Business Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations - Narrative (Details) - Discontinued Operations, Held-for-sale $ in Millions		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2020 USD ($) subsidiary	Sep. 30, 2020 USD ($) subsidiary	Sep. 30, 2019 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($)	Dec. 18, 2019 USD ($)	Jun. 01, 2018 subsidiary
Individual Life Transaction
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Number of subsidiaries to be discontinued | subsidiary	5	5
Purchase price	$ 1,250	$ 1,250
Cash consideration	902
Equity interest in RLGH	225	225
Principal amount in surplus notes that will be retained by the Company	123	123
Reverse termination fee payable if Resolution MTA is terminated in prescribed circumstances related to failure to provide a committed financing facility					$ 100
Reverse termination fee payable if Resolution MTA is terminated in prescribed circumstances related to failure to obtain certain approvals or consents					$ 20
Maximum amount of financial obligations guaranteed under limited guarantee provided by RLGH	1,300	1,300
Estimated loss on sale, net of tax	$ 1,339	1,339		$ 1,108
Loss on sale, net of tax		$ (231)	$ 0
2018 Transaction
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Number of subsidiaries to be discontinued | subsidiary						2
Additional loss on sale			$ 82
RLI and VRIAC | SLD | Individual Life Transaction
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Reinsurance agreement, reinsurance quota share, percent of respective individual life insurance and annuities of businesses	100.00%	100.00%
RLNY | SLD | Individual Life Transaction
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Reinsurance agreement, reinsurance quota share, percent of respective individual life insurance and annuities of businesses	75.00%	75.00%
Reinsurance agreement, reserves expected to be ceded	$ 10,300	$ 10,300