Description: Our society has made promises with respect to retirement, care of the aging baby boom generation, and debt repayment that in total cannot be met. We will need to break some of these promises.

Description: Brief description of articles contained in the newsletter.

Description: A discussion of the future of the Brazilian Health Market with a focus on the legislation which passed in June 1998 to regulate the private health insurance industry

Description: A summary of themes from the speculative fiction contest.

Description: Over the last decade, the actuarial career has gained significant attention of entry level job-seekers as it continues to be one of the consistently top rated jobs in the market. There are different avenues to break into the profession, but one of the most common is through an Actuarial Student Program, where a company formally supports the exam progress of individuals through paid study materials, exam fees, and time off to study. Most programs also include an emphasis on development of leadership and communication skills. As the recruiter for MassMutual’s Actuarial Student Program, I get the opportunity to regularly share with candidates why I believe a student program is such a powerful springboard for a successful actuarial career. Profiled in the article is two actuarial students and one recent actuarial student program “graduate” to highlight the value a student program can bring to one’s professional development.

Description: Big data and machine learning have been making headlines across industries everywhere, how will it impact the world of actuarial science?

Description: Highlights from international events of interest to actuaries.

Description: This research report is sponsored by The Society of Actuaries and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries on the Canadian health care system. Performed by Stéphane Levert, FSA, FCIA, the study (available in French and English) estimated the future costs of the Canadian health care system, assessed the sustainability of the system over a 25-year horizon, and analyzed the implications of the changes to the Canada Health Transfer proposed on Dec. 19, 2011 by the federal government. The report summarizing the findings indicates that, without significant government intervention, the Canadian health care system in its current form is not sustainable.

Description: Using the recent West Africa Ebola outbreak as an example, the authors discuss several modeling approaches that can be useful for estimating pandemic risk.

Description: Reviews anecdotal evidence that the current shift to passive investing is an indication that investors are irrationally ignoring market risk.