Notes Payable (Repurchase Agreements Narrative) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2015	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2015	Sep. 30, 2014
Debt Disclosure [Abstract]
Repurchase agreement, maximum amount borrowed			$ 40.6	$ 138.7
Repurchase agreement, average borrowings	$ 0.0	$ 0.9	$ 0.6	$ 9.4
Repurchase agreement, weighted average interest rate		0.35%	0.39%	0.15%

The average rate of interest paid on the amount borrowed on securities repurchase agreements during the period.

No definition available.

Name:	ael_RepurchaseAgreementAverageInterestRate
Namespace Prefix:	ael_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration