Book Description

From the reviews: "The highly esteemed 1990 first edition of this book now appears in a much expanded second edition. The difference between the first two English editions is entirely due to the addition of numerous exercises. The result is a truly excellent book, balancing ideally between theory and practice. ....As already hinted at above, this book provides the ideal bridge between the classical (deterministic) life insurance theory and the emerging dynamic models based on stochastic processes and the modern theory of finance. The structure of the bridge is very solid, though at the same time pleasant to walk along. I have no doubt that Gerber's book will become the standard text for many years to come. Metrika, 44, 1996, 2 ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Taxing book
This book is highly recommended for those who are interested in life insurance and superannuation models. It outlines various topics such as the actuarial mathematics and models for use in the analysis and actuarial management of life insurance and superannuation contracts. Topics covered include: the main forms of life insurance and annuity contracts, disability and long term care contracts and superannuation fund benefits; actuarial notation and the life table; moments of the value of the benefit payments; Thiele's differential equation for policy values; stochastic modelling of claims and benefit payments; gross premiums, net premiums, policy values and reserves; allowing for expenses and inflation; use of discounted emerging costs and profit tests; asset shares in life insurance; termination and alteration values; cost of guarantees; joint life functions; valuation of disability insurance contracts. If you are studying actuarial subjects that involve any of the above concepts then this book is recommended. Included are many questions with answers. ... Read more

Book Description

In the last two decades, there has been a significant shift in thinking and in the approach taken to actuarial practice: moving from deterministic methods (with implicit or explicit margins to protect against variability) to fully stochastic methods. Important international developments are currently being made in actuarial education, with radical changes being implemented in Australia and North America, and evolutionary changes planned in the UK.At the same time, the Consultative Group of Actuarial Associations within the EU and the International Forum of Actuarial Associations are both actively considering the international harmonization of professional qualifications.Modern Actuarial Theory and Practice matches the philosophy of those international developments, and the manner in which actuarial qualifications are changing and are likely to continue to change. It describes the traditional areas of actuarial activity with an emphasis on the fundamental principles, as well as the economic, financial, and statistical foundations of actuarial theory and practice. Information is presented in five interconnected sections:oInvestmentoLife InsuranceoGeneral InsuranceoPensionsoActuarial Modelswhich can be read separately or taken as part of the integrated whole.This text will be an invaluable aid for final-year undergraduates, MSc students, research students preparing for an MPhil or Ph. D degree, and to student actuaries preparing for the professional actuarial examinations of a number of professional bodies. Practicing actuaries will also find this a useful guide to current methodologies and models. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Useful and Relevant for Institute 300 series
A very clear book covering the Exams in the 300 series for the institute of Actuaries. Topics include Pensions, investment, asset modeling and Life. ... Read more

Book Description

Don't let a construction lawsuit wipe you out. More and more construction contractors are getting sued these days. Make sure you protect yourself against costly litigation with Construction Insurance, Bonding and Risk Management edited by William J. Palmer, James Maloney, and John L. Heffron. Written in jargon-free language, this quick-and-easy resource will help you identify and manage risk in every phase of construction--from bidding on the job to driving home the final nail. You get the know-how you need to make sense of today's confusing array of insurance and bonds and to select the best coverage for your general business operations, individual contracts, job bidding and more. ... Read more

Book Description

Revised, updated, and even more useful to students, teachers, and practicing professionals
The First Edition of Loss Models was deemed "worthy of classical status" by the Journal of the International Statistical Institute. While retaining its predecessor's thorough treatment of the concepts and methods of analyzing contingent events, this powerful Second Edition is updated and expanded to offer even more complete and flexible coverage of risk theory, loss distributions, and survival models.
Beginning with a framework for model building and a description of frequency and severity loss data typically available, it shows readers how to combine frequency, severity, and loss models to build aggregate loss models and credibility-based pricing models, and how to analyze loss over multiple time periods. Important features of this new edition include:
* Thorough preparation for relevant parts of preliminary examinations of the Society of Actuaries (SOA) and Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS)
* Exercises based on past SOA and CAS exams
* Examples using actual insurance data
* Practical treatment of modern credibility theory
* Data files and more from an ftp site
Loss Models, Second Edition is an important resource, providing a comprehensive, practically motivated toolkit and an excellent reference, for actuaries preparing for SOA and CAS preliminary examinations, students in actuarial science who need to understand loss and risk models, and practicing professionals involved in loss modeling. ... Read more

Book Description

In his best-selling Irrational Exuberance, Robert Shiller cautioned that society's obsession with the stock market was fueling the volatility that has since made a roller coaster of the financial system. Less noted was Shiller's admonition that our infatuation with the stock market distracts us from more durable economic prospects. These lie in the hidden potential of real assets, such as income from our livelihoods and homes. But these ''ordinary riches,'' so fundamental to our well-being, are increasingly exposed to the pervasive risks of a rapidly changing global economy. This compelling and important new book presents a fresh vision for hedging risk and securing our economic future.

