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Threadneedle",Funds," above) as well as variable portfolio funds of other companies.RiverSource variable annuity products in force offer a fixed account investment option with guaranteed minimum interest crediting rates ranging up to 4% at December 31, 2009.2010. In 2010, we introduced multiple versions of our new RAVA 5 variable annuity, including RAVA 5 Access, RAVA 5 Advantage and RAVA 5 Select.

Our Portfolio Navigator asset allocation program is available under our variable annuities. The Portfolio Navigator program allows clients to allocate their contract value to one of five funds of funds, each of which invests in various underlying funds. The Portfolio Navigator program is designed to helpallow a contract purchaser to select an asset allocation model portfolio from the choices available under the program,investment options based on the purchaser's stated investment time horizon, risk tolerance and investment goals. We believe the benefits of the Portfolio Navigator asset allocation program includehelps a well-diversified annuity portfolio, disciplined, professionally created asset allocation models, simplicitycontract purchaser to tailor the performance of annuities and ease of use, accesslife insurance policies to multiple well-known money managers within each model portfoliotheir specific needs and automatic rebalancing of the client's contract valueto keep investment allocations on a quarterly basis. RiverSource Investments,track over time. CMIA, our investment management subsidiary, designsserves as investment adviser for the funds of funds and periodically updatesall of the model portfolios based on recommendations from Morningstar Associates, an unaffiliated investment advisor.underlying funds in which the funds of funds invest.

The majority of the variable annuity contracts we issue include guaranteed minimum death benefit ("GMDB") provisions. Contract purchasers can choose to add optional benefit provisions to their contracts to meet their needs, including guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit ("GMWB") and guaranteed minimum accumulation benefit ("GMAB") provisions. Approximately 98% of RiverSource Life's overall variable annuity assets include a GMDB provision and approximately 40%45% of RiverSource Life's overall variable annuity assets include a GMWB or GMAB provision. In general, these features can help protect contract holderscontractholders and beneficiaries from a shortfall in death or living benefits due to a decline in the value of their underlying investment accounts.

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The general account assets of our life insurance subsidiaries support the contractual obligations under the guaranteed benefit provisions the company issues (see "Business — "Business—Our Segments —Segments—Asset Management—U.S. Asset Management — Asset Management Offerings — Offerings—Management of Institutional Owned Assets" above). As a result, we bear the risk that protracted under-performance of the financial markets could result in guaranteed benefit payments being higher than what current account values would support. Our exposure to risk from guaranteed benefits generally will increase when equity markets decline, as evidenced by the significant decline experienced in 2008 and early 2009. You can find a discussion of liabilities and reserves related to our annuity products in Part II, Item 7A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K — "Quantitative10-K—"Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk", as well as in Note 11, Note 12 and Note 2016 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

RiverSource variable annuities provide us with fee-based revenue in the form of mortality and expense risk fees, marketing support and administrative fees, fees charged for optional features elected by the contract holder,contractholder, and other contract charges. We receive marketing support payments from the VSTVIT Funds underlying our variable annuity products as well as Rule 12b-1 distribution and servicing-related fees from the VSTVIT Funds and the underlying funds of other companies. In addition, we receive marketing support payments from the affiliates of other companies' funds included as investment options in ourRiverSource variable annuity products.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2009, RiverSource Life Insurance Companies ranked ninth in variable annuity sales according to LIMRA International ®.

Fixed Annuities

RiverSource fixed annuity products provide a contract holdercontractholder with cash value that increases by a fixed or indexed interest rate. We periodically reset rates at our discretion subject to certain policy terms establishing minimum guaranteed interest crediting rates. Our earnings from fixed annuities are based upon the spread between rates earned on assets purchased with fixed annuity deposits and the rates at which interest is credited to ourRiverSource fixed annuity contracts.

In 2007, we discontinued new sales of equity indexed annuities.

RiverSource fixed annuity contracts in force provide guaranteed minimum interest crediting rates ranging from 1.5%1.25% to 5.0% at December 31, 2009.2010. New contracts issued provide guaranteed minimum interest rates in compliance with state laws providing for indexed guaranteed rates.

Liabilities and Reserves for Annuities

We maintain adequate financial reserves to cover the risks associated with guaranteed benefit provisions added to variable annuity contracts in addition to liabilities arising from fixed and variable annuity base contracts. You can find a discussion of liabilities and reserves related to our annuity products in Note 2 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Financial Strength Ratings

Our insurance company subsidiaries that issueRiverSource annuity products receive ratings from independent rating organizations. Ratings are important to maintain public confidence in our insurance subsidiaries and our protection and annuity products. For a discussion of the financial strength ratings of our insurance company subsidiaries, see the "Our Segments — Protection — Segments—Protection—Financial Strength Ratings" section, below.

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Third-Party Distribution Channels

In the fourth quarter of 2010, RiverSource Life companies discontinued the distribution of variable annuity products through third-party channels in order to focus on the distribution of variable annuity products within our Advice & Wealth Management segment. We continue to distributeRiverSource fixed annuity products are offered to retail clientsthrough third-party channels. In 2010, we had total cash sales for variable and fixed annuity products through third-party channels such as SunTrust Investment Services, Inc.of $1.0 billion, of which $760 million pertained to variable annuity sales and Wells Fargo Investments.$265 million pertained to fixed annuity sales. As of December 31, 2009,2010, we had distribution agreements forRiverSource fixed annuity products in place with more than 120 third parties, with annual cash sales of $2.1 billion in 2009.party firms.

