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General interest | Pandemic updates

How different states have experienced COVID-19 through December 31, 2023

This is an update of our analysis of state-level excess mortality data up to December 31, 2023 (data available as at February 27, 2024). COVID-19 deaths persist, but total deaths have dropped to levels broadly in line with pre-pandemic trends. Has society now adjusted to living with the virus as part of everyday life?

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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 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

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 20-10: COVID-19 compared to other leading causes of death

In this edition of Top Charts, Erik Pickett examines how the numbers of COVID-19 deaths compare to other leading causes of death in the UK, US and Canada.

30 October 2020

General interest | VitaMins

VitaMins: Representativeness of data

With most of the world still in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic, much attention is now focused on the development of a safe and effective vaccine. Never in our memories have clinical trials received so many column inches and the subject of representativeness of sample data is top of many minds.

6 October 2020

Opinion & experiences | Behavioral economics blogs

As-if thinking – does Batman use Zoom?

In his latest blog, Erik Pickett looks how his former life as a street performer has helped him in his professional life, and asks, does the same experience still help in the age of Zoom?

15 September 2020

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 20-08: Life expectancy doesn’t tell the whole story

In this edition of Top Charts, Erik Pickett explains why there's more than meets the eye when it comes to life expectancy.

28 August 2020

General interest | Pandemic updates

How different American states have experienced COVID-19 so far

In this article Erik Pickett and Dan Reddy explore how COVID-19 is being experienced differently across the different states of America.

21 August 2020

Opinion & experiences | Behavioral economics blogs

The survivorship bias – who’s left?

In his latest blog on cognitive biases affecting the actuarial world, Erik Pickett looks at the survivorship bias: the tendency to assume subjects that made it through a survival process are typical of the group that began the process.

7 July 2020

General interest | VitaMins

VitaMins Health: Mental health – looking after body and mind

It is widely accepted that the mind and body are closely interlinked. In this article we look at the link between mental and physical health patterns and how these may influence future longevity trends.

18 June 2020

Business updates | Press releases

Club Vita Appoints Jennifer Haid CEO of International Team

Club Vita, the international leader in longevity data analytics, today announced that Jennifer Haid has joined Club Vita’s international team as Chief Executive Officer.

16 June 2020

Business updates | Press releases

Club Vita to Provide Longevity Analytics through ProVal

Club Vita, the international leader in longevity analytics, today announced an integration partnership with WinTech, a leader in retirement valuation and administration software.

3 June 2020

Research & technical | Research & technical notes

Public vs Private - Is there a sector effect in post-retirement mortality?

In this paper we show there is significant diversity of longevity experience for pension plans within both the public and private sectors in both the UK and Canada.

22 May 2020