Description: This session will demonstrate the advantages of approaches to duration matching and cash flow matching. Plan examples and sponsor’s objectives will be presented. An overview of when to choose one approach versus a blend of the two approaches will also be covered.

Description: Topics will include the tricorder, telomeres and more

Description: Traditionally the SOA formulates pedagogic excellence in terms of the Marzano Taxonomy. For example, the "analysis level" consisting of generalization, specification, classification, contrast, matching, and error identification, is considered superior to the "retrieval level" consisting of rote memorization such as recognition, recall, and using. In this presentation, we first show that pedagogic excellence can be equivalently, but more simply, formulated in terms of executive function and goal-setting. Here executive function refers to problems requiring multiple mental modalities - such as, formal, verbal, computational, and graphical - for their solution. Goal-setting refers to the skillful breakup of a complex problem into a sequence of subgoals each of which is clearly formulated, challenging, but achievable timely. Light examples from the literature illustrate these concepts. Five "challenging FM problems": reinvestment, refinancing, multiple rate/deposit problems, pricing deferred bonds using a term structure, and obscure loan problems, illustrate the following fundamental techniques of goal-setting and executive function: i) a fellowship approach to teaching preliminary exam material, ii) using subgoals to give difficult homework, iii) alternating between different mental modalities to achieve elegant brevity in solutions, iv) goal-setting reflecting familiar vs. new, and v) skillful definition of unit subgoals.

Description: As more term insurance policies move to the post-level period, actuaries are evaluating policyholder behavior and expected mortality. Enough experience has now emerged to provide a spectrum of outcomes that can model the relationship between premium increases, persistency and mortality. The presenters will share findings and consider how different post-level premium structures produce different results.

Description: This session lays the foundation for understanding the current workplace landscape and expected changes over the next generation, including the new gig economy. The material will provide an understanding of the relationship between the workplace and insurance, beginning with a macro view of the job market of the future: which jobs are growing, which are shrinking, and which are likely to be completely replaced by technology? The overview includes a brief presentation of Munich Re's research on the changing landscape and the effect on worker well-being and finance.

Description: This session will include a brief outline of the origin of the tontine from when it was first introduced by the government of England in the 17th century through its disappearance in the early 20th century. As we explore the history of tontines, we will discuss their multiple references throughout English (and French) literature, often vilified by most authors using them as their subject, and how they bear little resemblance to the insurance product that many contemporary financial scholars advocate as a viable annuity concept for today and the future. The presenters will cover the practicality of reintroducing a modernized version of these longevity pooling arrangements (i.e., where aggregate longevity risk is shared among a group and not incurred by the issuer) as a retirement savings vehicle. They will also touch upon different aspects of tontines, such as risk management and regulatory issues.

Description: The SOA launched the Actuarial Innovation & Technology Strategic Research Program earlier this year, focusing on projects in which technology is being used in actuarial work. The presenters will highlight reports from the program including a review of the Top Actuarial Technologies of 2019, the growing use of cloud computing and its impact on furthering and deepening actuarial analyses, and the growing innovative approaches using non-traditional data sources for risk selection and segmentation and its intersection with industry regulation. An overview of this new SOA research initiative and key findings from recently released reports will be covered.

Description: Pension accounting standards continue to evolve across the globe with objectives, methods and assumptions varying, sometimes substantially, from one jurisdiction to the next. The presenters will compare the primary global pension accounting standards (US GAAP and IFRS), review recent developments and address whether or not the current standards adequately serve stakeholders such as plan participants, investors, management and regulators.

Description: The presenters will discuss recent developments related to the federal qualification and taxation of life insurance and annuity contracts. Among other topics, there will be a focus on comparing and contrasting life insurance product qualification in the U.S. under IRC sections 7702 and 7702A versus qualification in Canada under the 'exempt test' of the Income Tax Act, which has been revised in recent years. Discussion will include comparisons of Canadian provisions to U.S. definition of life insurance and Modified Endowment Contract concepts.

Description: Presenters will explore how climate risks are measured scientifically, and in what ways the insurance and reinsurance industries can play a larger role in managing risk. In an accessible manner and assuming no scientific background from the audience, we will review and discuss the background of climate science, and the unique role that the insurance industry can play. Specifically, we will discuss outcomes from a recent interdisciplinary workshop, 'The Nexus of Climate Data, Insurance, and Adaptive Capacity,' held November 2018 at The Collider in Asheville, NC. The workshop facilitated a national, interdisciplinary scientific research discussion on modeling and managing climate change risks between three different, but related research communities: the climate modeling and data community, statisticians, and researchers within the insurance and reinsurance industries. Co-sponsors of the workshop include the Society of Actuaries (SOA), the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Statistics and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI)