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Current issues | Expert response

Cracking the New DB Funding Code

The Pension Regulator’s (TPR’s) new funding code of practice encourages trustees to use scheme-specific analysis when setting their mortality assumptions – an approach Club Vita have been championing since 2008. But why is it so important?

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All News and insights

All the latest information, news and research from the Club Vita team.

Explainers | Pandemic updates

COVID-19: The latest picture as of 5th May 2020

In this blog we explore the impact of reflecting all deaths which mention COVID-19 on the death certificate, along with the deaths which may be the indirect consequence of COVID-19.

5 May 2020

Opinion & experiences | Behavioural economics blogs

The myside bias – why is it so hard to change our minds?

In this blog post we look at the myside bias (or confirmation bias) - the tendency to search more strongly for evidence that supports beliefs we already hold or discredits opposing views.

30 April 2020

Explainers | Pandemic updates

Covid-19: The missing and the missed deaths….(part 1)

It is clear that daily government press conference tally is materially underestimating the true scale of Covid-19. The gap can be attributed to both “missing” and “missed” deaths. In this blog we explore the first of these two critical issues.

28 April 2020

Explainers | Pandemic updates

Counting the cost of COVID-19

As COVID-19 spreads round the world, there is an understandable focus on death numbers to help gauge the impact. We explore below why this is not an exact science, and why numbers of deaths can and do vary.

24 April 2020

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 20-04: Impact of COVID-19 on 2020 cumulative deaths (up to 10 April)

In this edition of Top Charts, Connor O'Reilly discusses the effect COVID-19 is having on 2020 cumulative deaths.

22 April 2020

Explainers | External publications

Steven Baxter and Helen Wells talk to Citywire about the future of retirement

Read Steven Baxter and Helen Wells' article for Citywire, where they discuss the future of retirement.

21 April 2020

Opinion & experiences | Pandemic updates

Socioeconomic effects of COVID-19

The number of Google searches for the word unprecedented has recently spiked to unprecedented levels. And for good reason; the COVID-19 pandemic is unlike anything in living memory - and it is not affecting everybody in the same way.

6 April 2020

Opinion & experiences | Behavioural economics blogs

Exponential growth and an appreciation for the logarithm

One thing that I am learning through the COVID-19 pandemic is that exponential growth is a difficult phenomenon to describe. Erik Pickett explains more in this blog.

26 March 2020

Explainers | Expert response

The CMI_2019 Mortality Projections Model

What does the latest population data tell us?

6 March 2020

Explainers | Press releases

Commenting on the CMI model

The new CMI improvements model shows a slight uptick in how long it projects we will live for. Read our commentary here.

4 March 2020

General interest | VitaMins

VitaMins Health: Vitamin D - The “sunshine” vitamin

Dietary sources of Vitamin D are limited, with around 90% of our usual intake coming from sunlight. Does our current lifestyle and diet through the winter months provide us with sufficient resources for a long and healthy life?

3 March 2020

Explainers | Pandemic updates

Pandemic panic?

How could a pandemic impact pension schemes?

28 February 2020

Explainers | Press releases

Responding to 'The Marmot Review 10 years on

The first Marmot Review was a landmark report. This 10 year follow-up is equally important, making a number of crucial recommendations for “levelling-up” health outcomes in the UK.

25 February 2020

Opinion & experiences | Personal blogs

Roses are red,...

In this blog, Steven Baxter reflects on the impact companionship has on longevity.

14 February 2020

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 20-01: Seasonal mortality and socio-economic status

In this edition of Top Charts, Megan Hart discusses whether seasonal mortality rates are different for different socio-economic groups.

6 February 2020

Explainers | Expert response

Mortality Monitor Q4 2019

What does the latest population data tell us about emerging trends?

6 February 2020

Opinion & experiences | Personal blogs

Doing the Cupid Shuffle

Douglas Anderson discusses running, resolutions and the preventive benefits of healthy habits.

5 February 2020

Explainers | External publications

Zooming in on ZIP Codes: Using Socio-Economic Factors to Tailor U.S. Pension Plan Longevity Assumption

The United States is a diverse nation made up of many people with distinctly different characteristics.

1 January 2020

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 19-12: How harsh are the winters in Canada, the UK and the US?

In this edition of Top Charts, Richard Brown, Erik Pickett and Daniel Reddy discuss whether more people die in the winter than in the summer.

17 December 2019

Opinion & experiences | Behavioural economics blogs

The availability heuristic - forefront of your mind, forefront of your opinion

Erik Pickett discusses the availability heuristic in his latest blog.

12 December 2019

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 19-11: Looking ahead to the CMI’s 2019 mortality improvement projections model

In this edition, Mark Sharkey and Conor O'Reilly consider how the relatively light mortality experienced so far in 2019 might affect the impact of the next CMI mortality projections model on pension fund liabilities.

21 November 2019

Opinion & experiences | Behavioural economics blogs

The outcome bias: the adversary of insurance

In this blog, Erik Pickett discusses a cognitive bias known as the outcome bias.

23 October 2019

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 19-09: Flu strains and excess winter deaths

In this edition, James Freeman considers whether excess winter deaths are affected by specific flu strains.

16 October 2019

General interest | VitaMins

VitaMins Health: Getting clued up on flu

Every year significantly more people die during the winter months than at other times of the year, and recently we have seen huge variability in ‘excess winter deaths’, potentially impacted by the severity of the flu.

3 October 2019

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 19-08: Early signs of a longevity bounce back in the UK in 2019?

In this edition, Engagement Lead Mark Sharkey looks into how the number of deaths experienced in recent years, compares to the first half of 2019.

8 August 2019

Research & technical | Research & technical notes

Zooming in on ZIP codes

How long retirees live is a key assumption when valuing pension promises. There is ever stronger evidence of variation in lifespan across US society. Given that differences in life expectancy are recognized to be largely driven by lifestyle rather than genetic make-up, how can plan sponsors tailor their longevity assumptions to reflect the characteristics of their participants?

7 August 2019

General interest | VitaMins

VitaMins Health: Sleep - Putting a number on slumber

Health behaviours and levels of morbidity are key drivers for future mortality rates and can be thought of as key components of the “longevity pipeline”. The levels of health and morbidity in a population today will be stored up and reflected in how long people live in the future.

17 June 2019

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 19-06: Transfer rates and affluence

In this edition, Longevity Consultant Matt Thomas considers if wealth affects how likely someone is to transfer out a DB pension?

7 June 2019

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 19-04: Grieving widow effect

In this edition Longevity Consultant Erik Pickett rounds off the recent marital theme from the previous two issues with a chart exploring the so-called “grieving widow effect”.

18 April 2019

General interest | VitaMins

VitaMins Health: Care homes – the best place to grow old?

Health behaviours and levels of morbidity are key drivers for future mortality rates and can be thought of as key components of the “longevity pipeline”. The levels of health and morbidity in a population today will be stored up and reflected in how long people live in the future.

3 April 2019