Registration Information

	CCA Member	EA Meeting Attendee	All Other Participants
Professional Standards/ABCD Hearing Seminar	$190	$220	$275
Public Plans Seminar	$165	$190	$215
Pension Symposium: Retirement Security – Where Are We Headed? Private and Public Sector Challenges and Forecasts	$360	$385	$415

Registrations received four business days out from seminar date are considered on-site and are an additional $70.

Space is limited and available on a first come, first-served basis. Registrations are only processed when accompanied by full payment.

All cancellations must be in writing (fax 847/719-6506). Cancellations received on or before 3/14/10 are refunded full fee less 25% administration fee.

Cancellations received after 3/14/10 are refunded full fee less 50% administration fee.

No refunds 15 business days before the seminar.
 

Professional Standards/ABCD Hearing Seminar
Sunday, April 11, Noon - 5:00 PM
Credits: EA Core 5.4
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Code of Professional Conduct, ASOPs, Qualification Standards, EA Regulations – pension actuaries are surrounded by professional standards. How can we be sure that we are meeting all of these requirements? How do standards benefi t us and our clients? Are our standards serving their purpose? What can I and/or my employer do to mitigate exposure? What happens if we make a mistake? The presenters at this session use a mock ABCD hearing to provide insight into the Code, ASOPs, and Qualification Standards to provide an exciting overview of our profession. Current and former ABCD members portray a subject actuary, investigator, and the ABCD chair in a live hearing. Audience members get to discuss their views and possible decisions. This seminar is a great opportunity to get an update on professional standards, while seeing the workings of issues before the ABCD. Consider attending this informative, retirement benefits focused seminar on professional standards and ethics (presented on Sunday, April 11, from noon – 5:00 p.m. at the site of and preceding the Enrolled Actuaries Meeting).

Public Plans Seminar
Wednesday, April 14, 2:00-6:00 PM
Credits: EA Noncore 4.2
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Public plans continue to get an increasing amount of attention and have recently been the subject of several large scale reports and discussions. Speakers at this seminar examine the funding issues and other challenges currently facing public pension plans in the US. Presenters then focus down on how a disciplined review of funding policies and financial disclosures might both reveal some causes and provide some solutions to those challenges. Included in the discussion is the following:

• Current funding levels and the extent to which these levels may place burdens on future taxpayers;

• Criticisms being voiced concerning public pension plans;

• Causes of public plan underfunding;

• Proposed changes in liability disclosures;

• Asset smoothing;

• Discount rate review; and

• Alternatives available to address challenges facing public pension plans.

This half day seminar expands your knowledge and gives you adequate background in the public plans as presenters from various sides of the issues explain what is happening and present their views of relevancy. This seminar is an excellent way to spend a few extra hours after the EA Meeting being brought up-to-date about what is happening in the public arena.

Pension Symposium:
Retirement Security – Where Are We Headed? Private and Public Sector Challenges and Forecasts
Wednesday, April 14, 2:00 - 6:00 PM
Thursday, April 15, 8:00 AM - Noon
Credits: EA Noncore 8.4 (EA Core Credit TBD)
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The clichéd three legged stool of retirement security in the US is wobbly at best. As the nation continues to focus its policy efforts on health care reform, can retirement security reform be far behind?

Each year for the past seven years, we’ve set aside an extra day immediately following the Enrolled Actuaries Meeting to dive deeply into some of the key retirement issues of the day. This
year’s Pension Symposium promises to be another provocative event in the series as we explore the challenges of providing retirement security in the years ahead.

The Symposium consists of four sessions – two on Wednesday afternoon and two on Thursday morning. The format of the Symposium is designed specifically to encourage participation and discussion among attendees. Panelists in each session will provide background and context to set the stage for the open discussion of these important topics. The panelists will be drawn from employers, union groups, lobbyists, Congressional Committee staff s, think tanks, the Administration, consulting firms, etc.

Section 1 - The Future of Retirement Policy in the US:
This first session is a follow-up from GS-3. In this smaller, more intimate setting, the GS-3 panelists engage with symposium attendees in a discussion of US retirement policy from all perspectives. Expect a lively give and take as the discussion takes off from the previous session and sets the stage for the day-long deep dive into the relevant topic of retirement security policy.

Section 2 - The Challenges of Private-sector Retirement Security Solutions:
Defined benefit pension plans have been a mainstay of private programs now for decades. Defined contribution plans have taken off for more recent generations. Yet the limitations of both types of plans are increasingly evident – bringing into question the viability of a retirement security system that relies so heavily on the private-sector. Can the private sector continue to play a leading role in retirement security as it has in the past? What would it take for this to happen? What are the policy challenges? What are the alternatives?

Section 3 - The Challenges of Government-based Retirement Security Solutions:
For the population at large, Social Security has served as the foundation of retirement security in the US for seventy-five-plus years. For millions of public sector workers, federal, state, and local government employer-based plans have provided secure and adequate retirement benefits. Yet these systems confront fiscal and other challenges as well. What role should Social Security play over the next seventy-five years? What are the possible inter-plays between government-based and private sector-based retirement security policy alternatives? Will the public sector be forced to follow the private sector? What can be learned from the experiences of other countries?

Section 4 - What Can and Should the Actuarial Profession Have to Say About Retirement
Security In the US?:
This summary session focuses on the role the actuarial profession can and should play in the retirement security policy discussion. What are the critical elements of retirement security that actuaries can most effectively weigh in on? What sorts of retirement research and/or analysis should the profession engage in to further the national discussion? What are the obstacles and solutions to effective actuarial engagement?

As in the past, the Pension Symposium is limited in attendance (first come, first served!) so as to promote dialogue and the sharing of opinions among attendees. In each of four coordinated sessions, our panels of expert participants are invited to limit their prepared remarks so that we can get right to the discussion.