This Week, Week ending August 5, 2011

 
Week ending August 5, 2011


Announcements

  • Election update: Earlier this week members received an invitation to participate in the Academy's online election to select three regular directors to the board of directors and vote on two proposed amendments to the Academy bylaws. The balloting will remain open until Sept. 2.

    The bylaws amendments that would implement profession-wide changes to the discipline process are unique to each U.S.-based actuarial organization. If you are a member of another U.S.-based actuarial organization and wish to have a say on this question, you must vote on each organization's proposed bylaws amendments.

    The second set of bylaws amendments would shorten what is in effect a four-year term of presidential office by one year through the removal of the position of penultimate past president from the Academy board of directors.

    Also please note that all Academy members whose dues for the current year have been paid in full as of July 14, 2011, are eligible to vote in this election. Associate or fellow status in another actuarial organization does not affect an Academy member's right to vote in Academy elections.

    For more information, visit the Academy's Election Center.
  • Golfers and actuaries interested in honoring the memory of Larry Gorski, the 2003 recipient of the Academy's Robert J. Myers Public Service Award, are invited to register for the Sept. 12 Insurance Regulator Educational Foundation & Hall of Fame annual golf fundraiser in Springfield, Ill. Gorski, the longtime chief life actuary for the Illinois Insurance Department and an Academy member from 1979 until his death in 2010, is the foundation's 2011 Hall of Fame honoree.

    Proceeds from the event will benefit a scholarship program that supports the annual 10-day instructional training for insurance regulators from all 50 states. The golf fundraiser will be held at the Panther Creek Golf Club in Springfield. For more information or to show your support, contact Janet Patrick, 217-789-1010 or jpatrick@illinoisinsurance.org.

Media Coverage

  • Academy: We should have access to PBR study data
    National Underwriter Life & Health, Aug. 3, 2011
    Academy President Mary Frances Miller's letter to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Life Actuarial Task Force, which corrected misstatements made about the Academy and the actuarial profession by an outside organization, was discussed.
  • Pension cash-outs are coming
    Financial Advisor Magazine, July 2011
    The Academy life and pension practice councils' May 2010 response to a request for information from the departments of Labor and Treasury regarding lifetime income options for retirement plans was cited and linked. The Academy wrote that to achieve a specified level of retirement security, an individual would need to set aside 50 to 75 percent more money than if the individual participated in a risk-pooling arrangement such as an annuity.

News Releases

Website: New Postings

  • Donald Fuerst is the Academy's new senior pension fellow and will serve as the chief policy liaison on pension, Social Security, and other retirement issues. Fuerst will promote the formulation of sound retirement policy by providing nonpartisan technical assistance to legislators and regulators.
  • Academy President Mary Frances Miller has sent two letters to correct misstatements made about the Academy and the actuarial profession by outside organizations. In a letter to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Life Actuarial Task Force, Miller defined the Academy's work in representing the U.S. actuarial profession on public policy issues and outlined the Academy's policies and procedures that help to maintain the objectivity of its work. In a second letter to the U.S. Treasury Department, Miller reinforced the value that actuaries could bring to the Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance and the actuarial profession's commitment to high professional standards.
  • The Academy's Social Security Committee released an updated issue brief on automatic adjustment mechanisms that could help address actuarial balance challenges facing Social Security.
  • President Obama signed into law the Budget Control Act of 2011 on Aug. 2, which increases the debt ceiling and reduces the federal deficit over the next 10 years. Log in to read the full Academy alert.

Upcoming Events

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