Friday, July 11, 2008

Retirement Issues - Part 3

Robert Myers is one of the best-known names in the history of U.S. actuarial science. He was, for 23 years, the Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration (SSA), and spent basically his entire career in government-oriented actuarial functions.

On the SSA website, there is the transcript of an Oral History Interview with Myers. It is rather long - but also rather interesting, and worth dipping into and scanning if you have some time. There are some references to actuarial history, but, more importantly, some enlightening discussion of how some of the key Social Security issues were originally addressed and subsequently developed. Issues such as the retirement test, pay-as-you-go funding philosophy, etc. - very interesting to hear the perspective of someone who was there.

By the way, if you've never seen it, check out the SSA Actuarial Resources page. Lots of good references, including to the annual Trustees Report, actuarial projections, etc. A great resource for those interested in retirement and pension issues.

- Rick

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