Our Segments — Segments—Protection

Our Protection segment provides a variety of protection products to address the protection and risk management needs of our retail clients, including life, disability income and property-casualty insurance. Life and disability income products are primarily distributed through our branded advisors. Our property-casualty products are sold primarily through affinity relationships. We issue insurance policies through our life insurance subsidiaries and the Property Casualty companies (as defined below under "Ameriprise Auto & Home Insurance Products"). The primary sources of revenues for this segment are premiums, fees and charges that we receive to assume insurance-related risk. We earn net investment income on owned assets supporting insurance reserves and capital supporting the business. We also receive fees based on the level of assets supporting variable universal life separate account balances. This segment earns intersegment revenues from fees paid by our Asset Management segment for marketing support and other services provided in connection with the availability of RiverSource VSTVIT Funds under the variable universal life contracts. Intersegment expenses for this segment include

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distribution expenses for services provided by our Advice & Wealth Management segment, as well as expenses for investment management services provided by our Asset Management segment. All intersegment activity is eliminated in consolidation. In 2009, 24%2010, 20% of our revenues from external clients were attributable to our Protection business.

RiverSource Insurance Products

Through the RiverSource Life companies, we are the issuers of both variable and fixed universal life insurance, traditional life insurance and disability income insurance. These solutions are designed to help clients protect their income, grow assets, and give to those individuals or causes that they care most about. Universal life insurance is a form of permanent life insurance characterized by flexible premiums, flexible death benefits and unbundled pricing factors (i.e., mortality, interest and expenses). Traditional life insurance refers to whole and term life insurance policies that pay a specified sum to a beneficiary upon death of the insured for a fixed premium. Variable universal life insurance combines the premium and death benefit flexibility of universal life with underlying fund investment flexibility and the risks associated therewith. Traditional life insurance refers to whole and term life insurance policies. While traditional life insurance typically pays a specified sum to a beneficiary upon death of the insured for a fixed premium, in 2010 we began offering a term life insurance product that will generally pay the death benefit in the form of a monthly income stream to a date specified at issue. We also offer a chronic care rider, AdvanceSource,AdvanceSource®, on our new permanent insurance products. This rider allows its policy holder to accelerate a portion of the life insurance death benefit in the event of a qualified chronic care need.

Our sales ofRiverSource individual life insurance in 2009,2010, as measured by scheduled annual premiums, lump sum and excess premiums, consisted of 39%35% variable universal life, 53%59% fixed universal life and 8%6% traditional life. Our RiverSource Life companies issue only non-participating policies whichthat do not pay dividends to policyholders from the insurer's earnings.

Assets supporting policy values associated with fixed account life insurance and annuity products, as well as those assets associated with fixed account investment options under variable insurance and annuity products (collectively referred to as the "fixed accounts"), are part of the RiverSource Life companies' general accounts. Under fixed accounts, the RiverSource Life companies bear the investment risk. More information on the RiverSource Life companies' general accounts is found under "Business — "Business—Our Segments —Segments—Asset Management—U.S. Asset Management — Asset Management Offerings — Offerings—Management of Institutional Owned Assets" above.

Variable Universal Life Insurance

We are a leader in variable universal life insurance. Variable universal life insurance provides life insurance coverage along with investment returns linked to underlying investment accounts of the policyholder's choice. Options may include RiverSource VSTVIT Funds discussed above, Portfolio Navigator funds of funds, as well as variable portfolio funds of other companies.RiverSource variable universal life insurance products in force offer a fixed account investment option with guaranteed minimum interest crediting rates ranging from 3.0% to 4.5% at December 31, 2009. For the nine months ended September 30, 2009, RiverSource Life ranked fifth in sales of variable universal life based on total premiums (according to the Tillinghast-Towers Perrin's Value survey).2010.

Fixed Universal Life Insurance and Traditional Whole Life Insurance

Fixed universal life and traditional whole life insurance policies do not subject the policyholder to the investment risks associated with variable universal life insurance.

RiverSource fixed universal life insurance products provide life insurance coverage and cash value that increases by a fixed interest rate. The rate is periodically reset at the discretion of the issuing company subject to certain policy terms relative to minimum interest crediting rates.RiverSource fixed universal life insurance policies in force provided guaranteed minimum interest crediting rates ranging from 3.0% to 5.0% at December 31, 2009. We also offer2010. The majority of fixed universal life policies issued in recent years provide a secondary guarantee that ensures, subject to specified conditions, the policy will not terminate and will continue to provide a death benefit even if there is insufficient policy value to cover the monthly deductions and charges. In 2009, we discontinued new sales of traditional whole life insurance, which combineshowever, we continue to service existing policies. These in force traditional whole life insurance policies combine a death benefit with a cash value that generally increases gradually over a period of years. However, we have sold very little traditional whole life insurance in recent years. Whole life accounted for less than 1% of our insurance sales in 2009.

