Description: Highlights of Society of Actuaries research efforts in the financial services practice area.

Description: This article discusses the potential impact that low interest rates can have on the Life Insurance industry, even if they occur for a short period of time.

Description: This article is a book review of Life Insurance Company Investment Activities, Huebner Foundation Lectures, edited by J. David Cummins, and published for the S.S. Huebner Foundation for Insurance Education by Richard D. Irwin, Inc. The author notes it has been 25 years since a similar work was published by the Huebner Foundation, and that the new book does a good job of capturing the many changes that have occurred in that time. The article summarizes the book’s discussion of various topics, including investment strategy, types of investments, the impact of inflation, and investment regulation.

Description: Panel discussion about how the Investment Year Method is used with life insurance and annuity products to determine the credited rate, and how market entry has affected investment policy. From the 1979 Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 5, No. 1.

Description: Record of the Society of Actuaries: 1981 Vol.7 No. 1 This is a panel discussion session examining life insurance company organization and the emerging managerial environment, strategies and organization.

Description: The appropriate role for actuaries when advising on long-term investment strategies for individual retirement savings.

Description: Target volatility, as an investment strategy, has been used by many funds not only as a way to smooth return but also as a way to manage risks of the VA guarantees. Contrary to existing research which favors volatility targeting over fixed allocation, this article shows that because of the existence of market jump risk, target volatility strategy does not necessarily offer an improved risk profile for VA writers. Further, target volatility coupled with leveraging can significantly increase tail risk for insurance companies.

Description: Article Society Seminars by Adams in The Actuary, February 1979, Volume 13, Number 2

Description: The Actuary Vol. 22 , No. 7. This articles explores the dangers posed by many guaranteed-return life insurance and annuity products.

Description: A review of the last 50 years, concluding that the insurance industry in Canada has been slow to react to consumers' shift in focus from long-term security to rate of return.