Shiller describes six fundamental ideas for using modern information technology and advanced financial theory to temper basic risks that have been ignored by risk management institutions--risks to the value of our jobs and our homes, to the vitality of our communities, and to the very stability of national economies. Informed by a comprehensive risk information database, this new financial order would include global markets for trading risks and exploiting myriad new financial opportunities, from inequality insurance to intergenerational social security. Just as developments in insuring risks to life, health, and catastrophe have given us a quality of life unimaginable a century ago, so Shiller's plan for securing crucial assets promises to substantially enrich our condition.

Once again providing an enormous service, Shiller gives us a powerful means to convert our ordinary riches into a level of economic security, equity, and growth never before seen. And once again, what Robert Shiller says should be read and heeded by anyone with a stake in the economy.

Reviews (17)

Interesting read, author is quite optimistic.
This book is very interesting, but I think that the author in may be a bit full of himself. This is the same guy who wrote the book 'Irrational Exuberance' months after the stock market peaked in January 2000 and claims to have predicted it. I feel that most of the hype about Robert Shiller is Irrationally Exuberant. However this does not mean this book is not worth looking at. It has some interesting proposals, although many of them are either far-fetched or dangerously close to a creating a corporate Orwellian state.

A fascinating alternative view of the financial system
Shiller is a visionary economist.The problem with visionaries is that they do not always see the world the same way as everyone else.

This book outlines how Shiller believes a range of innovative risk management products could change the international financial system, and at the same time raise the living standards of ordinary people.Shiller wants to create derivative products which would allow people to use financial markets to hedge against loss of income, or the decline in the value of their house, for example.

Now this is pretty daunting stuff for the average reader, and I doubt that most of the people Shiller wants to help would fully appreciate the complexities of the things he advocates.

The other problem I have is that I simply don't believe all of Shiller's ideas are feasible.Moreover, even he would have to admit it is impossible to eliminate risk from life, yet that is what he tries to achieve.

I think it is a terrific book for those who want to ponder "what if."It can be a hard read though.

A Must Read!
Economist Robert Shiller became a household name when he published his previous bestseller Irrational Exuberance just as the dot.com boom was peaking. In The New Financial Order, he capitalizes on his celebrity to put forward a thoughtful, detailed proposal for managing economic risks. This highly readable book portrays a future in which many serious individual financial risks are dispersed to savvy global investors, thanks to technology. Imagine violinists being able to insure their careers in addition to their Stradivarius instruments, developing countries securing generous loans from the first world by tying the repayment schedules to their future GDPs and a revamped tax system preventing the gap between rich and poor from widening. We suggest this book to risk-management professionals who want to step back and look at the big picture, as well as to anyone who has a stake in creating new financial products to meet twenty-first century needs.

