Description: The SOA Research Institute Aging and Retirement Strategic Research Program and Retirement Section are pleased to make available a research report that examines megatrends and potential paradigm shifts, and how they may impact the future of retirement and retirement plans, as well as the macro forces that will shape those trends.

Description: The SOA Research Institute along with the Corporate Finance & Enterprise Risk Management Curriculum Committee, Financial Reporting Section, and Individual Life & Annuity Curriculum Committee are pleased to make available a research report that aids students and practitioners with their understanding of the rating agencies as they affect the insurance industry.

Description: The SOA Research Institute conducted an online survey of 1,000 U.S. respondents who are actively saving for both their retirement and a family member’s or friend’s college education. The results offer a better understanding of the challenges families face. Read the report for detailed findings or peruse the infographic for an overview.

Description: The Society of Actuaries’ Committee on Finance Research and Investment Section are pleased to make available a research report explores gross domestic product (GDP) as a metric of economic growth.

Description: This report outlines a framework for interpretable machine learning algorithms for detecting fraud in health insurance. It discusses the challenges of using black-box machine learning models in the insurance industry and proposes various interpretable methods to enhance transparency and understanding.

Description: The Society of Actuaries (SOA) is pleased to present historical U.S. population mortality rates by sex and single year of age for calendar years 2000-2022.

Description: This report presents initial findings from a project investigating the direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19 in the post-acute phase of the pandemic. These findings focused on cause-specific excess mortality in the first three pandemic years, March 2020 to February 2023. In addition, the authors investigated how different mechanisms contributed and could continue to affect mortality rates following the acute pandemic period. The study is based on weekly mortality data by age and cause of death from 2015 to 2023 obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, combined with population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Weekly excess deaths by age and cause comparing observed deaths to deaths expected based on pre-pandemic trends were computed. Then the temporal correlation between weekly COVID-19 and excess deaths from other causes at various lags were assessed. The authors developed a theoretical framework to interpret the results of this analysis and understand potential underlying factors responsible for excess mortality.

Description: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) affects many lives and has a large impact on health systems around the world. To better understand and predict costs for insurance plan members with CKD in the United States, we built a new model of their individual costs. Our model is the first to explicitly model both the CKD stage transition process and the distribution of costs given those stages.

Description: The Society of Actuaries’ Aging and Retirement Strategic Research Program is pleased to make available a summary report that highlights key findings from the latest biennial survey, Risks and Process of Retirement. The survey, the eleventh in the series, was conducted online of Americans ages 45 to 80. The purpose of the study is to evaluate Americans’ awareness of potential financial risks in retirement, how this awareness impacts the management of their finances with respect to retirement, and how Americans are managing the process of leaving the workforce. The survey was conducted by Mathew Greenwald & Associates, Inc. The full report of findings is forthcoming and will be posted soon. Additionally, several special topics reports examining aspects of the findings will be posted as they become available.

Description: As part of its ongoing effort to provide useful information on COVID-19, the Society of Actuaries (SOA) recently launched a series of reports exploring the impact of COVID-19 on retirement risks.This report is based on a follow-up conversation among actuaries from the SOA Retirement Section Council and the Retirement Section Defined Contribution Initiative Project Oversight Group. The actuaries that participated are currently working with plan sponsors of defined contribution plans in the United States and Canada. This report summarizes observations raised during the conversation about the current issues being discussed with clients to deal with immediate concerns as well as broader considerations about defined contribution plans, emergency funds and financial wellness.