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Securities Exchange Act Reports and Additional Information

We maintain an Investor Relations website at ir.ameriprise.com and we make available free of charge our annual, quarterly and current reports and any amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable following the time they are electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. To access these and other documents, click on the "SEC Filings" link found on our Investor Relations homepage.

You can also access our Investor Relations website through our main website at ameriprise.com by clicking on the "Investor Relations" link which is located at the bottom of our homepage. Information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference into this report or any other report filed with the SEC.

Segment Information and Classes of Similar Services

You can find financial information regarding our operating segments and classes of similar services in Note 26 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

Our operations and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described below, that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations and could cause the trading price of our common stock to decline. Based on the information currently known to us, we believe that the following information identifies the material factors affecting our company. However, the risks and uncertainties our company faces are not limited to those described below. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may also adversely affect our business.

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Risks Relating to Our Business

Our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected by market fluctuations and by economic and other factors.

Our financial condition and results of operations may be materially affected by market fluctuations and by economic and other factors. Many such factors of a global or localized nature include: political, economic and market conditions; the availability and cost of capital; the level and volatility of equity prices, commodity prices and interest rates, currency values and other market indices; technological changes and events; the availability and cost of credit; inflation; investor sentiment and confidence in the financial markets; terrorism events and armed conflicts; and natural disasters such as weather catastrophes and widespread health emergencies. Furthermore, changes in consumer economic variables, such as the number and size of personal bankruptcy filings, the rate of unemployment, decreases in property values, and the level of consumer confidence and consumer debt, may substantially affect consumer loan levels and credit quality, which, in turn, could impact the results of our banking business.business and savings levels in all of our businesses. These factors also may have an impact on our ability to achieve our strategic objectives.

Although U.S. and global capital markets demonstrated signs of improvement and stabilizationrecovery in the second half of 2009,2010, current market conditions remainsremain precarious and any further declines or volatility in U.S. and global market conditions would impact our businesses. Our businesses have been and in the future may be adversely affected by U.S. and global capital market and credit crises, the repricing of credit risk, equity market volatility and decline, and stress or recession in the U.S. and global economies generally. In addition, since the second half of 2007, difficulties in the mortgage and broader capital markets in the United States and elsewhere, coupled with the repricing of credit risk, have created extremely difficult and uncertain market conditions. Each of our segments operates in these markets with exposure for ourselves and our clients in securities, loans, derivatives, alternative investments, seed capital and other commitments. It is difficult to predict how long and to what extent the aforementioned conditions will exist, which of our markets, products and businesses will be directly affected in terms of revenues, management fees and investment valuations and earnings, and to what extent our clients may seek to bring claims arising out of investment performance.performance that is affected by these conditions. As a result, these factors could materially adversely impact our results of operations. Certain of our insurance and annuity products and certain of our investment and banking products are sensitive to interest rate fluctuations, and our future costsimpacts associated with such variations may differ from our historical costs. In addition, interest rate fluctuations could result in fluctuations in the valuation of certain minimum guaranteed benefits contained in some of our variable annuity

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products. Although we typically hedge againstto mitigate some of the effect of such fluctuations, significant changes in interest rates could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations.

During periods of increasing market interest rates, we must offer higher crediting rates on interest-sensitive products, such as fixed universal life insurance, fixed annuities, face-amount certificates and certificates of deposit, and we must increase crediting rates on in force products to keep these products competitive. Because returns on invested assets may not increase as quickly as current interest rates, we may have to accept a lower spread and thus lower profitability or face a decline in sales and greater loss of existing contracts and related assets. In addition, increases in market interest rates may cause increased policy surrenders, withdrawals from life insurance policies, annuity contracts and certificates of deposit and requests for policy loans, as policyholders, contract holderscontractholders and depositors seek to shift assets to products with perceived higher returns. This process may lead to an earlier than expected outflow of cash from our business. Also, increases in market interest rates may result in extension of certain cash flows from structured mortgage assets. These withdrawals and surrenders may require investment assets to be sold at a time when the prices of those assets are lower because of the increase in market interest rates, which may result in realized investment losses. Increases in crediting rates, as well as surrenders and withdrawals, could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. An increase in surrenders and withdrawals also may require us to accelerate amortization of deferred acquisition costs ("DAC") or other intangibles or cause an impairment of goodwill, which would increase our expenses and reduce our net earnings.

During periods of falling interest rates or stagnancy of low interest rates, our spread may be reduced or could become negative, primarily because some of our products have guaranteed minimum crediting rates. Due to the long-term nature of the liabilities associated with certain of our businesses, such as long-term care and fixed universal life with secondary guarantees as well as fixed annuities and guaranteed benefits on variable annuities, sustained declines in or stagnancy of low interest rates in long-term interest rates may subject us to reinvestment risks and increased hedging costs.

