Postretirement Benefit Plans

9 Months Ended

Sep. 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 September 30,
	Pension Benefits						Other Benefits
	2016			2015			2016		2015
Service cost	$	3,894		$	3,990		$	—	$	—
Interest cost	5,430			5,003			212		203
Expected return on assets	(5,782		)	(5,323		)	—		—
Amortization:
Prior service cost	120			81			—		—
Actuarial (gain) loss	2,423			3,533			8		30
Direct recognition of expense	—			—			45		166
Net periodic benefit cost	$	6,085		$	7,284		$	265	$	399

	Nine Months Ended September 30,
	Pension Benefits						Other Benefits
	2016			2015			2016		2015
Service cost	$	11,682		$	11,971		$	—	$	—
Interest cost	16,294			15,009			636		610
Expected return on assets	(17,346		)	(15,969		)	—		—
Amortization:
Prior service cost	360			244			—		—
Actuarial (gain)/loss	7,270			10,601			24		90
Direct recognition of expense	—			—			99		493
Net periodic benefit cost	$	18,260		$	21,856		$	759	$	1,193

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

Pension Assets by Component



	September 30, 2016			December 31, 2015
	Amount		%	Amount		%
Corporate debt	$	171,896	52	$	146,381	47
Other fixed maturities	276		—	270		—
Equity securities	127,708		39	123,428		40
Short-term investments	4,811		1	15,593		5
Guaranteed annuity contract	17,426		5	17,082		6
Other	8,287		3	4,842		2
Total	$	330,404	100	$	307,596	100

The liability for the funded defined-benefit pension plans was $416 million at September 30, 2016 and $406 million at December 31, 2015. During the nine months ended September 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 and investments deposited with an unaffiliated trustee were previously placed in a Rabbi Trust to provide for payment of the plan obligations. At September 30, 2016, the combined value of the insurance policies and investments in the Rabbi Trust to support plan liabilities were $87 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 September 30, 2016 and $67 million at December 31, 2015.