Postretirement Benefit Plans

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2016

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

The following tables present a summary of post-retirement benefit costs by component.

Components of Post-Retirement Benefit Costs



	Three Months Ended June 30,
	Pension Benefits						Other Benefits
	2016			2015			2016		2015
Service cost	$	3,894		$	3,991		$	—	$	—
Interest cost	5,432			5,004			212		204
Expected return on assets	(5,782		)	(5,323		)	—		—
Amortization:
Prior service cost	120			82			—		—
Actuarial (gain) loss	2,423			3,534			8		37
Direct recognition of expense	—			—			20		151
Net periodic benefit cost	$	6,087		$	7,288		$	240	$	392

	Six Months Ended June 30,
	Pension Benefits						Other Benefits
	2016			2015			2016		2015
Service cost	$	7,788		$	7,981		$	—	$	—
Interest cost	10,864			10,006			424		407
Expected return on assets	(11,564		)	(10,646		)	—		—
Amortization:
Prior service cost	240			163			—		—
Actuarial (gain)/loss	4,847			7,068			16		60
Direct recognition of expense	—			—			54		327
Net periodic benefit cost	$	12,175		$	14,572		$	494	$	794

The following table presents assets at fair value for the defined-benefit pension plans at June 30, 2016 and the prior-year end.

Pension Assets by Component



	June 30, 2016			December 31, 2015
	Amount		%	Amount		%
Corporate debt	$	156,603	48	$	146,381	47
Other fixed maturities	281		—	270		—
Equity securities	124,419		38	123,428		40
Short-term investments	22,540		7	15,593		5
Guaranteed annuity contract	17,313		5	17,082		6
Other	5,593		2	4,842		2
Total	$	326,749	100	$	307,596	100

The liability for the funded defined-benefit pension plans was $412 million at June 30, 2016 and $406 million at December 31, 2015. During the six months ended June 30, 2016, the Company made $12 million in cash contributions to the qualified pension plans. Torchmark expects to make total cash contributions to these plans during 2016 in an amount not to exceed $20 million. With respect to the Company’s non-qualified supplemental retirement plan, life insurance policies on the lives of plan participants have been established with an unaffiliated carrier to fund a portion of the Company’s obligations under the plan. These policies, as well as investments deposited with an unaffiliated trustee, were previously placed in a Rabbi Trust to provide for payment of the plan obligations. At June 30, 2016, the combined value of the insurance policies and investments in the Rabbi Trust to support plan liabilities were $84 million, compared with $79 million at year end 2015. Since this plan is non-qualified, the values of the insurance policies and investments are recorded as Other assets in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets and are not included in the chart of plan assets above. The liability for the non-qualified pension plan was $69 million at June 30, 2016 and $67 million at December 31, 2015.