Big Brother meet the Free Market
This is a big, big book. Although it contains only 276 pages of commentary, its scope envisions a brave new world we can only imagine and argue about. No doubt the outcome of the argument will weigh heavily on our future for years to come. Professor Robert J. Shiller needs no introduction. Whether by intent or luck, his "Irrational Exuberance" warning about our overvalued stock market was published around the time NASDAQ topped out just above 5000 (March 2000). The rest is history. And while I, as a former member of two options exchanges, certainly welcome any suggestion to increase the trading opportunities available to us today, the six innovative financial instruments he proposes to reduce/share risk leave a lot to be explained, both mechanically and philosophically. The book, though, rates five stars for its thought-provoking ideas and for the stature that Shiller brings to them. There's a lot in this book and nothing in it should be discarded without extensive study and reflection. One of life's hardest lessons to accept is that none of us, either individually or collectively, can ignore the dynamic world we live in. Sitting still is not an option because of the relative motion of everyone else in the world. Our only choices are, in the immortal words of Lee Iacocca, "Lead, follow, or get out of the way." Today's informational databases were sure to evoke something like Shiller's ideas. It is useless to turn our heads because it will happen. Therefore the intent of this book should be exposed to the largest possible number of people because what we decide will determine how we spend the rest of our lives. On the surface, Dr. Shiller would be creating a Dr. Pangloss world, but the devil would be in the details.
The most obvious aspect of Shiller's proposals is that he would use classical capitalistic markets to achieve classical socialistic goals. A most creative feat in and of itself. Insuring against risk, of course, is nothing new. Lloyd's of London dates back to Edward Lloyd's coffeehouse in the late 1680s. But not only does Shiller want to mitigate the risk of error in individual decision making, he also wants to insure "society" against the collective mistakes of all. It will be interesting to see which power groups line up on which side of the argument. Maybe he isn't proposing cradle-to-grave socialism, but certainly something close to young-professional-through-retirement risk sharing as administered/regulated by a combination of governmental/financial superbodies.
He convincingly begins his presentation with a short history of how new innovations are always refuted at first, then eventually work their way into our lives. This is a good start to set the stage for his own ground-breaking ideas.
There is no point in going over the mechanics of the proposals because they will see many different permutations before they ever become tradable entities, but more important are the goals and philosophy that pushes them all.
His first proposal covers personal insurance: livelihood insurance to reduce the risk of people embarking on a dead-end profession. He is inspired here by the very legitimate concern that society losses out on tremendous talent when gifted individuals steer away from professions that might not pay off in the future. He feels that if we insure them against this failure, their contributions will pay off in the long run. Also included in personal insurance is his proposal for home equity insurance to guard against a decline in your home's value. He's already put his money where his mouth is by incubating such a company and then selling it to a financial conglomerate.
Next is MacroMarkets. Here he envisions GDP futures to enable trading in national economies based on how they perform. One of the benefits here would be when a country's GDP begins to weaken, it would be a signal to the affected economy's leaders that something must be done to remedy the situation or else things will get worse.
Third, he addresses banking and income-linked loans. Interest rates on loans would rise or fall with one's income, region, or profession, and could be used to modify or eliminate current bankruptcy laws. However, could a bank stay solvent by lending money on fluctuating terms unless it could also pay interest on fluctuating terms? We've just lived through the S & L crisis borne out of this same scenario.
Fourth, he tackles his most inflammatory subject, that of income inequality. His basic fear here, along with Dr. Ravi Batra and others, is that increasing disparity of income leads to riots, revolutions, and war. But who decides what is fair and equitable? And would an earlier leveling effect have robbed us of the builders Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Ford up through Walton and Gates?
Fifth - Intergenerational social security. This is the most pressing problem today and will cause the most heated debates going forward. What is fair can be debated until we all die of old age.
Last, he would like to set up swaps between rich and poor, strong and weak nations based on their GDPs. But what happens when politicians are accused of "exporting jobs" like companies are today? They won't be in office very long. The IMF doesn't have a great record getting the masses to toe the line either when it comes to living up to prior agreements.
The scariest ingredient of all Shiller's proposals is the collection, retrievaland analysis of masses of amounts of information (GRID) needed to administer such an interconnected trading arrangement. Yet, the Internet is making us one people, and Shiller's financial instruments would make us one world, interconnected, co-dependent, and risk-sharing. If Clausewitz was right that war is politics by other means, then perhaps politics is economics by other means. Maybe the time has come for economics to supercede politics and maybe Shiller is showing the way. He does have a vision. Do we want to be part of it or not?

The Oracle of 21st Century Finance
By any standards, financial markets are behemoths, where trillions of dollars are traded daily in stocks, bonds, currencies or securities. But unlike common perception that values financial markets based on their profitability, their more important function is to manage risks: shares are sold to investors to spread out risk-if money is made in the process, all the better.

What is surprising is that despite the extensiveness and complexity of our financial nexus, many risks that people face are not currently covered: what happens, say, if your job is taken over by a computer? Or, if you spend seven years in school specializing in a field for which there is no market after you graduate? There is no protection against these threats. Yet, unemployment has a more adverse impact on welfare than any movement of the Dow Jones or the Euro/Dollar exchange rate. Financial markets can help people manage the latter, but not the former.

In this sense, risk management is limited. Extending its scope to manage more risks is the subject of Robert Shiller's book. Mr. Shiller, of Yale University, has put together his vision for the future: a New Financial Order where risk management can serve the people, not just investors who know the markets. "The New Financial Order" is an ambitious work, and although Mr. Shiller tries to show that baby steps have been made towards that vision, it is clear that he is thinking far ahead-decades, even more.

But what is this new order? Mr. Shiller's world is build around six pillars: livelihood and home values insurance, macro-markets where aggregate risks can be traded, income-linked loans, inequality insurance, intergenerational social security, and international agreements for risk control. These ideas are grand, as will be the markets needed to implement them.

