Category Archive

In 1984 my husband and I got married and decided to spend three weeks in Europe for our honeymoon. We were young and adventurous (and in retrospect, maybe a little stupid), so we decided to book flights but not lodging—we had no idea what countries/cities we were going to visit—except for our very first night in Amsterdam. Amsterdam did not … Read More

Recently an actuary contacted the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline about a confidentiality issue. The actuary’s year-end actuarial reports with reserve opinions contained language about who could see the report. The language said that the report contained work papers, trade secrets, and the principal’s confidential information. It was prepared for the use of management and was available for regulatory … Read More

I retired from active practice last year after more than 40 years. A major portion of my career was spent as a consultant, back in the days when the Actuarial Standards Board and the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline were just being established. There were times when client situations forced us to determine what constituted good actuarial practice. I … Read More

SO, THERE I WAS. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was reading my prior year memo to get up to speed for this year’s project. And one sentence caught my attention. I kept reading it over and over again. Something tickled the back of my brain. And then I remembered. The sentence said the assumption was “not unreasonable.” … Read More

I WRITE THIS SHORTLY AFTER CHRISTMAS OF 2016. As always, the season was marked by the challenge of finding presents for people who already have every material thing they really need or want. For such recipients, I often purchase things that everyone needs to replace sooner or later, such as gloves or umbrellas. Less commonly, I buy them a book … Read More

THE COMMITTEE ON PAPERS of the Royal Society of London is traditionally credited with establishing editorial peer review in 1752 to oversee the review and selection of texts for publication for its nearly century-old journal, Philosophical Transactions—hence the use of the word “peer,” referring to the English peerage system of nobles. For purposes of this article, peer review will be … Read More

I AM A MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER, and have served on the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline (ABCD) for six years. I think I have heard everything. You may recall your childhood years and the imaginative excuses kids offer up for forgetting assignments and notes from school. As an adult, you likely have heard many justifications for poor or late … Read More

If it has been awhile since you earned your actuarial credentials—and if you enjoyed taking exams as much as I did—this article should be entertaining as well as educational. In a nod to nostalgia, I have created an older-style exam; rather than short-answer format, it consists of six multiple–choice questions and four true/false questions. You can find the answers on … Read More

THIS ARTICLE DISCUSSES the actuary’s responsibility for assumptions. It is told from a health actuary’s perspective because that is the work I did, but its principles apply equally to all practice areas. Amanda Actuary was reviewing a rate filing for Super Start-Up Health Plan (SSUHP) that had been prepared by Jason Modeler. Jason was an up-andcomer at their small actuarial … Read More

A FEW YEARS AGO, MY SISTER-IN-LAW, SUSAN, asked for my advice. She was considering transferring her IRA into the defined benefit plan under which she was covered. The transfer would result in greater retirement benefits. She wanted to understand the pros and cons of transferring the money and was especially concerned with whether the conversion rate was fair. We had … Read More