Interest rate fluctuations also could have an adverse effect on the results of our investment portfolio. During periods of declining market interest rates or stagnancy of low interest rates, the interest we receive on variable interest rate investments decreases. In addition, during those periods, we are forced to reinvest the cash we receive as interest or return of principal on our investments in lower-yielding high-grade instruments or in lower-credit instruments to maintain comparable returns. Issuers of certain callable fixed income securities also may decide to prepay their obligations in order to borrow at lower market rates, which increaseincreases the risk that we may have to invest the cash proceeds of these securities in lower-yielding or lower-credit instruments.

Significant downturns and volatility in equity markets may have, had and could continue to have in the past had, an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Market downturns and volatility may cause, and have caused, potential new

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purchasers of our products to refrain from purchasing products, such as mutual funds, OEICs, variable annuities and variable universal life insurance, which have returns linked to the performance of the equity markets. If we are unable to offer appropriate product alternatives which encourage customers to continue purchasing in the face of actual or perceived market volatility, our sales and management fee revenues could decline. Downturns may also cause current shareholders in our mutual funds and OEICs, contract holderscontractholders in our annuity products and policyholders in our protection products to withdraw cash values from those products.

Additionally, downturns and volatility in equity markets can have, and have had, an adverse effect on the revenues and returns from our asset management services, wrap accounts and variable annuity contracts. Because the profitability of these products and services depends on fees related primarily to the value of assets under management, declines in the equity markets will reduce our revenues because the value of the investment assets we manage will be reduced. In addition, some of our variable annuity products contain guaranteed minimum death benefits and guaranteed minimum withdrawal and accumulation benefits. A significant equity market decline or volatility in equity markets could result in guaranteed minimum benefits being higher than what current account values would support, thus producing a loss as we pay the benefits, having an adverse effect onwhich would adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Although we have hedged a portion of the guarantees for the variable annuity contracts in order to mitigate the financial loss of equity market declines or volatility, there can be no assurance that such a decline or volatility would not materially impact the profitability of certain products or product lines or our financial condition or results of operations. Further, the cost of hedging our liability for these guarantees may increase as a result of low interest rates and volatility in the equity markets. In addition, heightened volatility creates greater uncertainty for future hedging effectiveness.

We believe that investment performance is an important factor in the growthsuccess of many of our businesses. Poor investment performance could impair our revenues and earnings, as well as our prospects for growth. A significant portion of our revenue is derived from investment management agreements with the RiverSourceColumbia family of mutual funds that are terminable on 60 days' notice. In addition, although some contracts governing investment management services are subject to termination for failure to meet performance benchmarks, institutional and individual clients can terminate their relationships with us or our

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financial advisors at will or on relatively short notice. Our clients can also reduce the aggregate amount of managed assets or shift their funds to other types of accounts with different rate structures, for any number of reasons, including investment performance, changes in prevailing interest rates, changes in investment preferences, changes in our (or our financial advisors') reputation in the marketplace, changes in client management or ownership, loss of key investment management personnel and financial market performance. A reduction in managed assets, and the associated decrease in revenues and earnings, could have a material adverse effect on our business. Moreover, certainif our money market funds we advise carry net asset protection mechanisms, which can be triggered byexperience a decline in market value, of underlying portfolio assets. This decline could cause uswe may choose to contribute capital to thethose funds without consideration, which would result in a loss.

In addition, during periods of unfavorable or stagnating market or economic conditions, the level of individual investor participation in the global markets may also decrease, which would negatively impact the results of our retail businesses. Concerns about current market and economic conditions, declining real estate values and decreased consumer confidence have caused and in the future may cause some of our clients to reduce the amount of business that they do with us. We cannot predict whether or the extent to which improvements in market conditions and consumer confidence experienced in the second half of 20092010 will continue or will extend more broadly across a wider range of financial asset classes than those which experienced improvement.continue. Fluctuations in global market activity could impact the flow of investment capital into or from assets under management and the way customers allocate capital among money market, equity, fixed maturity or other investment alternatives, which could negatively impact our Asset Management, Advice & Wealth Management and Annuities businesses. Also, during periods of unfavorable economic conditions, unemployment rates can increase, and have increased, which can result in higher loan delinquency and default rates, and this can have a negative impact on our banking business. Uncertain economic conditions and heightened market volatility may also increase the likelihood that clients or regulators present or threaten legal claims, that regulators may increase the frequency and scope of their examinations of us or the financial services industry generally, and that lawmakers enact new requirements or taxation which have a material impact on our revenues, expenses or statutory capital requirements.

Adverse capital and credit market conditions may significantly affect our ability to meet liquidity needs, our access to capital and our cost of capital.

The capital and credit markets continue tomay experience, and have experienced, varying degrees of volatility and disruption. In some cases, the markets have exerted downward pressure on availability of liquidity and credit capacity for certain issuers. We need liquidity to pay our operating expenses, interest expenses and dividends on our capital stock. Without sufficient liquidity, we could be required to curtail our operations, and our business would suffer.

We maintain a level of cash and securities which, combined with expected cash inflows from investments and operations, is believed adequate to meet anticipated short-term and long-term benefit and expense payment obligations. In the event current resources are insufficient to satisfy our needs, we may need to rely on financing sources such as bank debt. The availability of additional financing will depend on a variety of factors such as market conditions, the general availability of credit, the volume of trading activities, the overall availability of credit to the financial services industry, our credit ratings

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and credit capacity, as well as the possibility that our shareholders, customers or lenders could develop a negative perception of our long- or short-term financial prospects if we incur large investment losses or if the level of our business activity decreases due to a market downturn. Similarly, our access to funds may be impaired if regulatory authorities or rating organizations take negative actions against us.

