Convinced that the current retirement plan landscape, featuring traditional defined benefit and defined contribution plans, has serious "shortcomings," the Society of Actuaries (SOA) is looking for ideas for a better system. Up to $100,000 in compensation may be available to pay for good ideas, according to a recent "call for models" announcement by the SOA.

The effort is part of the SOA's "Retirement 20/20" project, described as "a strategic initiative . . . to find new retirement systems that meet the needs of stakeholders better than the existing defined benefit (DB)/defined contribution(DC) models" and "generate a better understanding of how adequate and affordable retirement income can be generated . . . over the next century."

Proposed alternative systems "can assume significant changes in regulatory structure," according to the announcement. SOA has also issued a framework for evaluating proposals. Details on the competition can be found here.