Description: There are growing concerns that the Asian bird flu virus will evolve into a form that can be transmitted from human to human, thus unleashing a new global flu pandemic. This article uses the Spanish flu epidemic and the German life insurance portfolio to analyze the additional claims expenditure due to a pandemic.

Description: Recollections of life in the actuarial profession, in Canada and the U.S., during the 1950s.

Description: This article from The Actuary discusses limited-scope reviews of issues, that are becoming increasingly frequent due to tightening budgets and lower resource availability. It primarily focuses on a flawed quick solution by the FASB/IASB to cash balance pension plan accounting.

Description: This article introduces the reader to probabilistic methods used to model interactions in the financial market place. Three topics are specifically discussed, two concern modeling methods and the other concerns data analysis methods.

Description: This article is an interview with ‘pioneer’ Nooruddin [Rudy] S. Karsan, FSA, one of the co–founders of Kenexa® Corp., a leading end–to–end provider of software, proprietary content, services and process outsourcing, that enable organizations to more effectively recruit and retain employees. The company was founded in 1987 and started with two employees. Today Kenexa has 1,600 employees. Karsan discusses his life and entrepreneurial career. He enjoys managing and building businesses, and the challenging opportunities, but that's just one part of his life the other is focusing on serving humanity—the two basic words, he says, that define Kenexa. From ‘The Actuary Magazine’ Volume 5 Issue 4.

Description: The book, 'Individual Accounts for Social Perspectives on the U.S. Debate' by John Turner, is reviewed in light of recent congressional failure to reform Social Security and in light of a survey of actuaries that produced divergent views on the subject [link to survey included].

Description: Who are the members of the Society of Actuaries? What sections do they belong to? Do most reside within the United States? Just what are some of the population characteristics of the more than 18,000 actuaries who belong to our organization? The areas covered here include section affiliation, countries represented, ages of FSA's and more.

Description: The Brazilian market is presently the largest life market in Latin America, so the recent news regarding the abolishment of the reinsurance monopoly there will certainly place Brazil on the radar screens of all major life reinsurers. The article describes the impact on the Brazilian lfe insurance market and the international reinsurance market.

Description: Discusses some basic issues for women to consider in planning for the possibility of being alone.

Description: The article summarizes a survey conducted by the Pension Section's Research Team. Nearly 2,400 actuaries responded with answers that ranged from abolishing the system to expanding the program to include all workers. The question, What changes, if any, should be made to the current system? is recapped.