Disruptions, uncertainty or volatility in the capital and credit markets may also limit our access to capital required to operate our business. Such market conditions may limit our ability to satisfy statutory capital requirements, generate fee income and market-related revenue to meet liquidity needs and access the capital necessary to grow our business. As such, we may be forced to delay raising capital, issue different types of capital than we would otherwise, less effectively deploy such capital, or bear an unattractive cost of capital which could decrease our profitability and significantly reduce our financial flexibility.

The impairment of other financial institutions could adversely affect us.

We have exposure to many different industries and counterparties, and we routinely execute transactions with counterparties in the financial services industry, including brokers and dealers, commercial banks, investment banks, hedge funds, insurers, reinsurers and other investment funds and other institutions. The operations of U.S. and global financial services institutions are highly interconnected and a decline in the financial condition of one or more financial services institutions may expose us to credit losses or defaults, limit our access to liquidity or otherwise disrupt the operations of our businesses.

Many transactions with and investments in the products and securities of other financial institutions expose us to credit risk in the event of default of our counterparty. With respect to secured transactions, our credit risk may be exacerbated when the collateral we hold cannot be realized upon or is liquidated at prices insufficient to recover the full amount of the loan or derivative exposure due to it. We also have exposure to financial institutions in the form of unsecured debt instruments, derivative transactions

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(including (including with respect to derivatives hedging our exposure on variable annuity contracts with guaranteed benefits), reinsurance and underwriting arrangements and equity investments. There can be no assurance that any such losses or impairments to the carrying value of these assets would not materially and adversely impact our business and results of operations.

Downgrades in the credit or financial strength ratings assigned to the counterparties with whom we transact could create the perception that our financial condition will be adversely impacted as a result of potential future defaults by such counterparties. Additionally, we could be adversely affected by a general, negative perception of financial institutions caused by the downgrade of other financial institutions. Accordingly, ratings downgrades for other financial institutions could affect our market capitalization and could limit access to or increase our cost of capital.

The failure of other insurers could require us to pay higher assessments to state insurance guaranty funds.

Our insurance companies are required by law to be members of the guaranty fund association in every state where they are licensed to do business. In the event of insolvency of one or more unaffiliated insurance companies, our insurance companies could be adversely affected by the requirement to pay assessments to the guaranty fund associations. The financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 weakened the financial condition of numerous insurers, including insurers currently in receiverships, increasing the risk of triggering guaranty fund assessments.

Third-party defaults, bankruptcy filings, legal actions and other events may limit the value of or restrict our access and our clients' access to cash and investments.

Capital and credit market volatility can exacerbate, and has exacerbated, the risk of third-party defaults, bankruptcy filings, foreclosures, legal actions and other events that may limit the value of or restrict our access and our clients' access to cash and investments. Although we are not required to do so, we have elected in the past, and we may elect in the future, to compensate clients for losses incurred in response to such events, provide clients with temporary credit or liquidity or other support related to products that we manage, or provide credit liquidity or other support to the financial products we manage. Any such election to provide support may arise from factors specific to our clients, our products or industry-wide factors. If we elect to provide additional support, we could incur losses from the support we provide and incur additional costs, including financing costs, in connection with the support. These losses and additional costs could be material and could adversely impact our results of operations. If we were to take such actions we may also restrict or otherwise utilize our corporate assets, limiting our flexibility to use these assets for other purposes, and may be required to raise additional capital.

Governmental initiatives intended to address capital marketChanges in the supervision and general economic conditions may not be effectiveregulation of the financial industry, including those set forth under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and may give rise to additional requirements for our business, including enhanced oversight, new capital requirements, additional fees and taxes or other regulations, thatConsumer Protection Act, could materially impact our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity in ways that we cannot predict.liquidity.

Recent economic conditions have causedOn July 21, 2010, the U.S. federal government, Federal Reserve and other U.S. and foreign governmental and regulatory bodies to take or to consider taking legislative and regulatory actions designed to address the financial crisis and to mitigate against the risk of similar crises going forward. In 2009, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed various forms of legislation setting forth a comprehensive planDodd-Frank Act was enacted into law. The Dodd-Frank Act calls for regulatory reformsweeping changes in the financial industry. While such legislation has not been finalized, these plans contemplate significant structural reforms, including heightened governmental powers to regulate risk across the financial systemsupervision and the creation of a new consumer financial protection agency. The legislation also calls for increased substantive regulation of the financial industry including heightened regulationdesigned to provide for greater oversight of largefinancial industry

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participants, reduce risk in banking practices and in securities and derivatives trading, enhance public company corporate governance practices and executive compensation disclosures, and provide greater protections to individual consumers and investors. Certain elements of the Dodd-Frank Act became effective immediately, though the details of many provisions are subject to additional studies and will not be known until final rules are adopted by applicable regulatory agencies. The impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on our company, the financial industry and the economy cannot be known until all such rules and regulations called for under the Act have been finalized, and, in some cases, implemented over time.

