Postretirement Benefit Plans

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

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

Components of Post-Retirement Benefit Costs



	Three Months Ended September 30,
	Pension Benefits						Other Benefits
	2015			2014			2015		2014
Service cost	$	3,990		$	3,231		$	—	$	25
Interest cost	5,003			4,695			203		(63		)
Expected return on assets	(5,323		)	(4,768		)	—		—
Amortization:
Prior service cost	81			529			—		—
Actuarial (gain) loss	3,533			2,035			30		3
Actuarial valuation adjustment	—			—			—		460
Direct recognition of expense	—			131			166		114
Net periodic benefit cost	$	7,284		$	5,853		$	399	$	539

	Nine Months Ended September 30,
	Pension Benefits						Other Benefits
	2015			2014			2015		2014
Service cost	$	11,971		$	9,694		$	—	$	74
Interest cost	15,009			14,333			610		234
Expected return on assets	(15,969		)	(14,273		)	—		—
Amortization:
Prior service cost	244			1,586			—		—
Actuarial (gain)/loss	10,601			6,127			90		3
Actuarial valuation adjustment	—			—			—		460
Direct recognition of expense	—			131			493		10
Net periodic benefit cost	$	21,856		$	17,598		$	1,193	$	781

The following table presents assets at fair value for the defined-benefit pension plans at September 30, 2015 and the prior-year end.

Pension Assets by Component



	September 30, 2015			December 31, 2014
	Amount		%	Amount		%
Corporate debt	$	153,536	49	$	166,825	52
Other fixed maturities	279		—	284		—
Equity securities	121,199		39	127,568		39
Short-term investments	16,414		5	9,038		3
Guaranteed annuity contract	16,973		6	15,027		5
Other	3,571		1	4,156		1
Total	$	311,972	100	$	322,898	100

The liability for the funded defined-benefit pension plans was $386 million at September 30, 2015 and $403 million at December 31, 2014. Cash contributions of $13.6 million were made to the qualified pension plans during the nine months ended September 30, 2015. Torchmark does not expect to make further cash contributions to these plans during 2015. 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 September 30, 2015, the combined value of the insurance policies and investments in the Rabbi Trust to support plan liabilities were $78 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 $73 million at September 30, 2015 and $71 million at December 31, 2014.