Description: Chairperson’s column discussing the recent activities of the SOA’s Reinsurance Section.

Description: Feature article describing a simple and ready solution that allows a hedging program to operate effectively without risk of mismatch due to mortality fluctuations.

Description: Using data from a large insurance company, we construct a parametric model for the joint survival function based on a Hougaard copula function.

Description: Predictive models can improve the traditional actuarial assumption-setting process. Data science techniques can provide deeper insights into experience through their ability to identify key drivers, rank importance and account for interactions. The presenters will cover ways in which companies can utilize predictive analytics to set assumptions, including the various methods available and practical approaches for implementation. They will also discuss the advantages and challenges of using predictive models for setting assumptions for life, annuity and disability products.

Description: The presenters in this classic session will explore protection and accumulation products as well discuss the current state of the hybrid Life/LTC market. They will also examine the latest trends and the challenges to innovation and highlight key factors impacting the product actuary including the impact of technology, regulation and competitive environment. 

Description: Accelerated underwriting is changing the world of consumer engagement. The newness and overhaul of these programs creates challenges for development, coordination and management. This seminar will take attendees through how the market is developing, the major pricing, underwriting, and marketing considerations, and what regulators are considering with regard to these programs. At the conclusion of this seminar, attendees will: • Discuss trends in accelerated underwriting • Understand the issues that arise when developing an accelerated underwriting program • Understand best practices in developing an accelerated underwriting program • Explain the impact of accelerated underwriting on underwriting, pricing, marketing and compliance

Description: This article explores how the ideas in Abundance, the bestselling book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, offer a fresh lens for understanding both society and the life-insurance industry. The book contrasts two ways of thinking: a scarcity mindset that assumes limits, protects the status quo, and manages decline; and an abundance mindset that believes capacity can expand through innovation, investment, and imagination. The article traces how these philosophies appear in American history, politics, and public policy—from immigration rhetoric to wartime mobilization—and shows how over-regulation often traps entire sectors in scarcity. Against this backdrop, the article argues that life insurance remains anchored in scarcity thinking, even as other industries—streaming, digital platforms, and the sharing economy—have embraced abundance with transformative results. The protection gap illustrates the issue: U.S. households face a US$25 trillion shortfall in mortality coverage, yet actuarial practice tends to price narrowly, underwrite cautiously, and focus on existing insured lives rather than millions of underserved families. The article calls for a shift toward abundance through broader underwriting, inclusive product design, alternative data, parametric solutions, regulatory engagement, and financial literacy. By choosing abundance, the industry can close protection gaps and redefine its role in expanding opportunity.

Description: In this video, Malika Visram, a life valuation actuary, explains the differences between term life, whole life, and universal life insurance products. She also discusses the actuarial aspects of pricing and risk management for these products. Watch the video to learn more about the world of life insurance and the role of actuaries in it. Contributors: Malika Visram; Scott Allen, FSA, MAAA; Razi Hasnain, ASA, ACIA; Jon Forster, ASA, MAAA

Description: Discussion of the relationship of IRR to ROI on a Level Term Life insurance policy

Description: Generalized Mortality Table Analysis: Discussion of the search for alternative mortality tables other than the 1975-80 and 1990-95 tables, which may be more appropriate for a particular company or specific products