Schulich School of Business Professor Moshe Milevsky would like to see a 21st century tontine that allows a pool of investors to buy annuities that would pay a high percentage at first, then drop the percentage as participants die off and each survivor gets a larger share of the pool. This would mean that even the longest-living members of the group would continue to receive an adequate income. “This is the idea of risk-sharing among a group in a more efficient way,” Milevsky said in the Herald-Tribune Jan. 12. “How do you plan a smooth retirement if you don't know how long you're going to live? Insurance companies are going to be charging for longevity risk, and this will start dragging down payments on annuities, above and beyond interest rate changes.” New models are needed, Milevsky said, that will be tailored to succeed where current pension and annuity plans have failed. Read full story.
Getting your MBA overseas
More and more students are going abroad to study; according to a report by the International Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, nearly 4.3 million students around the world were enrolled in university-level education outside their home country in 2011, up from 0.8 million in 1975. "Students want to study overseas, they want international exposure. Right now over 10 per cent of our full-time students go on exchanges," said Melissa Judd, acting executive director of student services and international relations at York University, in Morningstar Jan. 14. Read full story.