This financial order is an attempt to reduce the effect of randomness on our lives. All these instruments, in different ways, will allow a more equitable and efficient sharing of risk, making people better off. If in the past few centuries, financial innovation led to economic prosperity, then the future of finance will be to create economic security. "The New Financial Order" is a blueprint towards that goal. ... Read more

Book Description

Revisions and additions make the second edition an even better teaching and learning tool of the basic principles of insurance and risk with their special application to the aviation industry.A foundation of general knowledge is provided in a subject matter that plays a significant role in any aviation-related business.A number of the chapters have been completely updated to reflect the many industry, market, and legislative changes during the 1900s.The chapter on hull and liability contracts includes "Insurance Considerations for Business Aircraft Owners."This new section covers insurance requirements for companies operating aircraft under various arrangements including joint ownership, interchange agreement, time-sharing agreement, exclusive dry lease, management company, and fractional ownership.Appendixes include current aviation policies, endorsements, and applications as well as self-tests.College students, corporate pilots or fixed base operators, and individuals in the insurance business will gain a broad understanding of insurance and risk management applicable to the aviation enterprise. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Alexander Wells is Without Peer in his Knowledge
Anyone who has read any of Alexander Well's texts on the aviation industry knows that he is without peer in his knowledge of the management and operations of the airline industry. He teaches what I believe is still the only course on airline management at any college in the nation and is highly respected for his work.

In this volume, he focuses specifically on the problems of risk and insurance as it applies to the airline industry. Although the book is relatively new, published in 2000, given the events in the industry in the past few years it may already be ripe for a revision. Regardless, the text provides a broad, yet concise, understanding of insurance and risk management as it applies to the aviation industry, both commerical and otherwise.

This book should be required reading for anyone considering a career in aviation management or working in the insurance industry with airlines. ... Read more

Book Description

Eight out of ten Americans will have an accident in the next seven years. Baldyga delivers over three decades of personal injury, insurance claimexperience in this easy-to-read book. Learn how to settle your "pain and suffering" for top dollar. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Thanks Baldyga
I got a very fine settlement on my own using the advice in this book; I got $6,000.00 more than I was shooting for after reading this book and applying the simple concepts Baldyga shows you. I also have the Nolo books but I find them to be very misleading and confusing. Most insurance companies are "onto" Nolo and they're ready for you when you hit them with the Nolo concepts. Nolo people actually go to the other legal self-help sites and plug Nolo books, much like they have done here. Thi book was far easier to understand and implement than Nolo, in my opinion.

GREAT BUY! WHAT A BOOK!
Just wanted to take a moment to enter my review for others. I bought the book some time ago, followed the instructions, and just settled my claim for so much more than I thought it was worth before I read this book. I had no idea of what a fair settlement value was in my case. The adjuster seemed in such a hurry to try and settle and I didn't want to hire a lawyer and pay him a third of what I would receive. So I did my homework as the author said must be done, and it paid off far beyond my expectations. I found the book to be fantastic and would recommend it to anyone trying to figure out what their auto accident claim is worth.

Dissapointed. Incomplete.
After reading the reviews here, I was expecting much more from this book. First of all, the base Formula made up by Baldyga to give you a value on your claim is a joke. It neither accurate nor realistic. The book provides you very little information on important topics such as subrogation or negotiating attorneys fees. It does not even mention Colossus, the software used by insurance companies to evaluate insurance personal injury claims. Information on how to create a demand letter is slim, and although there are some good advices in this book, it will not help you to settle your personal injury auto accident claim yourself. The Nolo Book is much better in my personal opinion. To settle my car accident personal injury claim, I have used a website SettlementCentral.Com (http://www.settlementcentral.com) which helped me a lot. They offer an easy guide to do-it-yourself personal injury claim for automobile accidents, dog bite, and slip and fall personal injury insurance claims. It was easy to follow and they have a very good section on how to write your demand letter. I also bought and read most of the personal injury claims books on Amazon, and I was able to settle my claim without the help of an attorney.

Some good information.
This book was easy to read and had some useful information in it. Two things this book was missing: 1) Example letters. 2) Book was focused on small claims (under 10,000). It also assumed that Premium was the largest claim amount you could get -- didn't take into account long term problems, etc.

If you are wanting help with an auto claim, I would also get "How to Win Your Personal Injury Claim" which is a NOLO book written by an attorney.

Together, these two books will give you a lot of information.

