Drawing on the authors’ extensive experience as actuaries, this work, originally published in 1987, provides a thorough examination of the problems which had arisen, and those that seemed likely to arise, with regard to both public and private pension funds at the time. It ranges in scope from the realities of individual plans and schemes devised by employers and employees to the management of pension funds and investment portfolios. The concept of socially responsible investment is discussed.

Reliable statistical information on the health, age and occupation of the population is an important tool in planning pension schemes for both the public and private sectors, and this book includes a careful analysis of the available data, leading to many useful projections for the thirty to forty years which followed. Although the statistical information is derived from UK sources, the problems it relates to, and its analysis was applicable to pension planning in all developed countries

The breadth of the authors’ approach, fully embracing the apprehension at the time about the demands of an increasingly ageing population and a partially unemployed workforce, would give this book added interest to a wide range of academics and professionals in financial institutions, government and the social services. Today it can be read in its historical context.