirement actuaries have experience developing, implementing, and monitoring Liability Driven Investing (LDI) strategies for plan sponsors. These strategies typically involve modifying a plan’s investment strategy to remove a significant portion of the investment and interest rate risk now or at some point in the future when specific triggers are met. The tactics often involve the use of fixed income assets to cash flow and/or duration match the liabilities. In the spirit of helping actuaries expand their roles in an evolving defined contribution world, this article explores the application of LDI and derisking strategies within defined contribution and individual retirement accounts. The economic theory behind this approach is called the lifecycle hypothesis, or lifecycle finance. The benefits of the lifecycle finance method are that it provides a safe approach to save for retirement and a secure source of floor income during retirement. Similar to pension plans, each individual has his or her own idiosyncratic needs, wants, and risks that should be considered. Actuaries are uniquely situated to help defined contribution plan sponsors, individuals, and even themselves implement the lifecycle finance approach by developing and distributing tools and methods that focus on income (rather than wealth), LDI strategies, and personalization.

Description: Provides personal perspective on moving from full time employment into a range of different activities before full retirement; provides ideas for new paths.

Description: This article focuses on the period between full-time work and complete exit from the labor force. It is a write of 2019 annual meeting session. It provides some overview of labor market data and employer issues for people nearing and entering retirement. It discusses employer issues with regard to keeping employees longer and phased retirement. It provides some overview of societal issues. It discusses the value and importance of longer work. Note that the article precedes and does not reflect the challenges of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Description: Read the June 2019 issue of Retirement Section News published by the Retirement Section. Newsletters provide practical information for the working actuary, articles on trends that impact sections and news about section activities.