Deferred Policy Acquisition Costs

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Deferred Policy Acquisition Costs [Abstract]

4.	DEFERRED POLICY ACQUISITION COSTS

The balances of and changes in DAC as of and for the years ended December 31, are as follows:


	2011			2010			2009
	(in thousands)
Balance, beginning of year	$	1,540,028		$	1,411,571		$	1,247,131
Capitalization of commissions, sales and issue expenses		46,599			311,201			654,851
Amortization - Impact of Assumption and experience unlocking and true-ups		(127,576	)		64,645			32,681
Amortization - All Other		(686,555	)		(267,212	)		(352,487	)
Changes in unrealized investment gains and losses		922			19,823			(170,605	)
Other (1)		(16,235	)		—			—

Balance, end of year	$	757,183		$	1,540,028		$	1,411,571

(1)	Balance sheet reclassification between DAC and DSI relating to refinement in methodology for allocating DAC/DSI balances for cohorts with both DAC and DSI persistency credits. Refer to Footnote 6 for impact to DSI.

- Definition

Disclosure of accounting policy for capitalizing costs incurred to write or acquire insurance contracts, the basis for and methodology for capitalizing such costs, the accounting for such deferred acquisition costs (DAC) when modifications or internal replacements of related insurance contracts occur and the effect on results of operations, and the methodology and amount of amortization. This disclosure addresses the nature, type, and amount of capitalized costs incurred to write or acquire insurance contracts.

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