Here’s a roundup of interesting links I’ve seen this week: The speed of light is too slow! New Scientist article about traders choosing microwaves to transmit trading instructions ahead of fibre optic cable – light is slowed by a significant amount by the cable. Giving people permission to fail –Continue Reading
In one of the major milestones of the review of Capital Standards for Australian insurers, this week APRA released many of the final Standards, with some further draft changes to other Standards that will also because of the review. Most of the changes had been foreshadowed as part of theContinue Reading
Today’s book review is Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust that Society Needs to Thrive, by Bruce Schneier. Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned security guru (he even has his own internet meme). He started out as an expert on cryptography, but he now has much wider security interests. Liars and OutliersContinue Reading
At the Financial Services Forum last week one of the big questions was about the future of financial advice. This is also known as FOFA, which is what the government is calling it. The changes to the nature of financial advice were the backdrop to many of the presentations IContinue Reading
I’ve just come back from the Actuaries Institute’s biennial Financial Services Forum; a forum for actuaries and other professionals in the financial services industry dealing with wealth management, financial planning, life insurance, banking and risk management. I’m hoping to post in more detail about some of the topics that interestedContinue Reading
Before the Lights Go Out: Conquering the Energy Crisis Before It Conquers Us, by Maggie Koerth-Baker is about energy management and the future in the US. Koerth-Baker’s book is about the energy crisis that is coming, and what the US should do about it. In her view, there are twoContinue Reading
Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, always leaves the office at 5.30 so that she can have dinner with her kids at 6 (via Laura at 11d). I’m pretty sure that her commute is not like the average commute of the working mother of young children (bluemilk nails it as usual), andContinue Reading
This video from Harvard philosopher Professor Michael Sandel talks about Justice. What is a fair start in life? How should you think about fairness? He asks his students about their start at Harvard. How did they get there? Was it privilege or hard work? After most of them agree theyContinue Reading
Warning: technical actuarial post ahead! This is a guest post from my colleague, Michael Dermody. On Friday, APRA issued a letter to all CEOs and Appointed Actuaries of life insurers detailed its proposal for calculating the illiquidity premium in the discount rate for certain liabilities as part of the Life InsuranceContinue Reading
Late last year, as in every year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics announced that life expectancy at birth continues to improve. Based on current mortality rates, a boy born in 2008-2010 can expect to live 79.5 years, while a girl can expect to live 84 years. This is an improvementContinue Reading