Description: ETFs have seen explosive growth in the past decade. Due to its flexibility and embedded risk management features, insurance companies and pension funds, are showing increasing interest in this asset class. This session covers an introduction to ETFs and the risk/rewards for insurance companies and pension funds as an additional asset class.

Description: This session from the 1995 SOA New York City Meeting discusses using equities to support long term liabilities covering the following topics: rates, pricing implications, derivatives, GAAP and risk-based capital RBC implications. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 21, No. 2.

Description: This discussion focuses on the changing pattern of life insurance investing into public utilities, railroads, real estate, mortgages, corporate bonds and common and preferred stocks. This session also looks at the importance of the investment department, the impact on policyholder earnings, direct placement investing and a history of stock market performance since 1918. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1959, Vol. 11, No. 29 AB.

Description: The author, head of Alternatives Investment Specialists at Fortis Investments, recently presented a research paper on the potential benefits and possible pitfalls of investing in illiquid assets. This newsletter provides a brief summary of that paper. The full paper is available upon request.

Description: Time Track: Analyzing Historical Asset Returns by Richard Q. Wendt from Risks and Rewards Newsletter, September 2000, Issue No. 35.

Description: Feature article discussing the newly developed Build America Bonds BABs.

Description: Bond Prices, Yields, and Convexity by Macroeconomic Advisers from Risks and Rewards Newsletter, April 2000, Issue No. 34.

Description: Is Risk/Return a sound tool for decision-making? No. It is not consistent, not objective, distorts decision and degrades governance. Why? What shall we do then?

Description: This article presents new funding instruments for equity-indexed life insurance and annuity products.

Description: The Society of Actuaries’ Pension Section Research Committee commissioned this study to help actuaries develop forward thinking long-term estimates of future equity risk premiums. Equity risk premium is the amount by which the total return of a stock market index, such as the S&P 500, exceeds that of government bonds. Equity risk premiums, calculated from historical data, have been used to project long term values of equity portfolios in retirement plans. The validity of using historical data to project future equity returns will be examined along with other forward looking methods.