Accordingly, while the final contours of these reforms are not yet known, the Act is expected to impact the manner in which we market our products and services, manage our company and its operations and interact with regulators, all of which could materially impact our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. Certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act that may impact our business include but are not limited to restrictions on proprietary trading and investing in or sponsoring certain types of funds, the establishment of a fiduciary standard for broker-dealers, the imposition of capital requirements on financial holding companies, the resolution authority granted to the FDIC, changes in regulatory oversight and greater oversight over derivatives trading. We will need to respond to changes to the framework for the supervision of U.S. financial institutions, whose combinationincluding the creation of size, leverage,the Financial Stability Oversight Counsel ("FSOC") and interconnectedness could, upon the failureabolishment of such anthe OTS, which has been the primary regulator of both our banking subsidiary and our holding company. For example, if we were to be designated by FSOC as a systemically important financial institution, pose a threatwe may become subject to financial stability, a modified standard of care for broker-dealers, expanded regulation over credit ratings agenciesadditional regulatory oversight and derivatives and securitization markets, effective increases in regulatoryenhanced prudential standards, including those related to capital requirements and various corporate governance initiatives. In addition, specific taxes targetedrisk management standards at largerthe parent company level. To the extent the Dodd-Frank Act impacts the operations, financial condition, liquidity and capital requirements of unaffiliated financial institutions have been proposed that could increase ourwith whom we transact business, those institutions may seek to pass on increased costs, reduce their capacity to transact, or otherwise present inefficiencies in their interactions with us.

It is uncertain whether the Dodd-Frank Act, the rules and reduce our earnings. There can be no assurance as to whetherregulations developed thereunder, or when any of the parts of the proposed financial reform plans will be enacted intofuture legislation and if adopted, what the final provisions of such legislation will be.

This legislation or similar proposals may faildesigned to stabilize the financial markets, or the economy generally.generally, or provide better protections to consumers, will have the desired effect. Any new legislation or regulatory changes could require us to change certain of our business practices, impose additional costs on us, or otherwise adversely affect our business operations, regulatory reporting relationships, results of operations or financial condition. Consequences may include substantially higher compliance costs as well as material effects on interest rates and foreign exchange rates, which could materially impact our investments, results of operations and liquidity in ways that we cannot predict. In addition, prolonged government support for, and intervention in the management of, private institutions could distort customary and expected commercial behavior on the part of those institutions, adversely impacting us. In addition, we are subject

Changes in accounting standards could have a material impact on our financial statements.

We prepare our financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. From time to extensive laws and regulations that are administered and enforced by different governmental authorities and non-governmental self-regulatory organizations, including foreign regulators, state

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securities and insurance regulators,time, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB"), the SEC, and other regulators change the New York Stock Exchange, FINRA, The Securities Investor Protection Corporation ("SIPC"),financial accounting and reporting standards governing the OTS, the U.S. Departmentpreparation of Justice and state attorneys general. Financial conditions may prompt, and have prompted,our financial statements. In some of these authoritiescases, we could be required to consider additional regulatory requirements intended to prevent future crises or otherwise assure the stability of institutions under their supervision. These authorities may also seek to exercise their authority inapply a new or more expansive waysrevised standard retroactively, resulting in our restating prior period financial statements. These changes are difficult to predict, and the U.S. government may create additional regulators or materially change the authorities of existing regulators. All of these possibilities, if they occurred,it is possible that such changes could impact the way we conducthave a material effect on our business and manage our capital, and may require us to satisfy increased capital requirements, which in turn could materially impact our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity.results of operations.

Defaults in our fixed maturity securities portfolio or consumer credit products could adversely affect our earnings.

Issuers of the fixed maturity securities that we own may default on principal and interest payments. As of December 31, 2009,2010, 5% of our invested assets had ratings below investment-grade. Moreover, economic downturns and corporate malfeasance can increase the number of companies, including those with investment-grade ratings, that default on their debt obligations. Default-related declines in the value of our fixed maturity securities portfolio or consumer credit products could cause our net earnings to decline and could also cause us to contribute capital to some of our regulated subsidiaries, which may require us to obtain funding during periods of unfavorable market conditions. Higher delinquency and default rates in our bank's customer loan portfolio could require us to contribute capital to Ameriprise Bank and may result in additional restrictions from our regulators that impact the use and access to that capital.

If the counterparties to our reinsurance arrangements or to the derivative instruments we use to hedge our business risks default, we may be exposed to risks we had sought to mitigate, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

We use reinsurance to mitigate our risks in various circumstances as described in Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K — "Business — 10-K—"Business—Our Segments — Protection — Segments—Protection—Reinsurance." Reinsurance does not relieve us of our direct liability to our policyholders, even when the reinsurer is liable to us. Accordingly, we bear credit and performance risk with respect to our reinsurers. A reinsurer's insolvency or its inability or unwillingness to make payments under the terms of our reinsurance agreement could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. See Notes 2 and 107 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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In addition, we use a variety of derivative instruments (including options, forwards, and interest rate and currency swaps) with a number of counterparties to hedge business risks. The amount and breadth of exposure to derivative counterparties, as well as the cost of derivative instruments, have increased significantly in connection with our strategies to hedge guaranteed benefit obligations under our variable annuity products. If our counterparties fail to honor their obligations under the derivative instruments in a timely manner, our hedges of the related risk will be ineffective. That failure could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. This risk of failure of our hedge transactions from counterparty default may be increased by capital market volatility.

