Description: Highlights of recent media contributions by actuaries.

Description: This articles describes the multi-pillar system of 1 pay as you go and 2 individual capital accounts to fund public pension plans which exists in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Description: This article provides an overview of the laws and regulations governing pension funding and suggests analysis which will enable the plan sponsor to capitalize on contribution options and coordinate long and short term funding strategies.

Description: This is a summary of the employer costs for pension plans published by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) as of December 2013.

Description: The article outlines a shareholder value framework for pension risk management and applies this framework to pension funding decisions in light of rising PBGC premiums due to 2013’s BBA legislation. The article finds that the new legislation significantly incentivizes plan sponsors to increase pension funding. Moreover, many tax-paying pension plan sponsors can increase shareholder value by increasing pension plan contributions.

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: The article discusses the Texas Pension Review Board's Guidelines for Actuarial Soundness applicable to Texas state public retirement systems (including the system's amortization period), and how these guidelines are consistent with and complementary to both the current GASB 27 ARC disclosure, and the imminent GASB 67 & 68 disclosures. The GASB requirements will change from a de facto funding standard to strictly disclosure requirements, with a focus on plans whose funding trajectory is the poorest.

Description: Pension Forecasts, Part II: The Model Has No Clothes by Lawrence N. Bader from Risks and Rewards Newsletter, July 2001, Issue No. 37.

Description: Diminished equity returns and historically low levels of interest rates are compelling plan sponsors to look at new ways of fulfilling their fiduciary responsibilities. In response, new frontiers in asset/liability management have arisen. This article will discuss strategies aimed at reducing the volatility of pension expense and decreasing the likelihood of significant funding deficits, all without increasing pension contribution rates. From Risks and Rewards Newsletter, August 2005, Issue No. 47.

Description: This article gives a Canadian actuary's perspective about the role an actuary has in determining a pension plan's funding level.