Description: This article asks the question, Is It appropriate to underwrite changes to UL death benefit options?

Description: This article reviews the topics discussed at the December 2004 meeting of the Life and Health Actuarial task force. The covered topics include Actuarial Guideline 38 and Reserves for Variable Annuities C-3 Phase 2 reserves.

Description: This article provides a summary of the results from a recent Milliman survey. Survey results provide UL/IUL carriers with a benchmark to evaluate their practices relative to those prevalent in the industry.

Description: Discussion of the new- 2003- regulations in China pertaining to nonguaranteed life products.

Description: An introduction to ultimate life insurance, a product intended to be flexible enough to meet consumers' needs over their lifetimes. The paper gives some illustrations and discusses the Ultimate Life Financial Risk Analysis computer program.

Description: The author discusses an interpretation of the surrender charge limitations specified in New York’s Regulation 77 which increases the maximum allowable surrender charges for renewal years. This interpretation was presented to and accepted by the New York State Insurance Department.

Description: The Universal Life Work Group ULWG of the American Academy of Actuaries’ AAA Life Valuation Subcommittee was formed in July 2004. Its charge is to develop a new “principle-based” approach definition follows for statutory reserves and capital requirements for life products with certain types of benefits and guarantees, where the value of the contract obligations vary significantly due to such things as future interest rates or equity returns.

Description: Provides a few highlights of the rules set forth in the Proposed 965 Regulations and the impact such rules have on the determination of various aspects of the toll tax calculation.

Description: This article is aimed to cover the following: 1) Provides an assessment of income volatility under Long Duration Targeted Improvements (LDTI) for several key types of long duration contracts along with select illustrations, and compares against those under current GAAP, 2) Discuss areas where accounting policies or methodologies can influence income volatility, and 3) Show how a company's management reporting can be adapted to help explain income variances under LDTI.

Description: Discussion of growth in popularity of UL products designed to focus on the guarantee of death benefit protection rather than cash value accumulation and some of the pricing and reserving issues with respect to those products