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Income Taxes (Narrative) (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]
Statutory federal income tax rate	35.00%us-gaap_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateReconciliationAtFederalStatutoryIncomeTaxRate
Statement [Line Items]
Deferred tax assets, valuation allowance	$ 0us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance	$ 0us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance
Non-Life Subsidiaries [Member] | Internal Revenue Service (IRS) [Member]
Statement [Line Items]
Non-life net operating loss carryforwards	28,100,000us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards / us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis = us-gaap_InternalRevenueServiceIRSMember / dei_LegalEntityAxis = ael_NonLifeSubsidiariesMember
Deferred Tax Asset, Valuation Allowance, Unrealized Losses on Available For Sale Fixed Maturity Securities [Member]
Statement [Line Items]
Deferred tax assets, valuation allowance	$ 0us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance / us-gaap_ValuationAllowanceByDeferredTaxAssetAxis = ael_DeferredTaxAssetValuationAllowanceUnrealizedLossesOnAvailableForSaleFixedMaturitySecuritiesMember

X

- Definition

Amount of deferred tax assets for which it is more likely than not that a tax benefit will not be realized.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 740

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 2

-Subparagraph (c)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32537-109319

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- Definition

Percentage of domestic federal statutory tax rate applicable to pretax income (loss).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 740

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 12

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32687-109319



Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 740

-SubTopic 10

-Section S99

-Paragraph 1

-Subparagraph (SAB TOPIC 6.I)

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-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 740

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 13

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32698-109319

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- Definition

Amount of operating loss carryforward, before tax effects, available to reduce future taxable income under enacted tax laws.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 740

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 3

-Subparagraph (a)

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