Skip to content
Register Sign in Wishlist

King William's Tontine
Why the Retirement Annuity of the Future Should Resemble its Past

$42.99 (P)

Award Winner
  • Date Published: November 2017
  • availability: Available
  • format: Paperback
  • isbn: 9781107430754

$ 42.99 (P)
Paperback

Add to cart Add to wishlist

Other available formats:
Hardback, eBook


Looking for an examination copy?

If you are interested in the title for your course we can consider offering an examination copy. To register your interest please contact collegesales@cambridge.org providing details of the course you are teaching.

Description
Product filter button
Description
Contents
Resources
Courses
About the Authors
  • In a time before bonds, treasury notes, or central banks, there were tontines. These were schemes in which a group of investors lent money to a government, corporation, or king, similar to a modern-day loan syndicate. But unlike conventional debt, periodic interest payments were distributed only to survivors. As tontine nominees died, the income of survivors correspondingly increased. Morbid, perhaps, but this was one of the earliest forms of longevity insurance in which the pool shared the risk. Moshe Milevsky tells the story of the first tontine issued by the English government in 1693, known as King William's tontine, intended to finance the war against French King Louis XIV. He explains how tontines work, the financial and economic thinking behind them, as well as why they fell into disrepute. Milevsky concludes with a provocative argument that suitably modified tontines should be resurrected for twenty-first century retirement income planning.

    • Offers a recommendation for how life annuities can be redesigned to be more transparent, more efficient and more popular
    • Tells the story of an intriguing financial product called a tontine, which was quite popular a few centuries ago in England and Europe
    • Combines economic history, actuarial science and finance in a readable manner
    Read more

    Awards

    • Winner, 2017 Kulp-Wright Book Award, American Risk and Insurance Association

    Reviews & endorsements

    'King William's Tontine entertains and, by asking why retirees should not be paid handsomely for bearing a little actuarial risk, informs our response to the looming retirement crisis in a way that no other book does. It should be read - with pleasure - by anyone with a personal or policy interest in this vital area.'
    William J. Bernstein, CFA Institute Book Reviews

    'King William's Tontine is an excellent read and a model for the clear exposition of a difficult and little-known subject. Financial history buffs will particularly enjoy the first half of the book, and economists interested in retirement finance will want to engage with the chapters in which the author presents his own proposal. This is a book that should grace the shelves of many libraries. Its proposals are definitely worthy of serious consideration by anyone or any institution concerned with retirement finance.'
    The Journal of Retirement

    'This is a fascinating book. Perhaps a good sub-title would be 'Everything you wanted to know about tontines but were afraid to ask' … A well-written and well-paced read, I recommend it.' David Pollard, Trust Law International

    '… clearly and patiently explained …' Richard Sutch, The Journal of Economic History

    'When all is said and done King William's Tontine is a well‐written, exceptionally well researched, easily comprehendible, entertaining and insightful romp through the history of tontines. Policymakers, academics, actuaries, financial professionals, and students alike all can enjoy this Milevsky book, without the need for or burden of heavily detailed mathematical formulae and/or proofs - which certainly is a welcome, deep breath of fresh air lost in most academic works today. God save King Billy's tontine!' William L. Ferguson, The Journal of Risk and Insurance

    See more reviews

    Customer reviews

    Not yet reviewed

    Be the first to review

    Review was not posted due to profanity

    ×

    , create a review

    (If you're not , sign out)

    Please enter the right captcha value
    Please enter a star rating.
    Your review must be a minimum of 12 words.

    How do you rate this item?

    ×

    Product details

    • Date Published: November 2017
    • format: Paperback
    • isbn: 9781107430754
    • length: 273 pages
    • dimensions: 230 x 154 x 16 mm
    • weight: 0.43kg
    • contains: 15 b/w illus.
    • availability: Available
  • Table of Contents

    1. King Billy, Protestant hero of England
    2. Tontine's economic origins: cheaper debt
    3. A most curious Will(iam) and older than you think
    4. The million act to fight a war against France
    5. Don't Englishmen die? Anti-selection vs fraud
    6. Is your tontine a stock or a bond?
    7. Optimal tontine: hedging (some) longevity risk
    8. Conclusion: tontines for the twenty-first century.

  • Author

    Moshe A. Milevsky, York University, Toronto
    Moshe A. Milevsky is a Professor at the Schulich School of Business at York University, Toronto and Executive Director of the nonprofit IFID Centre at the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematics in Toronto. He is also Managing Director of the Pi Longevity Extension (PiLE) Corporation, which is focused on helping pension funds, endowments and individuals extend the longevity of their investment portfolios. In 2005 he founded the software company, QWeMA Group, which he recently sold to CANNEX Financial Exchanges. He has published over sixty peer-reviewed articles, hundreds of newspaper and magazine columns, and is currently on the editorial board of numerous academic journals. This is his twelfth book.

    Awards

    • Winner, 2017 Kulp-Wright Book Award, American Risk and Insurance Association

Related Books

also by this author

Sorry, this resource is locked

Please register or sign in to request access. If you are having problems accessing these resources please email lecturers@cambridge.org

Register Sign in
Please note that this file is password protected. You will be asked to input your password on the next screen.

» Proceed

You are now leaving the Cambridge University Press website. Your eBook purchase and download will be completed by our partner www.ebooks.com. Please see the permission section of the www.ebooks.com catalogue page for details of the print & copy limits on our eBooks.

Continue ×

Continue ×

Continue ×
warning icon

Turn stock notifications on?

You must be signed in to your Cambridge account to turn product stock notifications on or off.

Sign in Create a Cambridge account arrow icon
×

Find content that relates to you

Join us online

This site uses cookies to improve your experience. Read more Close

Are you sure you want to delete your account?

This cannot be undone.

Cancel

Thank you for your feedback which will help us improve our service.

If you requested a response, we will make sure to get back to you shortly.

×
Please fill in the required fields in your feedback submission.
×