Postretirement Benefit Plans

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

Postretirement Benefit Plans

Postretirement Benefit Plans

The following tables present a summary of post-retirement benefit costs by component.

Components of Post-Retirement Benefit Costs

	Three Months ended March 31,
	Pension Benefits						Other Benefits
	2015			2014			2015		2014
Service cost	$	3,990		$	3,232		$	—	$	56
Interest cost	5,003			4,819			203		147
Expected return on assets	(5,323		)	(4,753		)	—		—
Amortization:
Prior service cost	81			528			—		—
Actuarial (gain) loss	3,534			2,044			23		—
Direct recognition of expense	—			—			176		(62		)
Net periodic benefit cost	$	7,285		$	5,870		$	402	$	141

The following chart presents assets at fair value for the defined-benefit pension plans at March 31, 2015 and the prior-year end.

Pension Assets by Component

	March 31, 2015			December 31, 2014
	Amount		%	Amount		%
Corporate debt	$	169,188	52	$	166,825	52
Other fixed maturities	292		—	284		—
Equity securities	128,137		40	127,568		39
Short-term investments	7,798		2	9,038		3
Guaranteed annuity contract	15,144		5	15,027		5
Other	3,684		1	4,156		1
Total	$	324,243	100	$	322,898	100

The liability for the funded defined-benefit pension plans was $407 million at March 31, 2015 and $403 million at December 31, 2014. No cash contributions were made to the qualified pension plans during the three months ended March 31, 2015. Torchmark expects to make cash contributions to these plans during 2015 in an amount not to exceed $20 million. With respect to the Company’s non-qualified supplemental retirement plan, life insurance policies on the lives of plan participants have been established with an unaffiliated carrier to fund a portion of the Company’s obligations under the plan. These policies, as well as investments deposited with an unaffiliated trustee, were previously placed in a Rabbi Trust to provide for payment of the plan obligations. At March 31, 2015, the combined value of the insurance policies and investments in the Rabbi Trust to support plan liabilities were $75 million, compared with $74 million at year-end 2014. Since this plan is non-qualified, the values of the insurance policies and investments are recorded as other assets in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets and are not included in the chart of plan assets above. The liability for the non-qualified pension plan was $72 million at March 31, 2015 and $71 million at December 31, 2014.