The determination of the amount of allowances and impairments taken on certain investments is subject to management's evaluation and judgment and could materially impact our results of operations or financial position.

The determination of the amount of allowances and impairments vary by investment type and is based upon our periodic evaluation and assessment of inherent and known risks associated with the respective asset class. Such evaluations and assessments are revised as conditions change and new information becomes available. Management updates its evaluations regularly and reflects changes in allowances and impairments in operations as such evaluations are revised. Historical trends may not be indicative of future impairments or allowances.

The assessment of whether impairments have occurred is based on management's case-by-case evaluation of the underlying reasons for the decline in fair value that considers a wide range of factors about the security issuer, and management uses its best judgment in evaluating the cause of the decline in the estimated fair value of the security and in assessing the prospects for recovery. Inherent in management's evaluation of the security are assumptions and estimates about the operations of the issuer and its future earnings potential, which assumptions and estimates are more difficult to make with certainty under current market conditions.

Our valuation of fixed maturity and equity securities may include methodologies, estimations and assumptions which are subject to differing interpretations and could result in changes to investment valuations that may materially adversely impact our results of operations or financial condition.

Fixed maturity, equity, trading securities and short-term investments, which are reported at fair value on the consolidated balance sheets, represent the majority of our total cash and invested assets. The determination of fair values by management in the absence of quoted market prices is based on: (i) valuation

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methodologies; (ii) securities we deem to be comparable; and (iii) assumptions deemed appropriate given the circumstances. The fair value estimates are made at a specific point in time, based on available market information and judgments about financial instruments, including estimates of the timing and amounts of expected future cash flows and the credit standing of the issuer or counterparty. Factors considered in estimating fair value include: coupon rate, maturity, estimated duration, call provisions, sinking fund requirements, credit rating, industry sector of the issuer, and quoted market prices of comparable securities. The use of different methodologies and assumptions may have a material effect on the estimated fair value amounts.

During periods of market disruption, including periods of significantly rising or high interest rates, rapidly widening credit spreads or illiquidity, it may be difficult to value certain of our securities. There may be certain asset classes that were in active markets with significant observable data that become illiquid due to the current financial environment. In such cases, certain securities may require additional subjectivity and management judgment. As such, valuations may include inputs and assumptions that are less observable or require greater estimation as well as valuation methods which are more sophisticated or require greater estimation, thereby resulting in values which may be less than the value at which the investments may be ultimately sold. Further, rapidly changing and unprecedented credit and equity market conditions could materially impact the valuation of securities as reported within our consolidated financial statements and the period-to-period changes in value could vary significantly. Decreases in value may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

Some of our investments are relatively illiquid.

We invest a portion of our owned assets in certain privately placed fixed income securities, mortgage loans, policy loans, limited partnership interests, collateralized debt obligations and restricted investments held by securitization trusts, among others, all of which are relatively illiquid. These asset classes represented 12% of the carrying value of our investment portfolio as of December 31, 2009.2010. If we require significant amounts of cash on short notice in excess of our normal cash requirements, we may have difficulty selling these investments in a timely manner or be forced to sell them for an amount less than we would otherwise have been able to realize, or both, which could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Intense competition and the economics of changes in our product revenue mix and distribution channels could negatively impact our ability to maintain or increase our market share and profitability.

Our businesses operate in intensely competitive industry segments. We compete based on a number of factors, including name recognition, service, the quality of investment advice, investment performance, product features, price, perceived financial strength, and claims-paying ability and credit ratings. Our competitors include broker-dealers, banks, asset

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managers, insurers and other financial institutions. Many of our businesses face competitors that have greater market share, offer a broader range of products, have greater financial resources, or have higher claims-paying ability or credit ratings than we do. Some of our competitors may possess or acquire intellectual property rights that could provide a competitive advantage to them in certain markets or for certain products, which could make it more difficult for us to introduce new products and services. Some of our competitors' proprietary products or technology could be similar to our own, and this could result in disputes that could impact our financial condition or results of operations. In addition, over time certain sectors of the financial services industry have become considerably more concentrated, as financial institutions involved in a broad range of financial services have been acquired by or merged into other firms. This convergence could result in our competitors gaining greater resources and we may experience pressures on our pricing and market share as a result of these factors and as some of our competitors seek to increase market share by reducing prices.

