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Explainers | VitaMins

The Risk of Living Longer: What if new senolytic drugs fulfil their potential?

People have a natural tendency to underestimate life expectancy and actuaries traditionally base future projections on extrapolations of observed historical experience; this can result in institutional blind spots to extreme future longevity events. But what would happen if one of these overlooked scenarios occurred?

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All News and insights

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

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Opinion & experiences | Mega Trends

Mega Trend 9: 30 really is the new 20 (for some people – determining who they are will become crucial for pension plans and insurers)

In our ninth mega trend blog, Nikiya examines the concepts of biological vs chronological age and how measuring age differently could impact mortality assumptions for pension plans or insurers.

16 September 2021

General interest | VitaMins

VitaMins Health: mRNA technology – a silver spike-protein lining?

In the latest release of VitaMins Health we examine breakthroughs in mRNA technologies due to COVID-19 and what this suggests for life expectancy.

14 September 2021

Opinion & experiences | Mega Trends

Mega Trend 8: Big data grows up – from open banking, to open insurance, to open health

In our eight mega trend blog, our Canadian colleague Saeed Ahmadi explores big data - from open banking, to open insurance to open health.

30 August 2021

Research & technical | Research & technical notes

2021 US VitaCurves technical papers

Technical papers on modeling techniques and underlying data to accompany the 2021 release of our US VitaCurves model.

24 August 2021

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 21-08: Longevity trends in US Defined Benefit pension plans

In this edition of Top Charts Chuyi Yang looks at the difference in recent mortality improvements between the US population and Defined Benefit pension participants.

19 August 2021

Opinion & experiences | Mega Trends

Mega trend 7: wearable tech drives life expectancy increases

In our seventh mega trend blog, Conor O’Reilly explores how advances in wearable technology could lead to further increases in life expectancy in the future.

3 August 2021

Research & technical | Research & technical notes

Longevity improvement rates for US DB pension plan participants

Examining widening life expectancy inequality

29 July 2021

Explainers | External publications

Assessing Long-term Risks of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Pension Plans Using Scenario Modeling

Dan Reddy and Erik Pickett examine the use of scenario modeling when analyzing future longevity risk, published in the Society of Actuaries’ Retirement Section News bulletin.

29 July 2021

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 21-07: World records, 100m sprint vs life expectancy

Inspired by the start of the Tokyo Olympic games, in this edition of Top Charts Nick Chadwick and Erik Pickett compare the progression of world records for the 100m sprint and for life expectancy at birth.

23 July 2021

Opinion & experiences | Mega Trends

Mega trend 6: healthy life expectancy will increase at a quicker pace than life expectancy

In our sixth mega trend blog, France Panneton discusses whether the quality over quantity argument will influence the push to increase healthy life expectancy more rapidly than total lifespan.

9 July 2021

Opinion & experiences | Mega Trends

Mega trend 5: Longevity risk will (is already) moving back to institutions from individuals

In our fifth mega trend blog, Jennifer Haid discusses longevity risks moving back to institutions from individuals.

29 June 2021

General interest | Pandemic updates

How different states have experienced COVID-19 so far (data available at June 23, 2021)

This is an update of our state-by-state analysis of excess mortality based on the available data as at 23 June 2021. We show the three distinct waves of COVID-19 seen in the US and how they have been experienced in different states.

24 June 2021

Opinion & experiences | Mega Trends

Mega trend 4: pension funds and insurers include longevity impact in climate risk management

In our fourth mega trend blog, Mark Sharkey discusses pension funds and insurers including longevity impact in climate risk management.

22 June 2021

General interest | VitaMins

VitaMins Health: COVID-19 and cancer – prevention on pause?

In the latest edition of VitaMins Health we look at delays in cancer treatments and screenings due to the pandemic and the potential effects on longevity.

17 June 2021

Opinion & experiences | Mega Trends

Mega Trend 3: Pension plans start treating longevity as a risk to manage rather than an assumption to get ‘right’

Read our third mega trend blog where Erik Pickett discusses the relationship between pension plans, longevity and risk.

