Deferred Acquisition Costs and Deferred Sales Inducement Costs (Details) (USD $)				3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Mar. 31, 2012 Ameriprise Financial	Mar. 31, 2011 Ameriprise Financial	Jan. 02, 2012 Ameriprise Financial	Jan. 02, 2011 Ameriprise Financial
Balances of and changes in DAC
Balance, at the beginning of the period	$ 2,472,000,000	$ 2,440,000,000	$ 2,556,000,000	$ 2,440,000,000	$ 2,556,000,000
Capitalization of acquisition costs				82,000,000	82,000,000
Amortization				(31,000,000)	(75,000,000)
Impact of change in net unrealized securities (gains) losses				(19,000,000)	8,000,000
Balance, at the end of the period	2,472,000,000	2,440,000,000	2,556,000,000	2,472,000,000	2,571,000,000
Cumulative effect of accounting change						2,000,000,000	2,100,000,000
Cumulative effect of accounting change of Caplitalization					40,000,000
Cumulative effect of accounting change of amortization					41,000,000
Balances of and changes in DSIC, included in other assets
Balance, at the beginning of the period				464,000,000	545,000,000
Capitalization of sales inducement costs				2,000,000	3,000,000
Amortization				(2,000,000)	(13,000,000)
Impact of change in net unrealized securities (gains) losses				(4,000,000)	1,000,000
Balance, at the end of the period				$ 460,000,000	$ 536,000,000