Description: Employers and investors have suffered recently from taking too much investment risk inside their defined benefit DB plans, producing calls for more transparent accounting. Some employers have tried to eliminate this pension risk by moving to defined contribution DC plans. From Pension Section News, January 2005, Issue No. 57. However, this is not the only, or even the best, option available. From Pension Section News, January 2005, Issue No. 57.

Description: The article presents a retiree's perspective and personal experiences & considerations in managing risks & challenges in retirement distribution.

Description: This article discusses building new retirement systems. It references an article published in the Economist, 'Actuaries and the pensions crunch: When the spinning stops,' Jan. 26, 2006, and the stir that article created in the pension community. This article suggests that we take our understanding of the global economy, business models, shareholder expectations, employee expectations, employment risks, pre-retirement risks and the emerging retirement paradigm and create a new retirement system. From Pension Section News, April 2006, No. 61.

Description: This article discusses the call for papers entitled Re-envisioning Work and Retirement in the 21st Century which eventually led to the Re-envisioning Retirement in the 21st Century symposium that was held in Washington, D.C. on May 3-4, 2006. From Pension Section News, September 2006, No. 62.

Description: This article helps illustrate that a guaranteed income stream in retirement has much more value than merely longevity protection. Used properly, a payout annuity is also a hedge against one's retirement nest egg evaporating, leaving the retiree living check to check on a fixed income only. The article will be of interest to those involved in product development and design, sales and marketing, and payout annuities or guaranteed withdrawal benefits in general.

Description: In this article, the author reports on the current work of the Committee on Post-Retirement Needs and Risks CPRNR. From Pension Section News, October 2011, Issue No. 75.

Description: SOA surveys public attitudes about post-retirement risk and its management every two years. This is 7th survey. Article provides highlights of 2013 survey, comments on longer term findings, and information about how to use results. Results are useful for those managing pension plans, developing products, helping individuals and also for policymakers. This issues are particularly important in situations where there are no defined benefit plans.

Description: This is an introduction to the SOA call for essays around risk strategies pertaining to the diverse risks found in retirement. We are pleased that these essays can be included in this issue of Pension Section News, along with a short interview with each author.

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.

Description: President Bush is to be commended for making social security private account reform a top legislative priority, but the mixed defined-benefit/defined-contribution model that he has in mind has been criticized for transferring too much investment and longevity risk to account holders. In response, President Bush should consider an alternative approach to private account design - indexed benefit offsets - that would retain the existing defined-benefit model and eliminate this risk transfer. From Pension Section News, April 2005, Issue No. 58.