Syllabus ASRM 471

ASRM 471. Life Contingencies I -- Instructor Syllabus

Text: David Dickson, Mary Hardy and Howard Waters. (2013). Actuarial Mathematics for Life Contingent Risks, Cambridge, Second Edition. (Chapters 1-6)

Chapter 1 – Introduction to life insurance (1 lecture)

  • Brief introduction on the terminology and major types of life insurance, annuity and pension

Chapter 2 – Survival models (4 lectures)

  • Future lifetime random variable
  • Survival function and (deferred) probability of death
  • Force of mortality and some common laws
  • Complete and curate future lifetime

Chapter 3 – Life tables and selection (4 lectures)

  • Life table construction and national life tables
  • Fractional age assumptions
  • Select and ultimate survival models
  • Mortality trends

Chapter 4 – Insurance benefits (6 lectures)

  • Valuation and analysis of the benefits in various traditional life insurance policies, including whole life insurance, term life insurance, pure endowment, endowment insurance, deferred contracts and variable insurance
  • Recursion formulae and approximations for insurance benefits with different payment type

Chapter 5 – Annuities (7 lectures)

  • Valuation and analysis of the life contingent annuities, including whole life annuity, term life annuity, deferred contracts, guaranteed annuity and increasing annuity
  • Recursion formulae and approximations for annuities with different payment type

Chapter 6 – Premium calculation (5 lectures)

  • Future loss random variables
  • Equivalence principle of net and gross premium calculation for insurance policies and annuities
  • The portfolio percentile premium principle
  • Profit and extra risk analysis

Midterm Exams (2 lectures)
Total: 29