Description: Graphs mortality experience over the prior 15 years, show possible trends over the prior 80 years, discusses the impact on liabilities and funding of the New York public retirement system based on projections of life expectancy, and discusses the possible factors that have affected mortality.

Description: Discussion of three papers presented at Living to 100 and Beyond symposium. Papers discussed: ' The Roles of Aging, Longevity Determination and Pathology on Human Life Span and Life Expectation' by Hayflick, 'Plastic Omega' by Held, and 'Underlying and Multiple Cause Mortality at Advanced Ages: United State 1980 - 1998' by Stallard. The first paper is an overview on aging, the second paper is a survey of aging research and the third paper discusses underlying and multiple cause mortality.

Description: Presented at the Living to 100 Symposium, January 2011. Long-term care LTC insurance is frequently not covered by national social insurance programs. When costs are expressed as a percentage of gross domestic product, the future burden of financing LTC would not lead to unbearable tax levels and is not particularly large in comparison to the projected costs for pensions and health care. After identifying the breadth of definitions of LTC needs, it is argued that LTC is an insurable risk. The paper concludes that LTC social insurance is affordable in developed countries.

Description: Presented at Living to 100 Symposium, January 2011. This article estimates the impact of obesity and diabetes on disability and mortality for those older than 65 using the 2004 National Long Term Care Survey with disability based on the Health Insurance Accountability and Portability Act's Activities of Daily Living and Cognitive Impairment triggers.

Description: Presented at Living to 100 symposium, January 2011. This paper adapts New Zealand Maori and non-Maori population mortality data to reflect differences in socio-economic status. This adapted data is used as a basis to explore the implications of differential mortality in assessing the equity of increase in the pension age of eligibility.

Description: With the medical insurance market experiencing health care inflation of 10 to 13 percent and medical costs averaging above $8,000 per year per employee less for single employees and more for employees with families, employers are looking at alternative options. Politicians and regulators are as well.

Description: Attitudes on strategy and risk in reinsurance vary according to specific environmental circumstances for most companies. This article is an extract from the 2007 surveys in the U.S. market.

Description: This article discusses how understanding the drivers of mortality and morbidity is essential for identifying and developing suitable business opportunities.

Description: This article summarizes the Reinsurance Section's recent research efforts.

Description: Many retirement actuaries have experience developing, implementing, and monitoring Liability Driven Investing (LDI) strategies for plan sponsors. These strategies typically involve modifying a plan’s investment strategy to remove a significant portion of the investment and interest rate risk now or at some point in the future when specific triggers are met. The tactics often involve the use of fixed income assets to cash flow and/or duration match the liabilities. In the spirit of helping actuaries expand their roles in an evolving defined contribution world, this article explores the application of LDI and derisking strategies within defined contribution and individual retirement accounts. The economic theory behind this approach is called the lifecycle hypothesis, or lifecycle finance. The benefits of the lifecycle finance method are that it provides a safe approach to save for retirement and a secure source of floor income during retirement. Similar to pension plans, each individual has his or her own idiosyncratic needs, wants, and risks that should be considered. Actuaries are uniquely situated to help defined contribution plan sponsors, individuals, and even themselves implement the lifecycle finance approach by developing and distributing tools and methods that focus on income (rather than wealth), LDI strategies, and personalization.