The Social Security Committee released an updated monograph and issue brief on individual equity and social adequacy as those principles apply to Social Security reform options. The monograph and issue brief compare three different Social Security reform proposals using individual equity and social adequacy—two of the important principles underlying the program—and provide details on each of the proposals and examine the data used in the illustrations.
( )The Public Plans Committee released ‘Surplus’ Considerations for Public Pension Plans, an issue brief that examines plan “surplus,” what it means and does not mean, historical lessons for public plans regarding “surplus,” and considerations for plans at or approaching 100% funding in the future.
( )The Pension Committee released an issue brief, Aligning the PBGC’s Single-Employer Premium Structure With Its Objectives, which discusses options for modifying the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) single-employer premium structure to better support the single-employer defined benefit system, while preserving a strong level of retirement security.
Read the Academy news release. For more information, read here.
( )The Social Security Committee released an issue brief on the 2023 Social Security Trustees Report examining the social insurance program’s long-term solvency issues.
( )The Public Plans Committee released Introduction to Service Purchases for Public Pension Plans, a practice note considering a variety of service purchase programs that can be found across public sector pension plans, as well as plan administration topics that actuaries should be aware of when working with them.
( )The Pension Committee released an issue brief, Church-Sponsored Retirement Plans—Overview and Considerations. This issue brief discusses the broad range of church plans and practices. Among other considerations, it discusses the impact on a participant of being in a church plan when the ERISA protections and provisions for U.S. tax-qualified single or multiemployer pension plans generally do not apply.
( )The collaborative U.S.-based actuarial organizations’ Intersector Group released notes from its September meetings with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and the IRS and U.S. Department of the Treasury.
( )The Social Security Committee released an issue paper, Social Security and Financially Disadvantaged Groups, focusing on how benefits received by different groups are shaped by features of the program interacting with circumstances and trends associated with members of financially disadvantaged groups. The paper also discusses various reform proposals and how they might affect members of certain groups.
( )The Social Security Committee released an issue brief, Reforming Social Security Sooner Rather Than Later, which notes that earlier reform action would allow for tax increases and benefit reductions to be phased in gradually and provide individuals more time to plan and adjust to the changes. Read the Academy news release.
( )The Pension Committee and Multiemployer Plans Committee responded to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) request for comments regarding the proposed rule on Valuation Assumptions and Methods.
( )The Pension Committee submitted comments in response to the Department of Labor (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration’s (EBSA) Request for Information on a number of SECURE 2.0 provisions that impact the reporting and disclosure framework of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).
( )The Social Security Committee released an issue brief, Assumptions Used to Evaluate Social Security’s Financial Condition. The issue brief describes the assumptions that must be made in any actuarial projection of the Social Security program’s finances and explains how variations in the assumption values affect the projections.
( )The Pension Committee released an issue brief, Enhancing Retirement Security Through Changes in Plan Design and Related Requirements, that examines modifications to defined benefit (DB) plans that would make them more attractive for modern employers, and looks at ways to incorporate some of the more desirable attributes of DB plans into the more common defined contribution (DC) options that many employers are currently offering.
( )An issue brief released by the Pension Committee, Valuing Gender Expansive Data, examines issues pension actuaries may consider when performing an actuarial valuation using sex/gender expansive data—data on sex/gender that is either missing or nonbinary. It also discusses several possible approaches to handling such data and setting reasonable actuarial assumptions.
( )Academy Senior Life Fellow Nancy Bennett and Paul Navratil, chairperson of the Life Investment and Capital Adequacy Committee, presented to the U.S. Department of Labor’s ERISA Advisory Council public meeting on pension risk transfers on July 18. They gave an overview of life insurance regulations focused on the regulatory framework governing solvency requirements, including the establishment of liabilities and required capital for benefit obligations that are the result of a pension risk transfer. Additionally, the Academy submitted the Pension Committee’s recent issue brief, Buy-Out Group Annuity Purchase Primer, for the meeting record as a resource on “buy-out” annuity contract transactions from a pension actuarial perspective.
( )The Pension Committee released an issue brief focusing on “buy-out” annuity contract transactions, one of the ways pension plan sponsors transfer pension payment responsibilities and associated risks to other parties.
( )The Lifetime Income Joint Risk Committee released Experience-Sharing Lifetime Income (ESLI), an issue brief considering a retirement income concept now being used in many other countries, which shares features of both lifetime annuities and structured drawdowns.
( )The Pension Committee released a practice note, Selecting and Documenting Pension Assumptions Other Than Discount Rate, Investment Return, and Mortality, updating a 2009 practice note, revised to reflect updated actuarial standards of practice (ASOPs), including changes in ASOP Nos. 27 and 35 that are effective for actuarial reports issued on or after Aug. 1, 2021, and when the measurement date in such reports is on or after Aug. 1, 2021.
( )The Pension Committee, Multiemployer Plans Committee, and Public Plans Committee submitted comments to the Actuarial Standards Board regarding the exposure draft of the proposed revision of Actuarial Standard of Practice (ASOP) No. 27, Selection of Assumptions for Measuring Pension Obligations and the repeal of ASOP No. 35, Selection of Demographic and Other Noneconomic Assumptions for Measuring Pension Obligations.
( )The Social Security Committee released Highlights from the 2023 Social Security Trustees Report, a one-pager detailing the latest annual report on the current and projected financial status of the trust funds.
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