Information Matrix

We and our clients much prefer to analyse mortality continuously, rather than in yearly intervals like actuaries used to do in previous centuries. Actuaries normally use μx to denote the continuous force of mortality at age x, and qx to denote the yearly rate of mortality. For any statisticians reading this, μx is the continuous-time hazard rate.

In an earlier post we looked at the implications for savers of the historically low interest rates in the UK. Low interest rates are a policy response to the unusual economic conditions in which the developed world currently finds itself.

Mortality statistics occasionally make the news, usually with some eye-catching statements.  Here is a recent example from the BBC: "Data from life insurance companies suggests that in the fifth and sixth decades of life you are less likely to die over the coming year than at any other time in your life."

When an insurer or reinsurer takes on a new insurance risk, there are two things of special interest: the best estimate of the risk and the tail risk.

In just over one year's time, insurers throughout the European Union will be prohibited from using a person's gender to price insurance risks.

Late last year I drew up a table of actuarial terms and their translation for statisticians.  I had thought that it was a uniquely actuarial trait to use different names compared to other disciplines.  It turns out that statisticians are almost as guilty.

In an earlier post we looked at how to create a proxy for ill-health early retirements based on age at commencement.  This is an example of dealing with missing data — we infer a useful proxy to replace the lost or missing health status at retirement.

In an earlier posting we looked at several examples where a pension scheme dominates the picture of the company's finances and value.

We talked previously about the use of user-defined validation rules to clean up specific data artefacts you sometimes find in portfolio data. One question came up recently about modelling bespoke benefit bands, and this can also benefit from user-defined rules.