Description: Read the June 2019 issue of Retirement Section News published by the Retirement Section. Newsletters provide practical information for the working actuary, articles on trends that impact sections and news about section activities.

Description: Comments on Robert North’s paper, a real case study of disclosing MVL in a public employee retirement system.

Description: Part 2 proposes solutions to the second of three flaws of the current financial model to obtaining the fair value of the public sector employer’s pension benefit liability.

Description: In this paper, we derive three important longevity Greeks on the basis of an extended version of the Lee-Carter model that incorporates stochastic volatility.

Description: This paper establishes a framework to analyze the volatility of corporate profits as a result of variability in accounting for pension plans. It models a Canadian corporation that maintains a defined-benefit pension plan and that has adequate cash flow to fully fund the pension plan, should it wish. Volatility of corporate profits is important because many senior executives have some component of their compensation directly related to corporate profitability and consequently do not want any surprises with respect to actual profits compared to expected profits. The volatility management techniques considered are investment policies for the pension plan, funding the pension plan, and an alternative plan design. The analysis is timely since changes are proposed to the accounting standards to eliminate most smoothing techniques. The results suggest that, depending on the investment environment, reduced volatility may be accompanied by by enhanced return, which is a result that few would expect.

Description: This article is the second in a series that offers a concise summary of an extensive body of SOA Research Institute work focused on improving retirement planning and management. The article summarizes findings from consumer research and other reports at different life stages to help the reader understand what households actually do with regard to retirement planning. It points out the challenges of groups such as the financially fragile and those who do not have employer sponsored retirement plans. A repeated finding from this work is that individual actions fit patterns that are different from what the planning methodologies and professional advisors believe they are or should be, creating gaps and significant opportunities to help improve retirement planning and management, particularly since individuals have so much responsibility for their own financial security.

Description: This paper suggests a possible framework for the mandatory annuitization of U.S. retirement savings, considers the experience of other countries and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of mandatory annuitization.

Description: This study seeks to understand what has already been done to date to determine how many people are at risk, how great that risk is, and what can be done to minimize it. In addition, this report explores solutions that may lay in changing individual behaviors. Since much of what happens in preparation for and during retirement is up to an individual, we want to understand what we know about individual behaviors and how we can influence them. In addition, it should also be recognized that solutions might lie in new public or employer policies or in new products for the marketplace. Although there have been some new products entering the market in recent years—like late retirement, or so-called longevity insurance—the development of new solutions has been slow and may be hampered by complex government regulations.

Description: This study provides insight about what retirees and those nearing retirement age say about management of post-retirement risk and the use of various strategies for managing that risk.

Description: A response to the comments on the paper.