### Frequently asked questions

- Why does a new census appear blank?
- What’s “month-by-month” processing order? Why doesn’t it permit solves?
- Why can’t the death benefit be decreased directly?

##### Why does a new census appear blank?

When you create a new census, it contains one cell with all input fields set to default values. But the census display shows only columns that differ from their defaults, so there’s nothing to show except the `Cell` column.

##### What’s “month-by-month” processing order? Why doesn’t it permit solves?

Normally every cell stands alone, and you run them one after another. It’s like a baton race: only one person runs at a time.

That’s fine as long as no one’s values depend on what happens inside anyone else’s contract. But sometimes all the contracts in a group depend on each other. That happens if fund charges are “tiered” by total case assets. For example, charges may be twenty-five basis points on the first $1,000,000, and fifteen basis points on anything over $1,000,000. The charges in the second month depend on the first month’s total account value for everyone combined. You can’t run each cell independently, one at a time. You must run everyone together, one month at a time. It can’t be a baton race: it has to be a three-legged race.

A three-legged race can be inefficient. Universal life uses monthly processing. That means a lot of values have to be calculated when you run a cell. When you run one cell at a time, `lmi` keeps only the year-end values needed for printing an illustration, and throws the rest away to save space. But everyone’s monthly values have to be kept when you run a whole group one month at a time. With a really large case, your computer may not have room for all those numbers.

Here’s another complication. The first contract processed in some month might make the case’s assets cross from one tier into another. That affects other contracts processed later in the same month. `lmi` runs everyone in the order shown in the census. If you change that order, you get different results. The same thing happens in administration, too.

Running a group month by month also makes solves hard. Suppose you want to solve for level premium to endow. Running one cell at a time, it’s easy. Try one premium. If the contract doesn’t endow, try another. You’ve probably done this by hand, although the computer can do it faster. But you can’t isolate one contract and run its values to maturity if they depend on the values of all other contracts. You have to run them all together. Imagine doing that by hand. That’s what makes solves hard. If an approximation is good enough, run solves one cell at a time.

##### Why can’t the death benefit be decreased directly?

You can set the specified amount directly. The death benefit may be different—for instance, because of the corridor.

Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 Gregory W. Chicares. This program, including its documentation, is free software. Read the terms under which you can redistribute and modify it.

Maintained by Gregory W. Chicares. The latest version of this file can be found at the `lmi` website.