Income Taxes	3 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]
Income Taxes	Income Taxes For the three months ended December 31, 2014, the Company's effective tax rate was (18.8)%. It differs from U.S Federal statutory rate of 35% and was negatively impacted by: (i) the profitability of FGL’s life insurance business which files its own consolidated Federal income tax return; (ii) pretax losses in the U.S. and some foreign jurisdictions for which the Company concluded that the tax benefits are not more-likely-than-not realizable, resulting in valuation allowances and (iii) non-U.S. tax expense on income in certain foreign jurisdictions that are not indefinitely reinvested and where the Company is not recognizing any incremental U.S. tax expense on expected future repatriations of foreign earnings due to its tax net operating loss position. Partially offsetting these factors for the three months ended December 31, 2014 included recognition of a nonrecurring net income tax benefit of $12.3 attributable to tax impact related to the impairment of certain FOH indefinite lived intangible assets. Due to the indefinite life of these assets for book purposes, the related deferred tax liability was not regarded as a source of taxable income to support the realization of deferred tax assets. Consequently, the impairment recorded this quarter resulted in a reduction to the deferred tax liability previously recorded. For the three months ended December 31, 2013, the Company's effective tax rate of 104.4% was negatively impacted by the following: (i) the profitability of our life insurance group which files its own consolidated Federal income tax return; (ii) pretax losses in the U.S. and some foreign jurisdictions for which the Company concluded that the tax benefits are not more likely-than-not realizable, resulting in valuation allowances; (iii) book expense for the increase in the fair value of the equity conversion feature of preferred stock, for which no tax benefit is available; and (iv) tax amortization of certain indefinite lived intangibles. In addition, the Company is not permanently reinvesting income from its foreign operations, thereby subjecting unremitted foreign earnings to an incremental tax in the U.S. at Federal statutory income tax rate of 35%, as no U.S. foreign tax credits can be claimed to U.S. net operating losses ("NOL"). NOL, capital loss and tax credit carryforwards of HGI, Spectrum Brands and FGL are subject to valuation allowances, as the Company concluded that all or a portion of the associated tax benefits are not more likely-than-not realizable. Utilization of a portion of the NOL, capital loss and tax credit carryforwards of HGI, Spectrum Brands and FGL are subject to limitations under Internal Revenue Code ("IRC") Sections 382 and 383. Such limitations result from ownership changes of more than 50 percentage points over a three-year period.

Income Taxes

For the three months ended December 31, 2014, the Company's effective tax rate was (18.8)%. It differs from U.S Federal statutory rate of 35% and was negatively impacted by: (i) the profitability of FGL’s life insurance business which files its own consolidated Federal income tax return; (ii) pretax losses in the U.S. and some foreign jurisdictions for which the Company concluded that the tax benefits are not more-likely-than-not realizable, resulting in valuation allowances and (iii) non-U.S. tax expense on income in certain foreign jurisdictions that are not indefinitely reinvested and where the Company is not recognizing any incremental U.S. tax expense on expected future repatriations of foreign earnings due to its tax net operating loss position. Partially offsetting these factors for the three months ended December 31, 2014 included recognition of a nonrecurring net income tax benefit of $12.3 attributable to tax impact related to the impairment of certain FOH indefinite lived intangible assets. Due to the indefinite life of these assets for book purposes, the related deferred tax liability was not regarded as a source of taxable income to support the realization of deferred tax assets. Consequently, the impairment recorded this quarter resulted in a reduction to the deferred tax liability previously recorded.

For the three months ended December 31, 2013, the Company's effective tax rate of 104.4% was negatively impacted by the following: (i) the profitability of our life insurance group which files its own consolidated Federal income tax return; (ii) pretax losses in the U.S. and some foreign jurisdictions for which the Company concluded that the tax benefits are not more likely-than-not realizable, resulting in valuation allowances; (iii) book expense for the increase in the fair value of the equity conversion feature of preferred stock, for which no tax benefit is available; and (iv) tax amortization of certain indefinite lived intangibles. In addition, the Company is not permanently reinvesting income from its foreign operations, thereby subjecting unremitted foreign earnings to an incremental tax in the U.S. at Federal statutory income tax rate of 35%, as no U.S. foreign tax credits can be claimed to U.S. net operating losses ("NOL").

NOL, capital loss and tax credit carryforwards of HGI, Spectrum Brands and FGL are subject to valuation allowances, as the Company concluded that all or a portion of the associated tax benefits are not more likely-than-not realizable. Utilization of a portion of the NOL, capital loss and tax credit carryforwards of HGI, Spectrum Brands and FGL are subject to limitations under Internal Revenue Code ("IRC") Sections 382 and 383. Such limitations result from ownership changes of more than 50 percentage points over a three-year period.