Description: General Session VI

Description: The widening gap in life span between high- and low-income Americans may be eroding the progressivity of Social Security retirement benefits. Differential longevity trends have had the effect of raising lifetime benefits for high earners but not for low earners. Social Security’s long-term financial problems result in part from an increase in average life expectancy driven by wealthier people living longer, and, thereby, collecting more benefits. Policymakers should not use funding shortfalls attributable to these trends as an excuse to cut monthly benefits alike for those who have gained (high earners) and for those who haven’t (low earners).

Description: Read the February 2020 issue of Risk Management, published by the Joint Risk Management Section. Newsletters provide practical information for the working actuary, articles on trends that impact sections and news about section activities.

Description: This article is about the need for actuaries and technical professionals to develop critical leadership and other soft skills, and highlights the ways the SOA Leadership & Development section provides tools to develop those skills.

Description: Read the Quo Vadis Reinsurance.

Description: "Population Aging, Global Climate Change and Social Security – Sally Shen, Research Associate, Global Risk Institute, John A. Turner, Ph.D., Director, Pension PolicyClimate Change and Mortality Time for Actuaries to Pay Attention – Sam Gutterman. FSA, CERA, FCAS, FCA, HONFIA, MAAA"

Description: Discover an introduction to decomposing differences in life expectancy by age and cause of death. Take a look into demographic techniques that decompose life expectancies at birth and older ages into the portions contributed by later age groups and causes of death-. These have been in existence for some time and provide a convenient device for analyzing mortality change over time as well as differences between sexes, countries, and ethnic groups. The methods will be described and illustrated by spreadsheet examples.

Description: After International Accounting Standards Board (“IASB”) issued International Financial Reporting Standard No. 17 – Insurance Contracts (“IFRS 17”), IASB received much feedback and suggestions for improvement. As a result, in early 2019, IASB made limited changes to IFRS 17. The presentation will briefly discuss the main contents and effects of those changes.

Description: Since the international financial crisis, accounting standards have become an important part of financial supervision rules, which objectively requires us to study the reform and development of accounting standards from the perspective of financial stability. Since the release of IFRS17 in 2017, the research and discussion of IFRS17 in the insurance industry has focused on technical details and implementation, while the economic impact and pros and cons analysis of IFRS17 are few. As a result, the industry's understanding of IFRS17 is not comprehensive enough, and there are still many disputes, and no industry consensus has been formed. In the future, the insurance industry should strengthen the research and analysis of IFRS17 from the perspective of financial stability, deepen the understanding and cognition of IFRS17, and improve the ability to control and use IFRS17.

Description: Editor’s note: This is the first article in a series of three covering the Society of Actuaries (SOA) Competency Framework. The subsequent articles will appear in future issues of the Actuary of the Future newsletter. The Society of Actuaries (SOA) Competency Framework is a powerful tool to enable you to design your future. Though it has been the SOA’s instrument for prioritizing continuing education and support to members since 2010, many actuaries are still not fully aware what a potent tool it can be to them in planning their personal careers.