Description: Discusses the market, demographic, and macroeconomic factors that affect actuaries' choices for the assumptions they use in the pricing and valuation of many insurance products.

Description: In this session, the panelists discuss several common cognitive biases that can adversely impact the capital allocation decision process, introducing the notions of time, accounting convention, positivity, hierarchy, and social proof in describing them. Historical case examples of sub-optimal capital allocation are then explored, identifying the contributing behavioral factors including the simultaneous confluence of multiple factors. The panelists will close the session with several suggestions for attendees to consider for incorporation into their decision-making processes. At the conclusion of the session, attendees will be able to: - Learn common cognitive biases that impact capital allocation decisions - Differentiate which biases impact different aspects of the capital allocation process - Build awareness of biases affecting capital allocation decision models - Mitigate cognitive biases present in decision making processes

Description: Occasionally, in the financial reporting world the stars align, and insurers get the opportunity to leverage their financial results and cashflows across multiple reporting use cases. Such opportunity came about with implementation of the U.S. generally accepted accounting practices (GAAP) long-duration targeted improvements (LDTI) accounting standard, that required companies to move away from locked-in assumptions for traditional life and limited-pay products and produce best estimate liability cashflows for these business lines.

Description: Climate equity will be achieved when the unequal burdens worsened by climate change on disadvantaged populations and the communities in which they live are recognized and addressed. These disadvantaged populations include lower-income groups, children, the disabled, and the elderly, and are they often rural.

Description: This is a continuation of an article published for the speculative future contest in 2023. It mentions how the collapse of China would cause a global recession in 2029 due to the current and predicted geopolitical climate in 2023.

Description: It goes without saying that the analysis of data is a key aspect of actuarial practice, but do traditional actuarial approaches allow us to see the whole picture? Effective data analysis is also key to the identification of health disparities and measuring progress on health equity. Actuaries and others analyzing data for health equity purposes find themselves looking at data differently.

Description: During March 2020, COVID-19 concerns escalated in the U.S. and lockdown measures were announced. Market returns in March 2020 were quite extreme and choppy, alternating between days of huge gains and losses. As investors prepare for the future, it is important to understand whether these volatility surges and sharp movements are understood and captured by commonly used models. In this article, we will explore equity market performance in 2020 using the S&P 500 Total Return Index (SP500TR) and the relevant equity modeling implications

Description: The instructors in this boot camp session will highlight the SOA's work on an updated Medicaid underwriting margin model. This research project includes an excel model, a set of instructions and a paper describing the key components of underwriting margin, including cost of capital and risk margin.

Description: Have you ever wondered why patterns persist in the stock market but never change our expected return? Efficient-market theory has been attacked by many sides, especially due to the existence of irrational investors.

Description: In this webcast, we will overview the recent trends in the pension landscapes, as well as discuss investment solutions that assist with navigation through volatile market conditions. Learn more about the challenges that investors face now, as well as in the past. If you're ready to dive into the issues of investing during a period of inflation, monetary tightening and turbulent financial markets, then join us and discover more about what's going on in the pension and retirement industries.