This is a great book!
Because I'm surrounded by lawyers who argue and fight all the time I've read them all. I've always found all the other books on this subject matter to be too long and drawn out. Several of those on the market today are misleading to the point of being a downright "pitch" (a book written by a lawyer and reviewed by a lawyer) to con the reader into securing an attorney to handle their claim. (Question: How do I know that? Answer: Because 34 years ago I was born into a family of lawyers and we're always talking about such "stuff.") We all agree that Auto Accident Personal Injury Insurance Claim is, beyond the shadow of any doubt, the best of its kind on the market today.

Baldyga's book is easy to read, comprehensive and most importantly his outstanding instructions (plus his truly innovative BASE Formula--which absolutely places an accurate value n "pain and suffering") provides one with all the help they need to settle their claim for a much higher amount than they ever expected. I loved it and recommend it highly. (My family of lawyers were stunned by the "inside info"--some of which even they weren't aware of--that Mr. Baldyga has passed along in this fantastic book.) ... Read more

Book Description

For over 25 years, this leading text has helped readers learn how to submit, trace, appeal, and transmit claims for the full range of today's health plans. Its comprehensive coverage also includes important information on diagnostic coding, procedural coding, office and insurance collection strategies, Medicare, Managed Care, and more. The new edition has been reviewed by industry experts and carefully updated to reflect recent changes in the industry - including the addition of special HIPAA Compliance Alerts throughout the book to help readers comply with governmental privacy regulations. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

7th Edition pulls itself into the 21st Century
Having had to wait many weeks for the new, revised 7th Edition I was very pleased to note the improvements made from the 6th Edition. The color examples, universal legend symbols and easy paragraph read for the student are excellent. Another long awaited addition is the expanded Medi-Cal section (applicable to California only). Having been in the industry for 25 year I can say that this is the best Billing book on the market that I have been able to find. The only down side to this book is that it is not written for the "new" biller, but more for an intermediate to experienced biller. As long as the instructor can "dumb down" some of the excellent explanations, students will learn a tremendous amount from this book. I use it in my classroom along with my own material and the students are leaving the class with a well rounded knowledge base. Over all, I am pleased with the new Edition and it's contents.

Lots of info, perhaps too much.
I felt a little bogged down by all the information contained inthis book. It seemed too detailed and included a lot of stuff thatdidn't really apply to just medical insurance (for example thecomplete hypocratic oath which doctors take)! Overall, it was a pretty good book. It would have been a great book if they had cut out about a third or even half of the information. I thought Guide to Medical Billing, by a company called ICDC was much better. A lot of the pertinent data without too much extra. I also liked a book called The Medical Billing Handbook by Jason Cummings.

An excellent overview of the medical billing task.
This is an appropriate text for the medical biller. Although written for the office-based biller, home-based billers will find most (but not all) the information of practical benefit. Used in our homestudy course as a standard text. ... Read more

Book Description

The ART of Risk Management

"This book evidences links and trade-offs between some key drivers of corporate value creation: capital structure, strategic definition of core and noncore risks, risk management retention and transfer, with a valuation of externalization, to achieve an integrated allocation and management of firms capital. From math to legal, it takes us a definite step forward in modern finance." –Jacques Tierny, Deputy CFO, Michelin Group

"For someone like me who has observed the evolution of financial theory and practice over the past twenty years, Culps new book is a really extraordinary undertaking and accomplishment. On one level, it provides a comprehensive–and quite readable–account of the most important financing and risk management innovations in both insurance markets and capital markets. Even more remarkable is its success in fitting these innovative solutions and products into a single, unified theory of financial markets–one that integrates the once largely separate discipline of insurance and risk management with the current theory and practice of corporate finance." –Donald Chew, Editor of Journal of Applied Corporate Finance and a founding partner of Stern Stewart & Co.

"Chris Culp succeeds to cover this multifaceted and somehow fragmented ART market in a holistic way." –Thomas Bruendler, President, Allianz Risk Transfer (UK) Limited

"This is indeed a book about convergence. It is dealing with the latest developments in the insurance and capital markets which blur the boundaries between these two areas. Laying the scientific foundations of ART, it also brings together theory and practice of this innovative field in an unprecedented way. Moreover, Culp looks behind the driving forces of ART and relates them back to their common underlying aspiration, the quest for optimal capital structure." –Paul Woehrmann, PhD, Head of Center of Excellence ART and Member of Executive Management Continental Europe Corporate, Zurich Financial Services

"Culp divulges the true nature of convergence–as art and science, rooted in both traditional theories and forward-looking practices. He demonstrates undeniably that the marriage of the insurance and capital markets, once considered futuristic, is a pragmatic solution for corporations seeking to manage risk, generate capital, and create new value." –Tobey Russ, President & CEO, Chubb Financial Solutions ... Read more

Reviews (3)

For Useless Academics
If you are a practicioner, skip this book. Even academics will find this rehash (and outright clone) of better material a waste of time.