11 June 2021

Opinion & experiences | Mega Trends

Mega Trend 2: Longevity becomes a tradeable commodity

Read our second mega trend blog where Nick Chadwick discusses longevity becoming a tradeable commodity.

1 June 2021

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 21-05: Widening inequality in life expectancy in the US

In this edition of Top Charts, Erik Pickett, looks at the implications of recent Society of Actuaries research into the widening of life expectancy inequality in the US.

26 May 2021

Opinion & experiences | Mega Trends

Mega Trend 1: UK longevity inequality will grow

Read our first mega trend blog where Douglas Anderson discusses UK longevity inequality.

24 May 2021

Opinion & experiences | Behavioral economics blogs

Choice overload – the paradox of too much choice

Would you like a piece of cake? Would you prefer carrot cake or tiramisu? Or would you prefer cheesecake? Or fruit cake? Or chocolate cake? Or red velvet cake, Boston cream pie, Battenburg, Black Forest gateau, lingonkaka, pineapple upside-down cake? Or maybe a flourless chocolate torte?

18 May 2021

Research & technical | Research & technical notes

COVID-19 longevity scenarios: a bump in the road or a catalyst for change?

This paper discusses how the lingering after-effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic could affect longevity. We introduce four longevity scenarios that pension plans can use to help understand the increased longevity risk introduced by the pandemic and to stress test their funding strategies.

3 March 2021

Opinion & experiences | Behavioral economics blogs

The Narrative Effect – the power of a good story

The narrative effect is the reliance on a connecting story to interpret a series of events. It is a very powerful effect both in business and pleasure, but is not without it's pitfalls!

3 March 2021

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 21-02: Excess deaths in the US: 2020 compared to history

In this edition of Top Charts, Chuyi Yang looks at excess deaths in the US and compares the extreme experience in 2020 to previous years back to 1933.

22 February 2021

Business updates | Press releases

Bolton to offer Club Vita’s longevity service to plan sponsors

Club Vita, the international leader in longevity analytics, and Bolton, a US employee benefits consulting firm focused on independent, objective, and innovative service delivery, today announced their new collaboration agreement.

9 February 2021

Opinion & experiences | Personal blogs

Reasons to be cheerful

A Scotsman on Hogmanay morning should be planning the New Year party. Not this year. I’m holed up in my study soberly digesting the latest grim diet of COVID statistics, whilst escaping my children’s depression at the prospect of weeks more separation from their friends. We could all do with an injection of optimism: some reasons to be cheerful.

4 January 2021

Opinion & experiences | Behavioral economics blogs

Cognitive miserliness – I’m too busy to think about that!

In his latest blog, Erik Pickett looks at the concept of cognitive miserliness, which is the tendency to avoid (or reduce) mental effort when making decisions.

17 December 2020

General interest | Pandemic updates

VitaMins: How different American states have experienced COVID-19 so far (data available at December 15, 2020)

This is an update from our August 21, 2020 VitaMins that analyzed state-level excess mortality data at that time.

16 December 2020

General interest | VitaMins

VitaMins Health: Physical activity – are you sitting comfortably?

Sedentary lifestyles are on the rise. More and more people are sitting down on the commute, sitting down at work and sitting down for leisure.

8 December 2020

Explainers | External publications

Beware the Flaw of Averages: Hidden Longevity Diversity can Materially Change Decision-making

Insurers have been investing heavily in data analytics in recent years across all their business lines, with bulk annuities being no exception.

1 December 2020

Explainers | Expert response

VitaMins: Society of Actuaries’ MP-2020

How long people are expected to live (their longevity) is a crucial assumption for actuaries calculating the future liabilities of pension plans and books of life or health insurance policies.

19 November 2020

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 20-11: US COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths

In this edition of Top Charts, Erik Pickett looks at the relationship between case numbers, hospitalization rates and deaths caused by COVID-19.

16 November 2020