The percentage of ownership of common stock or equity participation in the investee accounted for under the equity method of accounting.

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This item represents the entity's ownership percentage in the investee multiplied by the investee's total equity.

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This item represents the carrying amount on the entity's balance sheet of its investment in common stock of an equity method investee. This is not an indicator of the fair value of the investment, rather it is the initial cost adjusted for the entity's share of earnings and losses of the investee, adjusted for any distributions (dividends) and other than temporary impairment (OTTI) losses recognized.

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Amount of income (loss) for proportionate share of equity method investee's income (loss).

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Minimum amount of other commitment not otherwise specified in the taxonomy. Excludes commitments explicitly modeled in the taxonomy, including but not limited to, long-term and short-term purchase commitments, recorded and unrecorded purchase obligations, supply commitments, registration payment arrangements, leases, debt, product warranties, guarantees, environmental remediation obligations, and pensions.

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The cash outflow associated with the purchase of or advances to an equity method investments, which are investments in joint ventures and entities in which the entity has an equity ownership interest normally of 20 to 50 percent and exercises significant influence.

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The number of shares issued or sold by the subsidiary or equity method investee per stock transaction.

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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No definition available.

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Equity Method Investments - Additional Information (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands			3 Months Ended				9 Months Ended			12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2019	Jun. 12, 2019	Sep. 30, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019	Sep. 30, 2019	Jun. 30, 2019	Sep. 30, 2020	Sep. 30, 2019	Jun. 30, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	Nov. 11, 2019
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
GWG portion of net earnings (loss)			$ (1,431)		$ 956		$ (4,279)	$ (371)
Shares acquired (in shares)	666,667
Contributions							10,144	$ 10,000
Commitment to contribute to FOXO
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Commitment			$ 5,000				$ 5,000
FOXO
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Ownership interest			100.00%				100.00%
Equity method investment, underlying equity in net assets											$ 3,400
GWG portion of net earnings (loss)				$ 1,600
Equity method investments	$ 1,800			$ 1,800
FOXO \| Commitment to contribute to FOXO
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Commitment			$ 5,000				$ 5,000
Ben LP
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Ownership interest										89.90%
GWG portion of net earnings (loss)						$ 956			$ (371)
Shares acquired (in shares)		1,000,000								40,505,279
Contributions		$ 10,000