Acknowledgments

I like the term acknowledgments because it encompasses so much more than just saying “thank you” to a lot of people who helped me write this book. In fact, while I am filled with gratitude for the many who helped me in such a variety of ways, I also want to give credit, appreciation, and acknowledgment to how difficult the process has been on some of those who are closest to me.

First, foremost, and above all is my wife Tali. When I met Tali, I was a very narrowly focused career-oriented actuary with a very specific plan and a singular path to follow. She opened my mind and opened my heart to all the wonderful possibilities that the future could embrace. More than anyone, she is the one who taught me to imagine the future, to look within myself for what I most value and to have the faith that others might want to hear what I have to say. Throughout this process she has been a rock I could lean on, a confidante to share my doubts with, and a compass to help guide me toward my destination.

While Tali was my inspiration, there were many others without whom this book would not exist. Most important of those is Steve Piersanti and his entire Berrett-Koehler team including my good friend Maria Jesus Aguilo, who felt my book belonged at BK and introduced me to Steve. The encouragement and support that Berrett-Koehler provided me as a first time author was simply incredible, and many times I wondered why such a company would risk spending so much time and attention on an “untested” product like myself. I only hope I can prove their investment was worthwhile and that their “Present Value” analysis was correct.

Many of my closest friends and family helped me write this book. Among the earliest and most important was Jerry Sontag, a friend who believed in me from the beginning and whose offer to publish the book himself, gave me the confidence to keep going whenever I had doubts about the worthiness of the project or my ability to complete it.

My parents Lee and Sydney Neuwirth, my son Adam, my sister Bebe Neuwirth, and her husband Chris Calkins have been steadfast in their support, love, and encouragement from before the beginning. More than just cheerleaders, they provided real and tangible help at many key points along the way.

I want to express special gratitude to my friend and former partner James Kenney who read every word of almost every draft from the perspective of an actuary, a friend, a business coach, and a prospective reader. Other close friends and colleagues who read drafts and provided both substantive and moral support included Henry Hecht, Rachel Durling, Gail Kurtz, Joel Ben-Izzy, Lucy Kaplan, Richard Ross, Eric Baum, Lorelei Sontag, Barry Sacks, and Alon Shalev.

In addition to James Kenney, I want to thank two other actuaries, Derek Cushman and Alan Glickstein, who provided a close reading of my work to make sure I wasn’t misrepresenting the profession or making any technical mistakes.

I am also indebted to Steve Vernon, whose five great books showed me that actuaries can be writers, too, and who was incredibly generous with his time and advice on how to actually turn my ramblings into a coherent and potentially useful book.

To those who appear in the book—Mordecai Schwartz, Elise Pelke, Bob Walter, David McLeish, Andy Abel, Tad Verney, Bill Bossi, Charlie DeWeese, Gene Wickes, and Steve Vernon—I want to say thank you for allowing me to tell your stories. Not all of you were my teachers, but I learned something important about Present Value from each and every one of you.

Sadly, I can no longer ask Rob Frohlich for permission to tell his story. However, to his sister Margaret Pearcy I want to express gratitude for letting me share some of my memories of your remarkable brother.

I am also grateful to my employer, Towers Watson, for trusting that I would come up with something worthwhile as I was writing, and then throwing their support behind the project (particularly the senior leadership of the retirement practice as well as David Popper, Torry Dell, and Kathy Kibbe). I truly believe that there is no better firm for an actuary to work at than Towers Watson.

Finally I want to acknowledge the actuarial profession itself. For thirty-five years I have had the pleasure to work in a field where integrity, insight, mutual respect, and thoughtfulness are the norm. I feel proud to be an actuary, and that, more than anything is why you are reading these words today.