The price of oil and pension schemes

The price of oil and pension schemes

A while ago I co-wrote a paper that looked at the interaction between a pension scheme’s investment strategy and the financial strength of its sponsor. As an example, we looked at a pension scheme whose sponsor was an oil company. We argued that such a scheme...
Inefficient frontiers

Inefficient frontiers

Efficient frontiers are a great way of comparing investment strategies. The way they typically work is to show the trade off between some average or expected value, and the uncertainty around some estimate. So, for example, you might be comparing portfolios in terms...
Fictional actuaries

Fictional actuaries

Actuaries in fiction tend to get a bad rap. To an extent, this is understandable. In any story it can be helpful to use some sort of shorthand to describe a particular individual. Confident, responsible, chiselled good looks? Let’s make them an airline pilot;...
A different sort of writing?

A different sort of writing?

As I’ve just published my first novel, Figures of Death, I wanted to write something about it – or rather about writing it. At first sight, it might not look like an obvious follow-up to my last book, Financial Enterprise Risk Management, and the two...

Q&A: Paul Sweeting – The Actuary

Why did you choose to become an actuary? Initially, it was the challenge that attracted me, but I then found that I actually enjoyed the job. I wanted to work in an area that required maths, but I soon found that being able to do the numbers was only a small part of...

Living to 100

I went to a fascinating conference at the start of the year organised by the Society of Actuaries. It’s a triennial conference entitled “Living to 100”, which looks at actuarial, epidemiological and medical developments in longevity. Apparently, this...