Description: The Total Career Benchmark Model, consistent with Retirement 20/20 principles, focuses on reconstructing and maintaining a consistent and reasonable sharing of risks and rewards amongst the four stakeholders: Individuals, Society, Employers and the Markets. Modern technology provides the necessary tools. A series of benchmarks are used for tax limits, target pensions, accrual to date etc. The self adjusting, consistent benchmarks under the TCB Model, means that all stakeholders speak the same language. Individuals and Employers can easily compare what they have to what they need – and more importantly can see how to accrue what is needed. An individual’s ability to tax shelter income over a career is not dependent on the design of any employer pension plan. All funds allocated to an individual remain the individual’s and are not used to subsidize another person – except for the inherent risk sharing of an annuity – by hidden transfers of value.

Description: Sound and Workable Pension Actuarial, Accounting, and Funding Approaches for those Interested in the Health of Public and Private DB Plans – Discussant Comments

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

Description: The International Section Council in conjunction with the Actuaries without Borders section of the IAA and the Azerbaijan Actuarial Association recently sponsored a three-day seminar focused on retirement benefits in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Description: This paper deals with the workplace and the financial security issues related to the employer-employee relationship. From The Old-Age Crisis - Actuarial Opportunities - The 1996 Bowles Symposium, M-RS99-1.

Description: Canadian employers who sponsor retirement plans have mostly adopted arrangements that qualify for deferral of taxes. It is no longer clear that this is the best choice. Low interest rates and the emergence of Tax-Free Savings Accounts mean that there could be better alternatives for future generations of employees. This research paper re-examines the effectiveness of tax deferral and other fundamental choices.

Description: Discussion of the importance of trust law in North American qualified retirement plans.

Description: This article highlights the world's fastest growing economy market, China, focuses on its private pension market. Hidden in the backdrop of China’s rapid growth lurks an aging population, a result of China’s one-child policy and the improved longevity of its people. The “4-2-1” phenomenon, characterized by a family structure of four grandparents, two parents, and a single child, is becoming more prevalent. While this aging society is not immediately apparent—in fact, many multinational companies employ a young workforce, with very few grey-haired employees—a demographic shift is inevitable. From Pension Section News, September 2006, No. 62.

Description: This article, another in the popular series devoted to tax basics, provides an overview of how the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the law governing employment-based retirement and health plans, impacts the use of annuities in pension and 401(k) plans. The article explains which types of plans are subject to ERISA, and which are not; why the concept of "plan assets" is critical; what duties an insurance company or distributor might take on when an annuity is placed with a retirement plan; and finally what disclosures may be required. The article also includes a brief introduction to terminal funding annuities. This article is intended for those with no prior experience in ERISA. Because the vast majority of retirement assets are saved originally in employment based plans like pension and 401(k) plans, understanding the basics of ERISA is important for anyone who will have a career in annuities and life insurance.

Description: Discusses the shrinkage of pension benefits in Britain and the mortality and interest rate risk in British pension plans.