Description: Heart disease, critical illness insurance and the path to change – a personal essay by Jing Lang, FSA, FCIA, FLMI.

Description: Anna and Maria report on the “Older Women in the Future: Adapting to Longer Lives” session that they jointly presented with Terry Kozlowski at last year’s World Future Society Conference, and provide brief summaries of selected other sessions they found interesting and/or surprising.

Description: Women have different resources and experiences than men in retirement, partly due to demographic and life cycle differences and partly due to societal practices. This article reviews the differences, the situation 25 years ago, and then compares the situation 25 years ago to the situation today. Some of the big long lasting issues are differences in life spans and periods of disability, differences in pay, different shares of caregiving responsibility and differences of time out of the workplace. It finds some things that have improved, but other issues that existed 25 years ago have still not been addressed. New issues have arisen. The article draws on a presentation given at the 25th anniversary of the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER). It also focuses on the impact of COVID and the changes that have taken place in the workplace in the last few years. It provides insights into and discussions of the pros and cons of remote and hybrid work arrangements. It provides insights into issues that still need to be addressed.

Description: Feature article describing the connection between negative demographics and economic growth.

Description: Living to 100 symposia are held every three years and they offer a mix of technical content, leading edge speakers on biological and societal developments and implications for society of developments in mortality. They provide insight into areas of controversy. These are multi-disciplinary discussions. This article offers some highlights from the 2020 Living to 100 focused on retirement actuaries.

Description: Letter from the editor, outlining the theme and providing a brief description of each article within this edition of NewsDirect.

Description: A summary of the Global Trends 2030 report, the fifth such report produced every four years by the National Intelligence Council. The report is based on the research and analysis of the 17 major intelligence agencies in the US. The summary covers the highlights of the report.

Description: This is a continuation of an article published for the speculative future contest in 2023. It mentions how the collapse of China would cause a global recession in 2029 due to the current and predicted geopolitical climate in 2023.

Description: Discusses the market, demographic, and macroeconomic factors that affect actuaries' choices for the assumptions they use in the pricing and valuation of many insurance products.

Description: The article examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on U.S. mortality trends, noting that despite a decrease in COVID-19 deaths due to better treatments and vaccinations, excess mortality persists, especially among younger adults due to accidental causes. It discusses the challenges of predicting future mortality trends, considering factors like medical advancements and societal changes. The article also highlights the potential of new medical technologies and AI to significantly improve health outcomes in the future. Overall, it underscores the complex interplay of various factors influencing mortality in the post-pandemic era.