Description: In reference to the book Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Steven Scoles describes our ability to detect patterns in certain aspects of life and how these patterns may in fact be simple randomness.

Description: As we meet with pension plan sponsors and consultants across Canada we find that the subject of liability-driven investing LDI comes up repeatedly even when we do not initiate the discussion. We also find that LDI seems to mean something different to each person we meet. Is LDI just a new name for asset/liability management ALM? Or is LDI just about hedging interest rate risks with fancy securities? In this article we describe a framework for understanding what LDI is, how it relates to ALM, and how it can be used to solve real-life problems for Canadian pension funds.

Description: In this article, the author recaps his experience at The 2009 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting.

Description: This is a short story on the retirement income calculator.

Description: Collateralized Loan Obligations have been around since the 1980’s, but recently have become a hot topic in the insurance industry. Join a panel of experts for an introduction to the asset class, covering areas such as the history of CLOs, why they’ve become more popular recently, the risks and returns of the asset class, and how actuaries can learn more.

Description: Sales of index-linked annuities such as FIAs and RILAs have been setting new records while sales of traditional VAs have been declining. This webcast will survey the latest generation of FIA and RILA products, examining the impact of the current market environment and how the landscape is expected to change when the FED starts cutting interest rates.

Description: The SOA and American Academy of Actuaries announce updated financial planning tool for retirement.

Description: On January 12, 2023, the Arizona Blockchain Applied Research Center (AZ BARC) and the SOA Research Institute jointly ran a workshop on the use of blockchain technology in insurance and financial industries. The workshop included presentations focused on academic research in the blockchain space by Arizona State University, AZ BARC and an industry expert panel assembled by the SOA Research Institute. This document summarizes the research highlights and the discussions that occurred during the two-hour workshop.

Description: In the fourth quarter of 2022, publicly traded life insurers reported on their financial and operational activities, which included a downturn in income from alternative investments, the continuing impact of COVID, the impact of equity market returns on variable annuity products, and growth trends related to pension risk transfer transactions.

Description: New tools for managing insurance risk have particularly emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, usually with roots in the financial markets. A strong motivating factor has been the record number of natural catastrophes and their impact in insured losses. New organization or joint ventures have been created to meet this demand. From Securitization of Insurance Risk: The 1995 Bowles Symposium, M-FI97-1.