Description: Even though the 2018 Tax Cut and Job Act significantly simplified the tax valuation methodology, taxation can impact the valuation outcomes and financial decisions. This presentation will start with an overview of the key taxation topics relating to valuation work, and then dive into more complex topics, such as the deferred tax asset/liability handling and reinsurance implications.

Description: Indexed universal life (IUL) continues to be the most popular universal life (UL) product with sales reaching $1B in Q4 2023, according to LIMRA. There is little long-term experience for IUL and many companies value and model IUL just like UL, but there are material potential differences that need to be considered for valuation and projection purposes.

Description: Insurers have long relied on scenario analysis to understand the long-term impacts of potential business decisions, but the advent of rapidly changing market environments and a growing desire to optimize capital has spurred business leaders to leverage new tools in order to explore potential options. Companies are beginning to explore new analytical solutions that trade-off accuracy for speed for a more robust approach to impact quantification. In particular, they are looking at the use of additional what-if scenario models, built from the top down, to support decision-making processes. Actuaries can help take charge in the development of these top-down analyses by leveraging data and actuarial techniques to supplement their existing models. In this way, business leaders can simultaneously rely on the actuarial rigor of typical standalone cash flow projection models, while also receiving support for real-time business decision-making. The potential of what-if scenario modeling can help actuaries unlock a powerful new approach to scenario analysis to enable more rapid decision-making. Learning objectives: In this session we will discuss the fundamental concepts of what-if scenario modeling in an actuarial context, including: - Core principles and components of what-if scenario modeling - Common challenges and considerations around the implementation of what-if scenario modeling - Potential solutions to challenges and their implications

Description: According to Oliver Wyman's 2023 Asset-Liability Management (ALM) survey, long-term care (LTC), universal life, and whole life insurance products have among the longest liability duration profiles, often with material asset-liability duration mismatches. Deploying an optimal strategic asset allocation (SAA) framework for these products is particularly challenging due to their: - Long-tail profile. Liability cashflows for long-duration insurance products often extend beyond the investment horizon of currently available assets (e.g., 30-year U.S. Treasuries) - Liquidity needs. Depending on the type and age of the insurance product, achieving your desired levels of projected liquidity becomes instrumental Solution: A robust liability-driven SAA framework with an emphasis on minimizing cashflow mismatch while considering a company's risk appetite and investment guidelines aims to reduce interest rate and liquidity risks. Case studies: LTC and life-focused case studies will provide insights into hypothetical SAA frameworks, including ways companies optimize their fixed-income assets. We will also explore techniques used to extend asset duration beyond a typical fixed-income portfolio, using derivatives and alternative assets.

Description: In this session, we will explore recent industry-wide studies focusing on mortality and policyholder behavior patterns across both Life and LTC lines of business. The Life study analyzes extensive data collected over 2018-2022, providing a unique perspective on trends heading into, during, and emerging from the pandemic. The study covers 2.5 million deaths and over 5 million voluntary surrenders and fund lapses across term and permanent life products. The LTC analysis will focus on the components of policyholder termination, with an additional perspective of total termination patterns prior to, during and post-pandemic periods. The analysis will examine cohorts of policyholders to identify the area of largest deviations from expectation and how that translated into short term results as well as where we are today. The aggregation of experience across participating companies provides insights into areas where a particular insurer’s data is not credible on its own, including: older ages, preferred/standard classes and more. At the conclusion, attendees will have an understanding of how experience emerged and considerations for setting assumptions going forward.

Description: Once upon a time, with enough advanced notice and a well-planned out meeting agenda, you could get all the Key Decision makers (KDMs) in the same conference room. Now, many companies have allowed KDMs to move to geographically diverse locations and this is no longer the norm. Has business been impacted? Have productivity and sales been impacted? We will discuss the significant changes that have occurred in our industry when we went from pre-COVID to a post-COVID virtual world. When key contacts and KDM's no longer come into the office 5 days per week, 8 hours each day, how do you visit their office in person? Do all the KDM's still live in close proximity to the office? Are hybrid meetings effective? How do you maintain frequency of contact? In-person, virtual? This will cover learnings, best practices, ways to spur productivity, comradery and new ways of working together more effectively. Sales managers and others can glean helpful insights that will make them more effective in working with and managing their client base.

Description: This session will discuss basic and advanced hedge modeling concepts. It will explain common hedge strategies used to support guarantees and options embedded within life and annuity products and the materiality of these products within the US. Attendees will learn how Machine Learning acts to reduce the computer processing needed to simulate the dynamic hedging of product liabilities projected in the future across many stochastic scenarios. Actuaries working in consulting, software development, and a large life insurance company will provide a wide range of hedging viewpoints ranging from a broad industry perspective to a hedging practitioner. Attendees will obtain a comprehensive understanding of a novel ML approach to modeling dynamic hedges and the hedge optimization opportunity it presents.

Description: This workshop is intended to educate leaders of large and small groups on how to build a high-performance culture and achieve outstanding results. At the conclusion of this workshop, attendees will: - Learn the critical steps necessary in building a high-performance culture - Understand how to combat the inevitable resistance to change that will occur as new ways of operating are implemented - Be able to easily distinguish between high-performing and lower-performing teams

Description: What are the recent expectations of long-term trends in mortality? What are the limits to improvements in longevity? Join us as we review the factors impacting U.S. population mortality in the eyes of demographers. By the end of this session, you will have an awareness of the major causes of mortality and how they are trending.

Description: Come check out case studies regarding ethical dilemmas faced by actuaries in their day-to-day practice. You'll participate in an interactive discussion as presenters explore solutions to balancing various ethical considerations and have a better understanding of different ethical issues and how it impacts their practice by the end.