The latest Continuous Mortality Investigation (CMI) report in the UK has suggested that mortality improvements will be significantly less than had been expected even last year. Life expectancy for a 65 year-old man has fallen by 1.3% or nearly four months,...
Old enough to draw your pension?
The Pensions Act 2014 requires the UK Government to review the State Pension age (SPA) during each Parliament, and the first such review closed on 31 December 2016. In its response to this review, the the Pensions and Lifetime Savings...
3 reasons why we’re living longer than ever – and 3 more why immortality is (probably) out of reach
Since the start of the twentieth century, we've seen huge improvements in life expectancy. As the chart below for England and Wales shows, a boy born in 1900 might have expected to live for 43.3 years, whilst a girl could expect to have 47.3 years. By...
How to defuse a demographic time bomb
The United Kingdom is an ageing country. This doesn't just mean that people are living longer, which they are; it also means that the birth rate has dropped significantly in recent decades. These two factors are important when considering issues like state pensions....
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 title...
The Swiss Re Longevity Bond
Reuters reported recently that Swiss Re was launching a series of longevity bonds to hedge the reinsurer against longevity catastrophe risk. The bonds - issued through Caymans-based Kortis Capital on behalf of Swiss Re - would hedge Swiss Re against...