The Joint & Survivor Annuities topic of annuity factor components allows you to define the annuity as based on the joint lives of the member and beneficiary. If desired, you may also define the annuity as a blending of a J&S annuity and a life annuity, and you may specify that an assumed, rather than actual, beneficiary age will be used for the annuity factor determination.  These latter options might be appropriate for a plan's actuarial equivalence calculations when the normal form of payment is a J&S annuity. 

The beneficiary mortality rates default to <none>, which indicates that the annuity is based on a single life only.  The other J&S parameters are inaccessible when beneficiary mortality rates are <none>. When you select a beneficiary mortality rate table from the list of tables in the current project, the remaining parameters become accessible.  The contingent annuitant’s mortality table need not be same as the primary annuitant’s mortality table; in particular, the tables may differ with respect to the sex dimension. If they are unisex and the same, with no age set back applied, then the resultant annuity values will also be unisex. Otherwise, the resultant values generally will be sex-distinct, regardless of whether you specified a unisex or sex-distinct table type to contain your annuity values.

The Fraction of Joint & Survivor benefit received when: parameters are used to describe joint and survivor payment forms. Each value may be entered as either a numeric value or a Plan Constant.  

Both member and beneficiary are alive, typically set to either 1 or 0, indicates the fraction of the annuity benefit payable when both potential payees are alive,  If set to 1, the full benefit is payable.  If set to 0, the annuity is a reversionary annuity with a benefit payable only after a death.

Only the member is alive indicates the fraction of the benefit payable after the beneficiary has died.  If set to 1, the annuity is a joint & contingent survivor annuity, where the benefit only reduces on the member death. If set to 0, the annuity is either a reversionary annuity payable to beneficiary on the member's death, or an annuity that is only payable during the joint lives of the member and beneficiary.  If set to some fraction in between, the annuity is a true joint & survivor annuity that reduces on either death.  

Only the beneficiary is alive indicates the fraction of the benefit payable after the member has died.  This may be 0.5, for example, for a 50% contingent joint & survivor annuity, or 1 if the full benefit continues to the beneficiary.  

Some typical parameterizations are:

• If 1, 1 and 0.5 are entered, respectively, this is a 50% joint & contingent survivor annuity, i.e., 1 paid when the member is alive and 0.5 paid when only the beneficiary is alive.

If 1, 0.5 and 0.5 are entered, respectively, this is a true 50% joint & survivor annuity, reducing to 50% on the death of either the member or the beneficiary

• If 1, 0 and 0 are entered, respectively, annuity payments are made only during the joint lifetime, ceasing on the first death.

If 0, 0 and 1 are entered, respectively, this is a reversionary form with payments made only to the beneficiary after the death of the member.

The Fraction of population receiving J&S: (blends the J&S and life annuity factors) parameter allows you to create an annuity factor (typically only for members with beneficiaries) that is a weighted average of a joint & survivor annuity and a single life annuity, where the weighting varies for male and female members. The parameter is designed to allow you to value a joint & survivor normal form annuity for married participants but single life annuity for unmarried participants, where the marriage assumption may differ between males and females. Enter the fraction for male members and female members as a number between 0 (none receiving a J&S annuity) and 1 (all receiving a J&S annuity). When the fraction is less than 1, some members are valued as receiving a single life annuity and ProAdmin blends the J&S and life annuity factors (not the underlying mortality rates). Note that, unless the Use assumed age instead of beneficiary date of birth checkbox is checked, this parameter will blend annuity factors only for members with beneficiaries; members without beneficiaries will always be valued with a single life annuity using the Only the member is alive fraction.

The Use assumed age instead of beneficiary date of birth checkbox allows you to create joint & survivor annuity factors based on a marriage assumption instead of the actual marital status. When unchecked, the beneficiary's date of birth, as specified in the referenced Age Definition, is used.  If there is no beneficiary, the member is assumed to be single and a single life annuity factor is calculated. When checked, the member is always assumed to be married and the assumed beneficiary age is specified either as based on the Number of years husband is older than wife, or as Age 65 + form beneficiary age - form member age.

If Number of years husband is older than wife is selected, the beneficiary's age for the annuity calculation is the member's age plus the “age setback” specified.  The value will be negative if the wife is assumed to be older than the husband, and the value can be different for Male members than it is for Female members. If a decimal setback is entered, the age is calculated as years+(months/12)+(days/365.25). Note that in this scenario the beneficiary is always assumed to be the opposite sex of the member; the Census Specifications beneficiary age and sex are both ignored.

If Age 65 + form beneficiary age - form member age is selected, the beneficiary's age is assumed to be age 65 (e.g., normal retirement age) plus the difference between the beneficiary's actual age and the member's actual age (per the date of birth field referenced in the Age Definition). Note that this choice is typically associated with a static assumed member annuity age (e.g., 62), which is accomplished by setting the oldest and youngest recognized ages to 62.