Future of Retirement
October 26, 2011 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM
For decades, the United States’ private pension system has been the envy of the world. However, today that very same system is in a state of steady decline. Many attribute this decline to the volatile economic conditions of recent years, while others point out that the decline is rooted in systemic flaws going back several decades. Most actuaries are quick to identify the extraordinary advantages of defined benefit plans in delivering retirement income, especially in comparison to defined contributions plans. And so, there has been considerable professional effort applied toward examining the causes of the decline in order to inform possible pathways toward the revitalizing our DB system. More recently, others in the profession have chosen to focus on a clean slate perspective, asking the question “Knowing what we know today, how would we design an entirely new and workable private retirement system from scratch?” The Future of Retirement will offer attendees an opportunity to join in the discussion with leading pension actuaries who have been deeply involved in these questions for several years. We intentionally limit attendance at this session (first come, first served!) so as to promote dialogue and the sharing of opinions among all attendees. While we have distinguished panels of experienced practitioners, we limit their prepared remarks so that we can get right to the discussion. In past years, we’ve invited expert practitioners from outside the profession. We’ve had representatives from government, think tanks, academia, organized labor, etc. This year, our expert panels will consist solely of pension actuaries who are immersed in the retirement security question.
The Future of Retirement will be organized around discussion of the following topics: