DEBT AND OTHER OBLIGATIONS (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended						12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended					0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended					12 Months Ended						1 Months Ended												12 Months Ended								12 Months Ended										12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2013 Golden Gate II Captive Insurance Company	Dec. 31, 2013 Golden Gate V Vermont Captive Insurance Company	Dec. 31, 2013 Red Mountain	Oct. 10, 2012 Red Mountain	Dec. 31, 2013 Golden Gate III Vermont Captive Insurance Company (Golden Gate III) item	Aug. 07, 2013 Golden Gate III Vermont Captive Insurance Company (Golden Gate III)	Apr. 23, 2010 Golden Gate III Vermont Captive Insurance Company (Golden Gate III)	Dec. 31, 2013 Golden Gate IV Vermont Captive Insurance Company (Golden Gate IV)	Dec. 10, 2010 Golden Gate IV Vermont Captive Insurance Company (Golden Gate IV)	Dec. 31, 2013 MONY Life Insurance Company	Dec. 31, 2013 Requirement Maximum	Dec. 31, 2013 Requirement Minimum	Dec. 31, 2013 Actual Results	Dec. 31, 2013 Actual Results Minimum	Oct. 10, 2012 Golden Gate V and Red Mountain	Dec. 31, 2013 Repurchase Program Borrowings	Dec. 31, 2012 Repurchase Program Borrowings	Dec. 31, 2013 Repurchase Program Borrowings Maximum	Dec. 31, 2013 Revolving Line of Credit	Dec. 31, 2012 Revolving Line of Credit	Dec. 31, 2013 Senior notes	Oct. 09, 2009 Senior notes	Dec. 31, 2012 4.30% Senior Notes (2003), due 2013	Dec. 31, 2013 4.875% Senior Notes (2004), due 2014	Dec. 31, 2012 4.875% Senior Notes (2004), due 2014	Oct. 31, 2004 4.875% Senior Notes (2004), due 2014	Dec. 31, 2007 6.40% Senior Notes (2007), due 2018	Dec. 31, 2013 6.40% Senior Notes (2007), due 2018	Dec. 31, 2012 6.40% Senior Notes (2007), due 2018	Dec. 31, 2013 7.375% Senior Notes (2009), due 2019	Dec. 31, 2012 7.375% Senior Notes (2009), due 2019	Oct. 09, 2009 7.375% Senior Notes (2009), due 2019	Dec. 31, 2013 8.00% Senior Notes (2009), due 2024, callable 2014	Dec. 31, 2012 8.00% Senior Notes (2009), due 2024, callable 2014	Oct. 09, 2009 8.00% Senior Notes (2009), due 2024, callable 2014	Dec. 31, 2013 8.45% Senior Notes (2009), due 2039	Dec. 31, 2012 8.45% Senior Notes (2009), due 2039	Oct. 09, 2009 8.45% Senior Notes (2009), due 2039	Dec. 31, 2013 Subordinated debentures Y	Dec. 31, 2012 Subordinated debentures	Dec. 31, 2013 6.125% Subordinated Debentures (2004), due 2034, callable 2009	Dec. 31, 2012 6.125% Subordinated Debentures (2004), due 2034, callable 2009	Dec. 31, 2013 6.25% Subordinated Debentures (2012) due 2042, callable 2017	Dec. 31, 2012 6.25% Subordinated Debentures (2012) due 2042, callable 2017	Dec. 31, 2013 6.00% Subordinated Debentures (2012) due 2042, callable 2017	Dec. 31, 2012 6.00% Subordinated Debentures (2012) due 2042, callable 2017	Dec. 31, 2012 7.50% Subordinated Debentures (2001), due 2031, callable 2006	Dec. 31, 2012 7.25% Subordinated Debentures (2002), due 2032, callable 2007	Dec. 31, 2012 7.25% Capital Securities (2006), due 2066, callable 2011,One	Dec. 31, 2012 7.25% Capital Securities (2006), due 2066, callable 2011,Two	Dec. 31, 2013 Credit Facility	Dec. 31, 2013 Credit Facility Federal Funds Rate	Dec. 31, 2013 Credit Facility Prime Rate	Dec. 31, 2013 Credit Facility LIBOR One-Month Rate	Dec. 31, 2013 Surplus notes Golden Gate	Oct. 09, 2009 Surplus notes Golden Gate	Dec. 31, 2013 Long-term debt and subordinated debt securities	Dec. 31, 2012 Long-term debt and subordinated debt securities	Dec. 31, 2011 Long-term debt and subordinated debt securities	Dec. 31, 2013 Other obligations, non-recourse funding obligations and other temporary borrowings	Dec. 31, 2012 Other obligations, non-recourse funding obligations and other temporary borrowings	Dec. 31, 2011 Other obligations, non-recourse funding obligations and other temporary borrowings
Debt and other obligations
Stated interest rate (as a percent)																									4.30%	4.875%	4.875%	4.875%	6.40%	6.40%	6.40%	7.375%	7.375%		8.00%	8.00%		8.45%	8.45%				6.125%	6.125%	6.25%	6.25%	6.00%	6.00%
Total debt	$ 1,585,000,000	$ 1,400,000,000																			$ 485,000,000	$ 50,000,000			$ 250,000,000	$ 150,000,000	$ 150,000,000			$ 150,000,000	$ 150,000,000	$ 400,000,000	$ 400,000,000		$ 100,000,000	$ 100,000,000		$ 300,000,000	$ 300,000,000
Total subordinated debt securities	540,593,000	540,593,000																																									103,093,000	103,093,000	287,500,000	287,500,000	150,000,000	150,000,000
Repayment of debt																							250,000,000																										103,100,000	118,600,000	75,000,000	125,000,000
Line of credit, maximum borrowing capacity																																																					750,000,000
Line of credit, maximum borrowing capacity to be granted upon entity's request																																																					1,000,000,000
Base of floating rate interest rate payments																																																					LIBOR	Federal Funds rate	Prime rate	one-month LIBOR
Interest rate added to the base rate (as a percent)																																																					1.20%	0.50%		1.00%
Line of credit, amount outstanding																																																					485,000,000
Outstanding amount of debt																																									103,100,000	103,100,000
Maximum number of consecutive years up to which the entity has the right to extend interest payment																																									5
Amount of debt issued																								800,000,000				150,000,000	150,000,000					400,000,000			100,000,000			300,000,000						287,500,000		150,000,000
Net proceeds from issuance of debt																													148,700,000
Write off of deferred issue costs																																										7,200,000										4,000,000
Aggregate principal amount of debt repurchased by Golden Gate from third parties																																																										800,000,000
Outstanding surplus notes																																																									800,000,000
Outstanding non-recourse funding obligations of Golden Gate II Captive Insurance Company	575,000,000		575,000,000
Term of transaction																	20 years
Maximum financing capacity under transaction				945,000,000		945,000,000											945,000,000
Principal amount of note issued					365,000,000	275,000,000
Non-recourse funding obligations	562,448,000	586,000,000	194,900,000	365,000,000								2,548,000
Non-recourse funding obligations held by affiliates	380,100,000
Expected payments under support agreement obligation			0	0			0			0
Future scheduled capital contributions				144,300,000			149,800,000
Year-to-date weighted-average interest rate of non-recourse funding obligations (as a percent)			0.97%	6.25%								6.63%
Outstanding nonrecourse funding obligations repurchased at discount	91,100,000	121,800,000
Gain from repurchase of outstanding nonrecourse funding obligations	20,000,000	38,400,000
Maximum borrowing capacity under letter of credit							715,000,000	710,000,000	505,000,000	700,000,000	270,000,000
Maximum amount up to which LOC will be periodically increased							720,000,000		610,000,000	790,000,000
Outstanding letters of credit (LOC)							715,000,000
Letter of credit term							13 years 6 months			12 years
Number of installments in which future scheduled capital contributions payable							3
Fair value of securities pledged under the repurchase program																		384,400,000
Repurchase program borrowings	350,000,000	150,000,000																350,000,000
Average borrowing rate (as a percent)																		0.10%
Maximum balance outstanding																		815,000,000	425,000,000
Average daily balance																		496,900,000	266,300,000
Average borrowing rate (as a percent)																		0.11%	0.14%
Outstanding balance																			150,000,000
Term of debt																				90 days
Future maturities of debt, excluding notes payable to banks, and subordinated debt securities, for the next five years
2014	150,000,000
2018	150,000,000
Thereafter	800,000,000
Summary of the Company's estimated debt covenant calculations
Consolidated net worth margin														0		800,000,000
Debt to total capital ratio													0.40		0.31
Total adjusted capital margin														0	1,800,000,000
Interest cash inflow available compared to adjusted consolidated interest expense														2.0		9.0
Interest Expense
Interest expense																																																											123,800,000	131,500,000	130,900,000	47,500,000	28,700,000	28,200,000
Increase (decrease) in interest expense				17,300,000			2,200,000																6,400,000																		3,700,000																		7,700,000			18,800,000
Variance in interest expense offset amount																																																					$ 2,500,000