Risk Management Processes
The focus comes from the insurance perpective and covers a niche in risk management that other books do not cover.

Packed with Knowledge!
Finance professional and professor Christopher L. Culp tells all, that is, all about alternate risk transfer (ART) products. Culp discusses corporate finance in detail, covering different types of capital. He sets out the risk control and capital structure functions of various classical and alternative risk transfer steps, such as derivatives targeted at market and credit risk, asset divestiture, insurance and reinsurance. Don't even go here if you aren't already familiar with (or studying) the sophisticated basics of finance, since this is highly technical reading, including numerous formulas, charts and graphs describing financial theories and processes. But if you are an expert, we from getAbstract congratulate you on finding your way to Culp, who aimed his book at the already-savvy: corporate treasurers, financial officers and those who participate in capital markets and the reinsurance industry. ... Read more

Book Description

Praise for InvestmentGuarantees

"In addition to being a valuable and innovative addition to the literature on risk management of equity-linked insurance, this book provides a uniquely clear demonstration of using different measures in a very practical context. A great way of showing actuaries how to ‘mind their Ps and Qs’!"
—Boris Brizeli
Principal and Chief Operations Officer
GE Insource Limited

"This is an extremely well written and comprehensive book which will be useful for both practitioners and graduate students. It provides a unique synthesis of techniques and tools in econometrics, financial engineering, and simulation applied to questions of fundamental importance in insurance."
—Dr. Andrew Cairns
Reader in Financial and Actuarial Mathematics
Heriot-Watt University

"Investment Guarantees will become the reference book of choice for both actuaries and non-actuaries alike working in the field of guarantees associated with equity-linked products. The book provides an excellent balance between theory and practice in the course of contrasting actuarial modeling and option pricing theory as applied to guarantees on equity-linked products."
—Larry M. Gorski
Life Actuary
Illinois Department of Insurance

"Professor Hardy strikes the right balance between theory development and practical demonstration, offering insights to both novices and experienced practitioners.Her comprehensive treatment of risk modeling of investment guarantees will benefit actuaries and financial engineers alike, allowing each to understand better the nature and management of equity exposure. Exceptionally readable, Investment Guarantees is an invaluable resource for insurance and financial professionals working with equity-linked insurance and annuity products."
—Geoffrey H. Hancock
Principal
Mercer Risk, Finance & Insurance Consulting ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Very Helpful
As guarantee products are popping up all over the global banking and insurance markets, it is absolutely essential to ensure that the proper financial values are upheld in order to avoid many of the problems that the North American market has faced. 'Investment Guarantees' does a wonderful job of describing these risks in simple enough terms that the pages can be quoted to both financial and non financial people. A very powerful read for those looking to undersand the value of guarantees that are placed on accumulation type insurance products. ... Read more

Book Description

Reliability, Maintainability and Risk has been updated to ensure that it remains the leading reliability textbook and cementing the book's reputation for staying one step ahead of the competition.

This 6th edition incorporates brand new material on the accuracy of reliability prediction and common cause failure based on the author's PhD research work.David J. Smith approaches these subjects from an entirely original and unique viewpoint, emphasising that the need to demonstrate that safety-related systems have been assessed against target integrity levels is now commonplace in most industries, and the material contained in this book will address these growing needs.

Reliability, Maintainability and Risk has now been established for over 20 years.It deals with all aspects of reliability, maintainability and safety-related failures in a simple and straightforward style, explaining technical terms and jargon and handling the imitations of reliability parameters.It pre-supposes no prior knowledge of the subject - the author deals with numerical data making realistic predictions using the minimum of mathematics.

David J. Smith has written seven successful works on reliability, quality, maintainability, software and statistics and is past Chairman of the Safety and Reliability Society.He has been directly concerned with this branch of engineering in the telecommunications, electronics and oil and gas industries for over 25 years.He is well known for his many courses and workshops on reliability engineering and software quality and is in a unique position to provide much-needed information on a burgeoning subject area.

Readers will be getting brand new and original information that they cannot get from any other title on the subject of Reliability, Maintainability and Risk.

