Consolidated Investment Entities (Details 5) (Consolidated Investment Entities., USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	Jun. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010
Consolidated Investment Entities.
Debt and stated interest rates
Debt of consolidated CDOs due 2012-2021, carrying value	$ 5,234	$ 5,171
Floating rate revolving credit borrowings due 2014, carrying value	419	329
Floating rate revolving credit borrowings due 2015, carrying value	49	35
Total carrying value of debt	$ 5,702	$ 5,535
Debt of consolidated CDOs due 2012-2021, stated interest rate (as a percent)	0.90%	1.00%
Floating rate revolving credit borrowings due 2014, weighted average interest rate (as a percent)	5.40%	5.60%
Floating rate revolving credit borrowings due 2015, weighted average interest rate (as a percent)	4.50%	5.20%

This element represents amount of debt maturing in 2012-2021.

Name:	amp_DebtOfConsolidatedCDOsMaturingIn2012To2021
Namespace Prefix:	amp
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

This element represents stated interest rate of debt maturing in 2012-2021.

+ Details

Name:	amp_DebtOfConsolidatedCDOsMaturingIn2012To2021StatedInterestRate
Namespace Prefix:	amp
Data Type:	us-types:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

This element represents amount of floating interest credit borrowings maturing in 2014.

+ Details

Name:	amp_FloatingRateBorrowingDue2014
Namespace Prefix:	amp
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

This element represents weighted average interest rate of floating interest credit borrowings maturing in 2014.

+ Details

Name:	amp_FloatingRateBorrowingDue2014WeightedAverageInterestRate
Namespace Prefix:	amp
Data Type:	us-types:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

This element represents amount of floating interest credit borrowings maturing in 2015.

+ Details

Name:	amp_FloatingRateBorrowingDue2015
Namespace Prefix:	amp
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

This element represents weighted average interest rate of floating interest credit borrowings maturing in 2015.

+ Details

Name:	amp_FloatingRateBorrowingDue2015WeightedAverageInterestRate
Namespace Prefix:	amp
Data Type:	us-types:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

This element represents amount of total debt towards consolidated investment entities.

+ Details

Name:	amp_TotalDebtOfConsolidatedInvestmentEntities
Namespace Prefix:	amp
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- 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.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration