Reinsurance (Product information) (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
Life Insurance [Member]
Reinsurance
Reinsurance percentage of death benefit liability	90.00%
Maximum amount of life insurance risk retained by the entity on a single life	$ 10,000,000
Maximum amount of survivorship life policy risk retained by entity	10,000,000
Maximum amount of survivorship life policy risk retained by entity, net of reinsured amounts	1,500,000
Amount of traditional life and universal life insurance in force aggregated	195,500,000,000	194,100,000,000
Amount of life insurance reinsured at year end	143,400,000,000	142,100,000,000
IUL and VUL
Reinsurance
Reinsurance percentage of death benefit liability	50.00%
TrioSource UL insurance [Member]
Reinsurance
Reinsurance percentage of death benefit liability	50.00%
LTC [Member]
Reinsurance
Reinsurance percentage of death benefit liability	50.00%
DI [Member]
Reinsurance
Maximum amount of life insurance risk retained by the entity on a single life	$ 5,000

Represents the amount of traditional life and universal life insurance in force.

No definition available.

Represents the amount of traditional life and universal life insurance in force that was reinsured at year end.

No definition available.

Name:	amp_LifeInsuranceReinsuredAmount
Namespace Prefix:	amp_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

Represents the maximum amount of life insurance risk retained by the entity on any flexible premium survivorship life policy.

No definition available.

Name:	amp_MaximumAmountOfSurvivorshipLifePolicyRiskRetainedByEntity
Namespace Prefix:	amp_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

Maximum amount of survivorship life policy risk retained by entity, net of reinsured amounts

No definition available.

Name:	amp_Maximumamountofsurvivorshiplifepolicyriskretainedbyentitynetofreinsuredamounts
Namespace Prefix:	amp_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

Name:	us-gaap_ReinsurancePremiumsForInsuranceCompaniesByProductSegmentLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

Stated amount that is the upper retention limit per entity policy.

No definition available.

Name:	us-gaap_ReinsuranceRetentionPolicyAmountRetained
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

Percentage of risk reinsured on insurance products per entity policy.

No definition available.

Name:	us-gaap_ReinsuranceRetentionPolicyReinsuredRiskPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

Name:	us-gaap_ReinsurancePremiumsForInsuranceCompaniesByProductSegmentAxis=amp_DisabilityIncomeSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

Name:	us-gaap_ReinsurancePremiumsForInsuranceCompaniesByProductSegmentAxis=amp_IndexedUniversalLifeandVariableUniversalLifeMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

Name:	us-gaap_ReinsurancePremiumsForInsuranceCompaniesByProductSegmentAxis=amp_LongTermCareSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

Name:	us-gaap_ReinsurancePremiumsForInsuranceCompaniesByProductSegmentAxis=amp_TrioSourceULinsuranceMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

Name:	us-gaap_ReinsurancePremiumsForInsuranceCompaniesByProductSegmentAxis=us-gaap_LifeInsuranceSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: