Description: Excellent big picture view for planning a social insurance system with pay-as-you-go, required self-funded, and voluntary plans.

Description: John Naisbitt, in Megatrends, defined a megatrend as a general shift in thinking or approach affecting countries, industries and organizations. This article challenges actuaries to consider off-the-charts factors within their risk maps and consider their potential impact.

Description: Protecting oneself in older age from risks is the sine qua non of retirement planning. But far too many people don’t approach retirement (or retirement planning) well. From a policy perspective, we know about half the senior population will have some sort of long-term care event. We need to recognize that long-term care risk is a component not just of aging but of retirement. Placing long term care solutions in the retirement space is critical to reaching the bulk of the population. Combined with the additional element—recognition of risk—this would be both a powerful protection but also a natural one for individuals to understand.

Description: The article makes reference to how the intervention by government agencies and institutions into the financial marketplace are creating distortions. This artificial tampering into market mechanisms will likely result in major financial dislocations down the road as natural economic forces (coined by the term "invisible hand") eventually are allowed to come into play.

Description: A review of product and sales trends for variable, indexed and fixed annuities against the current backdrop of low interest rates and record equity market valuations

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: A consideration of the issues involved in adding long-term care provisions to the social security system in France, and how the conditions differ from those in the U.S.

Description: Feature article describing what author thinks it will take for a life insurance company to be successful in the year 2020.

Description: The article describes the changes to payment structures as of 1/1/2017 and their influence to Medicare Supplement that will be happening as of 1/1/2020.

Description: This article covers subjects discussed at the 2011 Living To 100 Symposium. Included were the real potential of a material extension of life and economic challenges associated such an occurrence.