Definition
The claim framework is the structural vocabulary of the Longevity Standard analytical system, consisting of four properties — risk sharing, adjustment mechanism, liquidity, and cost structure — that together characterize any lifetime income arrangement and complement the cost-of-income framework's quantitative comparison.
Why it matters
The cost-of-income framework produces a quantitative finding: how many dollars of capital are required to produce a dollar of lifetime income under one arrangement versus another. That finding answers what the claim costs but does not by itself describe what kind of claim is being costed. Without a structural vocabulary that runs alongside the cost-of-income comparison, the quantitative finding is interpretable only against the specific arrangement that produced it, not portable across categories. The claim framework supplies that structural vocabulary. The two frameworks together — structural and quantitative — make every lifetime income arrangement evaluable on commensurate axes regardless of how it is packaged commercially.
How it works
The claim framework consists of four properties applied uniformly to every arrangement. Risk sharing — who bears the longevity risk — takes the values none, pooled, transferred, or hybrid. Adjustment mechanism — what changes when conditions change and who controls the change — takes the values automatic-actuarial, fixed-contractual, discretionary, or manual-individual. Liquidity — what rights the participant retains over the underlying capital — takes the values full, partial, conditional, or none. Cost structure — how costs are charged and how transparent they are — takes the values none, explicit fee, embedded spread, crediting parameter drag, or guarantee charge. The four properties are independent: any combination is structurally possible, and observed product categories occupy specific combinations of values that the framework names directly. The framework's output is the claim profile — the structured block that records the value of each property for a specific arrangement.
In practice
The claim framework is used identically across all Longevity Standard deliverables — glossary entries, scenario library tools, sponsor briefs, commercial engagements, and any analytical work that characterizes a specific arrangement. The structural pair — risk sharing and adjustment mechanism — describes how the claim works mechanically. The experiential pair — liquidity and cost structure — describes what the claim means for the participant commercially. Sponsors and fiduciaries tend to weight the structural pair more heavily because their evaluation is about whether the arrangement works as a structure; participants tend to weight the experiential pair more heavily because their experience is shaped by what they can access and what they pay. Both audiences need all four. The framework is the same in either case; what varies is which properties get emphasis in the framing.
In the Longevity Standard Framework
The claim framework is the structural-property half of the Longevity Standard analytical system, paired with the cost-of-income framework as the quantitative half. Together they organize all Longevity Standard analytical work: the claim framework characterizes what kind of claim an arrangement is; the cost-of-income framework measures what the claim costs; realized value measures what fraction of the theoretical benefit it delivers. The four properties — risk sharing, adjustment mechanism, liquidity, cost structure — together characterize any lifetime income arrangement structurally. The framework is intentionally minimal: four properties is what is necessary to produce a structural fingerprint that explains the framework's cost-of-income findings, predicts stress response, and remains durable across every arrangement from solo drawdown to the most complex variable annuity.
Related terms
- Claim
- Claim profile
- Risk sharing
- Adjustment mechanism
- Liquidity
- Cost structure
- Cost of income
- Realized value
- Frictionless pool
- Solo drawdown