Author is well known and has an excellent track record in this area.He is regarded as highly "readable" and his writing concise and straightforward. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An ideal guide to the field of reliability for engineers.
This is the 5th edition of DJ Smith's excellent book on reliability in the real world. Having worked in this field for a number of years, I can honestly say that Mr. Smith has provided a perfect means of understanding the principles behind basic reliability calculations, in a way that is neither condescending nor unneccesarily complex. I recommend this book in the strongest possible terms to readers interested in gaining a greater understanding of the world of reliability engineering without having to trawl through pages of postgraduate mathematics. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

What a time saver!
I have been putting off a call or visit to the Social Security office with questions about my own benefits. As soon as I opened this book and saw the first chapter about Social Security and all the subtitles, I knew this was a going to be very helpful both for my aging mother and me. The table of contents is so clearly outlined that I was able to access directly the information I needed in a few seconds. No telephone call or visit to a government office was needed. Although I haven't needed information on the other subjects yet, I can see it will be helpful for questions on health care, taxes and Living Wills. This is a great resource-easy to read, easy to understand and very useful. It is a great resource book. I wish I had known about it sooner. I am going to start giving it to my friends for birthday gifts! ... Read more

Book Description

Every industrial nation in the world guarantees their citizens access to essential health care services--every country, that is, except the United States. Indeed, one in eight Americans--a shocking 43 million people--a majority of them in working families, do not have any health care insurance. One Nation, Uninsured offers a vividly written, path-breaking history of America's failed efforts to address the health care needs of its citizens. Ranging across the 20th century, Jill Quadagno shows how each attempt to enact national health insurance was met with fierce attacks by powerful stakeholders, who mobilized their considerable resources to keep the financing of health care out of the government's hands. Quadagno describes how in the first half of the twentieth century physicians led the anti-reform coalition, fearful that government entry would mean government control of the lucrative private health care market. Doctors lobbied legislators, influenced elections by giving large campaign contributions to sympathetic candidates, and organized "grassroots" protests, conspiring with other like-minded groups to defeat reform efforts. Only with Medicare and Medicaid, coverage for the very poor and the old--two groups that private insurers don't want to cover--have we seen any success with government insured health care. Yet even as Medicare succeeded at mid-century and physicians and the AMA receded from the battle's front lines, the insurance industry assumed a leading role against reform.Extending from the Progressive Era to the Clinton years, One Nation, Uninsured offers a sweeping history of the battles over health care. It is an invaluable read for anyone who wonders why our incredibly wealthy country is the only industrial nation that cannot ensure health care for all its citizens. ... Read more

Book Description

Now - the Society of Financial Professionals teams up with tax and estate planning expert Lou Shuntich to bring you a practical new reference guide that is both compact and comprehensive.Concise and to-the-point, this handbook provides the latest industry information on:

· The legal aspects of acquiring and owning a policy

· The types of products and contracts available

· Simple criteria for evaluating and comparing policies and insurance companies

· The tax implications of each product type

· Structuring policies, ownership arrangements and beneficiaries for maximum tax and legal benefits - and tips for avoiding traps and pitfalls in the process

While not an exhaustive account of the industry - it's an excellent primer that covers the key concepts necessary when advising clients or analyzing portfolios and estates.And in keeping with the Society of Financial Professionals' steadfast commitment to providing continuing education to the industry.The Life Insurance Handbook is the perfect learning too for keeping busy financial professionals and their clients up-to-date. ... Read more

Book Description

The best time to plan for trouble—the death of a spouse, the collapse of a business, the loss of your home—is before you’re overwhelmed by it. This is especially important if you have a family or a small business or are beginning to save for your retirement. But what should you do first? In 50 Simple Steps You Can Take to Disaster-Proof Your Finances, money and real estate expert Ilyce Glink walks you step by step through the things you need to do to protect your family and your money so you can survive any crisis. Topics include:

* Getting organized: What do you have and where is it?
* Banking and credit: The credit, accounts, and emergency cash you need
* Travel: Traveling safer—and for less money
* Insurance and health: How to buy the important policies and save
* Investments: Diversifying to help you weather the tough times
* Family matters: Planning for your children’s and aging parents’ futures
* Estate matters: Wills, living wills, and more
* After the disaster: Finding the emergency aid you need

In her friendly and easy-to-understand style, Ilyce Glink shows you how to avoid the ten most common mistakes people make in planning for their future, helps you add up the numbers with simple worksheets, and guides you to the leading websites for more information. With this indispensable guide, you’ll know you’ve done the best you can do for yourself and your loved ones. ... Read more

