Reinsurance (Product information) (Details)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) agreement	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)
Reinsurance Retention Policy [Line Items]
Maximum amount of life policy risk retained by entity, net of reinsured amounts	$ 1,500,000
Life Insurance [Member]
Reinsurance Retention Policy [Line Items]
Percentage of risk reinsured	90.00%
Reinsurance
Traditional Life and UL insurance in force, gross	$ 196,500,000,000	$ 196,300,000,000
Traditional Life and UL insurance in force, reinsured	$ 142,400,000,000	$ 144,200,000,000
IUL and VUL
Reinsurance Retention Policy [Line Items]
Percentage of risk reinsured	50.00%
TrioSource UL insurance [Member]
Reinsurance Retention Policy [Line Items]
Percentage of risk reinsured	50.00%
Single Life Insurance [Member]
Reinsurance Retention Policy [Line Items]
Maximum amount of life insurance risk retained by the entity	$ 10,000,000
Flexible Premium Survivorship Life Insurance [Member]
Reinsurance Retention Policy [Line Items]
Maximum amount of life insurance risk retained by the entity	$ 10,000,000
LTC [Member]
Reinsurance Retention Policy [Line Items]
Percentage of risk reinsured	50.00%
DI [Member]
Reinsurance Retention Policy [Line Items]
Maximum amount of life insurance risk retained by the entity	$ 5,000
Property and Casualty [Member]
Reinsurance Retention Policy [Line Items]
Maximum amount of life insurance risk retained by the entity	$ 750,000
Number of types of reinsurance agreements \| agreement	3
Maximum recovery per loss by entity	$ 5,000,000
Catastrophe reinsurance loss recovery per event by entity	180,000,000
Maximum amount of auto and home catastrophe insurance risk retained by entity per event	$ 20,000,000
Percentage of personal umbrella, loss ceded	80.00%
Maximum personal umbrella, recovery	$ 5,000,000

Represents the maximum amount of recovery for catastrophe insurance per event.

No definition available.

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

- Definition

Represents the maximum amount of auto and home catastrophe insurance risk retained by the entity per event.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Definition

Represents the maximum amount of recovery for personal umbrella insurance per loss.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Definition

Represents the maximum amount of recovery for auto and home insurance products per loss.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Definition

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

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Definition

Represents the number of types of reinsurance agreements with unaffiliated reinsurance companies to reinsure a portion of risk associated with personal auto, home and umbrella insurance products.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	amp_NumberOfTypesOfReinsuranceAgreements
Namespace Prefix:	amp_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Represents the percentage of every personal umbrella loss ceded.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	amp_PercentageOfPersonalUmbrellaLossCeded
Namespace Prefix:	amp_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of life insurance issued and outstanding ceded to other entities. Includes, but not limited to, dividends and adjustments to face value.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 944
-SubTopic 235
-Section S99
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (SX 210.12-17)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=34713774&loc=d3e574992-122915

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LifeInsuranceInForceCeded
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount before contracts ceded to other entities and contracts assumed by the entity of life insurance issued and outstanding. Includes, but not limited to, dividends and adjustments to face value.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LifeInsuranceInForceGross
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- References

+ Details

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

- Definition

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

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Definition

Percentage of risk reinsured on insurance products per entity policy.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Details

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

- Details

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

- Details

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

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ReinsurancePolicyTypeAxis=amp_SingleLifeInsuranceMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ReinsurancePolicyTypeAxis=amp_FlexiblePremiumSurvivorshipLifeInsuranceMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ReinsurancePolicyTypeAxis=amp_LongtermcareinsuranceMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ReinsurancePolicyTypeAxis=us-gaap_DisabilityInsurancePolicyMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ReinsurancePolicyTypeAxis=us-gaap_PropertyAndCasualtyPersonalInsuranceProductLineMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: