Description: This articles features three study notes for used for the Retirement Benefits course 8 exam: Current Issues in Social Security by Steven McKay Mortality Tables for Pension Plans by D. Grubbs and M. Oliver and Valuation of Pension Benefits for Disabled participants by Edward Sypher

Description: This is a research project on possible replacement indices for the 30 year treasury rates used to value current liability for defined benefit pension plans in the US.

Description: Part 5 addresses various purposes for measuring a public sector pension liability and which measures have the most practical usefulness.

Description: The author delves into other important parts that should be in the scope of model validation besides the code.

Description: Author response to Eric Friedman’s comments on ‘The Case for Stochastic Present Values,” by Dimitry Mindlin

Description: Discussion of competing theories for valuing public pension liabilities. Emphasis on revised Actuarial Standards of Practice that focus on the purpose of the measurement.

Description: Part 4 presents an alternate approach to obtaining the fair value of the public sector employer’s pension benefit liability.

Description: Abstract of a paper examining the degree to which certain actuarial methods satisfy public pension plan funding objectives.

Description: Defined benefit DB pension plans continue to dominate the retirement landscape for the roughly 20 million state and local government workers in the United States. In most state and local plans, pension benefits are protected by constitutional, statutory, or common law guarantees. In many cases, these guarantees make the benefit promises to participants virtually free of risk. Finance theory is unambiguous that the discount rate used to value future pension obligations should reflect the riskiness of the liabilities.

Description: Brief description of articles contained in the newsletter.