Description: This article begins with an overview of how the tax treatment of partial exchanges has evolved over the last decade or so, including the concerns that led the Service to resist giving taxpayers carte blanche on such transactions.The new guidance shortens from 12 to six months the window following a partial exchange in which the transaction could be called into question, and simplifies the regime by de-linking it from the exceptions to the section 72q penalty tax.4 Finally, the guidance provides coordination with recent partial annuitization legislation and answers to other open issues. This article then summarizes Rev. Proc. 2011-38 and elaborates on why the features outlined above are important and helpful improvements over prior guidance.

Description: The SOA Committee on Elections and the June 1999 issue’s editor, Robert D. Shapiro, invited candidates for the office of president-elect of the Society of Actuaries to be interviewed by The Actuary. This annual service of The Actuary is intended to help Fellows make more informed choices in voting for a future SOA president.

Description: This paper, part of the Society of Actuaries [SOA} ‘Research Projects – Finance/Investment,’ incorporates data from a similar study for years 1986 through 1992 and extends the results with data through 1995. This study focuses on the question of the extra return of high yield bond investments after asset losses, as well as some corollary items such as relative growth rate of high yield bond companies, emphasizing life insurance company results.

Description: The purpose of this paper is to examine the underlying issues of replacement rates for the benefit of retirement security stakeholders, particularly public policy makers, pension plan sponsors, advisors, financial product providers, and individuals planning for retirement. Additionally, guidance is provided on building replacement rate measures. From the Society of Actuaries - 2011.

Description: Presented at Living to 100 symposium, January 2002. This paper presents data on the mortality, and mortality improvement trends, for retired U.S. Civil Service employees and their survivors, and analyzes the relationship to such factors as: Indexed final salary, Amount of indexed annuity, Total service at retirement, Duration on the Annuity Rolls, Retiree vs. beneficiary, Disability vs. non-disability.

Description: This paper attempts to gather information regarding various components of the Canadian retirement income system, and to quantify the impact on the system of unanticipated morality improvements, particularly at age 65 and over, and of lower than expected equity returns. From 2005 Living to 100 and Beyond Monograph, M-LI05-1.

Description: This paper shows how the results of copula based capital aggregation models can always be locally approximated by relatively simple formulas. The paper defines the concepts of diversification factor and tail correlation matrix and describes methods for estimating these quantities from simulated data. We show how these ideas can be put into practice as both computational shortcuts and presentation tools.

Description: The paper will focus on two broad areas, integration of insurance products with investment products to mitigate the risk of outliving one’s assets in post-retirement financial planning. Modeling and pricing for the longevity risk in the secondary market in insurance.

Description: This paper presents a different approach to measuring Health Expectancy, especially as it relates to the elderly population. This new actuarial approach is described and numerous examples are given.

Description: 2011 Enterprise Risk Management Symposium, Chicago. This is the abstract of the entitled paper.