Description: This paper discusses the underlying nature of the Social Security program, certain erroneous views of the program, various Advisory Council proposed solutions to the long-range financing problems, and the probability that no solution stands any chance of being enacted. From The Old-Age Crisis - Actuarial Opportunities - The 1996 Bowles Symposium, M-RS99-1.

Description: This paper discusses and reaches the conclusion that baby-boomers and younger workers need to be told that their Social Security benefits will be substantially less adequate than those of today's retirees, and that they need to know now so that they have time to take appropriate actions to have more retirement income available from other sources. From The Old-Age Crisis - Actuarial Opportunities - The 1996 Bowles Symposium, M-RS99-1.

Description: The Social Security System faces a funding crunch some 30 years in the future. Democrats and Republicans agree on the funding problem and that investing in the stock market can help fill the gap. But both views cannot be right.

Description: In Canada, there are three main sources of government-provided retirement income: 1. The Canada/Quebec Pension Plan [C/QPP], which have benefits and contributions based on earnings up to the Yearly Maximum Pensionable Earnings, 2. Old Age Security [OAS], which is a fixed amount for most but does include a 'clawback' of benefits for high-income individuals, and 3. The Guaranteed Income Supplement [GIS], which is designed to supplement those with extremely low income. The annual GIS benefit is reduced, or clawed back, by 50 cents for every dollar of annual income the person has in retirement, including C/QPP and income from Registered Retirement Savings Plans [RRSP] and other savings. OAS benefits are not included in determining the GIS clawback. The result of this is that low-income individuals who attempt to enhance their retirement replacement ratio actually see a decrease in government-provided support the more they save for retirement. In fact, savings in an RRSP can effectively be taxed at more than 100% through corresponding reductions in the GIS, social housing, home care, GAINS [Ontario's Guaranteed Annual Income Supplement], and other benefits which are based on one's personal retirement income. This paper explores a basic GIS exemption, a GIS clawback rate of lower than 50%, and various combinations of the two as alternative policies for the GIS. The goal is to improve the fairness of the GIS and reduce the disincentive to save for retirement, without increasing the overall cost of the program significantly.

Description: In this article the author chides the authors of the 'SUMMARY OF THE 2010 ANNUAL REPORTS SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE BOARDS OF TRUSTEES' for presenting biased 'misinformation and disinformation in their Message to the Public, and for their contribution to public ignorance about Social Security and Medicare financing.' He attributes this to the fact that the Boards are devoid of public trustees, and consist solely of partisan political appointees.

Description: The abstract for the paper Prospects of Longevity in Mexico and its Implications for Social Security and Health.

Description: HI Trust Fund: Actuarial Methodology and Principal Assumptions from Pension Section News, October 1999, Issue No. 41.

Description: OASDI Trust Fund: Principal Economic and Demographic Assumptions from Pension Section News, October 2000, Issue No. 44.

Description: This article reveals the results of a survey by the Pension Section Research Team showing that U.S. Social Security reform is a diverse issue for actuaries. From Pension Section News, April 2006, No. 61.

Description: These are the discussant comments for the concurrent session 4A: Longevity in the Public Eye from the January 4-6, 2017 Living to 100 Symposium in Orlando.