York Schulich School of Business Professor Moshe Milevsky has won a prestigious ASBPE gold award for two columns he penned about annuities.
The American Society of Business Publication Editors’ Azbees ASBPE Awards of Excellence recognizes the best in editorial, design and online achievement.
The two winning columns – “Milevsky’s Tales from Annuity History: A Most Curious Will(iam)” and “Milevsky: Mispricing Annuities, Then and Now” – were written for the Annuity analytics column in Research Magazine in the fall of 2013.
“The first piece was about a financial instrument called a tontine annuity, which were quite popular in the 17th and 18th century and it appears that even Shakespeare owned one. The second article was on pricing mistakes made by the British government issuing life annuities to fund the national debt in the 18th century,” says Milevsky.
“The common thread in both articles is that financial advisors and practitioners in the 21st century can actually learn something valuable and interesting from economic decisions investors made – as well as the financial products that were available – a few centuries ago.”
Milevsky is working on a forthcoming book, tentatively titled King William’s Tontine: Why the Retirement Annuity of the Future Should Resemble It’s Past, that will expand on the theme of “personal finance decisions over the ages”. It’s expected to be published in 2015 by Cambridge University Press.
As for the award, Milevsky says, “It’s gratifying to get recognition from real-world business editors for work that is relatively academic in nature and for writing that looks backward instead of forward.”
At the moment, he says there is a small audience around the world of highly specialized researchers who care about and/or are passionate about these matters. With the award in hand, Milevsky is hoping the subject matter will reach and interest a wider audience. After all, the judges do look for quality of writing, reporting and editing; development of the subject; presentation; as well as value to readers in choosing the winning pieces.
Milevsky is the author of several books, including Are You a Stock or a Bond?: Identify Your Own Human Capital for a Secure Financial Future, The 7 Most Important Equations for your Retirement – The Fascinating People and Ideas Behind Planning Your Retirement Income and Life Annuities: An Optimal Product for Retirement Income.