Description: State and local pension plans provide their stakeholders with a great deal of information. However, that information is typically not presented in a user-friendly way. Summary documents often fail to give their readers a clear and comprehensive picture of a plan's finances. The premise of the SOA Project described in this article is that there is a need for concise summary reviews of a plan's operations. The Project's mandate included the preparation of two sample reviews of two different state systems that might serve as models, but not rigid templates for reviews prepared by plan management. This article describes and compares the two reviews and their accompanying dashboards, and also addresses the Project's broader goals. The article emphasizes that it is not the exact shape or format of a summary review that matters, but how effectively it conveys the current state and prospects of a plan's finances.

Description: Join fellow actuaries for breakfast co-sponsored by the Actuary of the Future and Social Insurance & Public Finance Sections. Come learn what the sections have accomplished over the past year and network with other section members. This breakfast is open to all meeting attendees free of charge. If you plan to attend, you must register in advance.

Description: This report presents the results of the work undertaken in response to the SIPF’s request. The premise of this work is that there is a need for a concise but still comprehensive and focused report on the financial health and prospects of state and municipal plans to give stakeholders the overview they need to come to informed opinions about the need for changes to the structure of these plans. The report needs to strike a balance between narrative and quantitative indicators of a plan’s financial health.

Description: This report presents the results of the work undertaken in response to a SIPF commissioned research project in July 2012, entitled Communicating the Financial Health ofPublic Pension Plans.

Description: The research report focuses on the financial impact student debt can have on both working and retired Americans.

Description: A response and rejoinder to comments made by Messrs. Moore and Hallmark on "Communicating the Health of Public Pension Plans"