Description: How can we manage decumulation in an era of Defined Contribution plans? Marketing and incentives for annuity conversion, pooled-type retirement plans plus developing a "Social Security longevity annuity" can all be pieces of the solution.

Description: Offers some perspectives on retirement advice and the employer after the April, 2016 Department of Labor new fiduciary rules. Builds on SOA research project from the Committee on Post-Retirement Needs and Risk, Retirement and Investment Advice: A Guide for Employers

Description: Discusses a wide range of issues related to financial decision making and aging. Includes discussion of cognitive decline, fraud and poor decisions. Brings in role of technology and tools.

Description: summary of Canadian topics from recent Retirement Section Council meeting. Update on defined contribution initiative and potential US legislation. Highlight recent SOA research on retirement income.

Description: This is an article from The Actuary that discusses the need to reform defined benefit plans. The number of defined benefit plans in the United States has declined significantly over the past 20 years. If Congress overlooks the interests of plan sponsors in its reform, we're likely to witness further erosion of an already weakened defined benefit system, and America's workers would be the ultimate losers.

Description: There is no silver bullet to improving retirement income outcomes for retirees. However, a combination of changes can be of significant value in addressing this overlooked issue. Although QLACs on the surface have potential value, they are not nearly as efficient as they could be. So far, employer plans have provided limited options for retirement income solutions. IRAs may not cost effectively serve the best interest of retirees. Employer plans should be encouraged to become retirement income providers and alternative approaches should be considered. The current prohibition on allowing plans to modify benefit payouts based on mortality experience should be reconsidered to allow for innovative plan income designs. Improvements to the deaccumulation stage of the retiree nest egg are challenging yet necessary.

Description: Mexico substituted its defined benefit system [IMSS] of the formal sector by a defined contribution system in 1997. The initial plan called for buying single premium annuities for the widows and disabled workers under the new system. In the first three years, this market came to occupy a significant part of the insurance sector. Then, the number of workers getting benefits started to fall dramatically. This is the abstract of a paper that shows that such a fall has been a direct result of how the IMSS authorizes the issuance of single premium annuities. The paper analyses the rationale behind such a dramatic change in policy, analyzes various possible scenarios of IMSS strategies, and examines the problem to see if it brings in any long-term benefits to IMSS.

Description: Interview with Sudipto Banerjee

Description: Read the September 2017 issue of Pension Section News published by the The Pension Section. Newsletters provide practical information for the working actuary, articles on trends that impact sections and news about section activities.

Description: A discussion of where insurance companies and their products fit in the retirement asset market and trends over the past few decades. Some historical data on the insurance companies' share of retirement assets is included.