Book Description

You’ve heard from the rest, now learn from the best—Million Dollar Selling Techniques As the one who provides the vital link between the product or service provider and the customer, you, the sales professional, are the backbone of the modern business enterprise. Now, learn how to take your selling skills to a bold new level of excellence from some of the most successful sales professionals in the world. Based on interviews with members of the prestigious Million Dollar Round Table—the top six percent of the international life insurance sales industry—Million Dollar Selling Techniques features fascinating and instructive "war stories," proven selling strategies and techniques, and step-by-step guidance on:

• Enthusiasm, conviction, and other key psychological factors
• Self-motivation techniques
• 10 common career traps and how to avoid them
• Breaking slumps
• Overcoming call reluctance and fear of self-promotion
• Cold calling and obtaining interviews

Reviews (1)

Very good for beginner
This book is very good for beginner, as it mentions all the basic and foundamental concepts and mindsets in selling. However, as a product of MDRT centre, I am expecting more. I am expecting some more in-depth insights or inspirating ideas for the sales who is in average but wants to increase their business to MDRT level. Frankly specking, I am quite disappointed when I found out that this book contains mainly foundamental concepts which are not distinctive and which I have heard about from other sources (remember, this book is from MDRT centre, not other "average" writers). ... Read more

Book Description

Investment Management for Insurers details all phases of the investment management process for insurers as well as fixed income instruments and derivatives and state-of-the-art analytical tools for valuing securities and measuring risk. Complete coverageincludes: a general overview of issues, fixed income products, valuation, measuring and controlling interest rate risk, and equity portfolio management. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Good Read!
David F. Babbel, a professor of insurance and finance, and Frank. J. Fabozzi, a professor of finance, compiled Investment Management for Insurers, an extensive series of articles (including six they wrote) on managing investments. Various experts contributed the other two-dozen plus articles. The book, which is organized in sections based on major investment management topics, focuses first on general insurance issues, such as risk management and setting up a performance management system for insurers. Subsequent articles cover fixed income products, valuation, equity portfolio management and measuring and controlling interest rate risk. This highly technical book may not be sexy, but it is very sophisticated and fully accessorized with tables, charts, graphs, mathematical formulas and footnotes. Let's be clear: it's a book for pros, an in-depth compilation that we from getAbstract recommend to professional and academic specialists in insurance investment management. ... Read more

Book Description

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the Enron scandal both highlighted the importance of risk management and insurance. Giving particular attention to the market's increased sense of vulnerability and the newest technologies, Risk Management and Insurance provides a clear introduction to the complexities of this field. With chapters on topics such as e-risks and enterprise risk and a focus on connecting each chapter into the bigger picture, Baranoff's approach is to show students how the latest developments and the field's traditional approaches fit together. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Insightful!
This textbook offers a detailed, panoptic view of the field of insurance and risk management. Author Etti G. Baranoff does not seem to promote a philosophical, narrative or analytical point of view on the subject. Instead, she aims to provide students with a dense introduction to the field's bedrock information. Therefore, she presents a vast number of facts related to insurance and risk management, but generally refrains from taking a position on them. This is the sort of book one is assigned as the well-chosen, required text in a course on insurance. The author expertly defines every necessary term and explores every important aspect of the decision to buy or forego insurance, including legal implications, policy variants and alternative products. We suggest that corporate risk managers may want to keep it on their bookshelves for its excellent definitions and its appendices, which offer illustrative excerpts from several different insurance policies. Even those who are not in the risk management business could benefit from some chapters, especially those recommending ways to calculate the appropriate amount of insurance. ... Read more

Book Description

The Professional Review Guide for the CCS-P Examination, 2004 Edition contains:study tips, a comprehensive resource list, a review section with multiple choice coding questions that review a broad range of competencies.This valuable manual also includes coding case studies for coding review for the CCS-P examination, a mock examination that strives to mirror the CCS-P Examination. The mock examination includes 60 multiple choice coding questions reviewing a broad range of competencies, 21 medical record coding cases, 11 outpatient records, 5 Ambulatory surgery, 3 emergency room, 3 other,and 10 inpatient records.The appendices include:Official Guidelines for ICD-9-CM Guidelines for Coding and Reporting, Commonly Administered Drugs, Lab values, and a new listing of updated ICD-9-CM coding changes for 2004Use the book and the Interactive CD-ROM to practice interpreting documentation and applying your clinical knowledge in assigning codes to diagnoses and procedure for a variety of patient settings including: Inpatient, Outpatient surgery, Emergency Room, Physician office, and Long term Care. ... Read more