Historically, our branded advisor network (both franchisee advisors and those employed by AFSI) distributed annuity and protection products issued almost exclusively (in the case of annuities) or predominantly (in the case of protection products) by our RiverSource Life companies. The primary exception to this general practice is that the branded advisors who joined us in connection with the H&R Block Financial Advisors acquisition have continued to offer annuities from competitors as they did prior to the acquisition. We expect they will continue to do so until we harmonize the competitive products offered by all of our branded advisors, as described below, at which point some of these advisors will offer a more limited number of competitors' products. In 2010, we plan to begin expandingexpanded the offerings available to all of our branded advisors to include variable annuities issued by a limited number of unaffiliated insurance companies. As a result of this and further openings of our branded advisor network to the products of other companies, we could experience lower sales of our companies' products, higher surrenders, or other developments which might not be fully offset by higher distribution revenues or other benefits, possibly resulting in an adverse effect on our results of operations.

In late 2010, we discontinued the distribution ofRiverSource variable annuities through third-party channels. This could impact the persistency of business sold previously through these channels, possibly resulting in the acceleration of DAC amortization or other adverse effects on our results of operations.

A drop in investment performance as compared to our competitors could negatively impact our ability to increase profitability.

Sales of our own mutual funds by our affiliated financial advisor network comprise a significant percentage of our total mutual fund sales. We attribute this success to performance, new

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products and marketing efforts. A decline in the level of investment performance as compared to our competitors could cause a decline in market share and a commensurate drop in profits as sales of other companies' mutual funds are less profitable than those from our own mutual funds. A decline in investment performance could also adversely affect the realization of benefits from investments in our strategy to expand alternative distribution channels for our own products, including third-party distribution of our mutual funds.

We face intense competition in attracting and retaining key talent.

Our continued success depends to a substantial degree on our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel. We are dependent on our network of branded advisors for a significant portion of the sales of our mutual funds, annuities, face-amount certificates, banking and insurance products. In addition, our continued success depends to a substantial degree on our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel. The market for these financial advisors, registered representatives,as well as management talent, qualified legal and compliance professionals, fund managers, and investment analysts is extremely competitive. If we are unable to attract and retain qualified individuals or our recruiting and retention costs increase significantly, our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely impacted.

Our businesses are heavily regulated, and changes in legislation or regulationto the laws and regulations applicable to our businesses may reducehave an adverse effect on our profitability, limit our growth, or impact our ability to pay dividends or achieve targeted return-on-equity levels.operations, reputation and financial condition.

We operate in highly regulated industriesVirtually all aspects of our business, including the activities of our parent company and are required to obtain and maintain licenses for many of the businesses we operate in addition to being subject to regulatory oversight. Securities regulators have significantly increased the level of regulation in recent years and have several outstanding proposals for additional regulation. Market conditions and recent events could result in increases or changes in current regulations and regulatory structures, including higher licensing fees and assessments. In addition, weour various subsidiaries, are subject to heightened requirementsvarious federal, state and associated costsforeign laws and risks relatingregulations. For a discussion of the regulatory framework in which we operate, see Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K—"Business—Regulation." Compliance with these applicable laws and regulations is time-consuming and personnel-intensive, and we have invested and will continue to privacyinvest substantial resources to ensure compliance by our parent company and our subsidiaries, directors, officers, employees, registered representatives and agents. Any changes to the laws and regulations applicable to our businesses, as well as changes to the interpretation and enforcement of such laws and regulations, may affect our operations and financial condition. Such changes may impact our operations and profitability and the protectionpractices of customer data. Theseour financial advisors, including with respect to the scope of products and services provided, the manner in which products and services are marketed and sold and the incurrence of additional costs of doing business. The recent economic crisis has resulted in numerous changes to regulation and oversight of the financial industry, the full impact of which has yet to be realized. Any incremental requirements, costs and risks as well as possibleimposed on us in connection with such current or future legislative or regulatory changes, may constrain our ability to market our products and services to our target demographic and potential customers, and could negatively impact our profitability and make it more difficult for us to pursue our growth strategy.

Certain examples of legislative and regulatory changes that may impact our businesses are described further below.

As discussed in Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K—"Business—Regulation", the recently enacted Dodd-Frank Act calls for sweeping changes in the supervision and regulation of the financial industry. The Dodd-Frank Act mandates numerous changes to both the regulatory framework in which financial services companies operate and the specific

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regulations with which such companies must comply. Amongst the changes to the regulatory framework are the abolishment of the OTS and the transition of its responsibilities to other federal agencies. As a result, the OCC will become the primary regulator of Ameriprise Bank and the FRB will become the primary regulator of our parent company. We cannot predict how the transition to these new regulatory agencies, or the environment for enforcement actions, will impact us.

Any mandated reductions or restructuring of the fees we charge for our products and services resulting from regulatory initiatives or proceedings could reduce our revenues and earnings. In the years ended December 31, 2010, 2009 and 2008, we earned $1.7 billion, $1.4 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively, in distribution fees. A significant portion of these revenues was paid to us by our own Columbia family of mutual funds in accordance with plans and agreements of distribution adopted under Rule 12b-1 promulgated under the Investment Company Act. We believe that these fees are a critical element in the distribution of our own mutual funds. In July 2010, the SEC proposed certain measures that would establish a new framework to replace the requirements of Rule 12b-1. The proposed changes are subject to public comment and, following any enactment, would be phased in over a number of years. Any industry-wide reduction or restructuring of Rule 12b-1 fees could have a material adverse effect on our ability to distribute our own mutual funds and the fees we receive for distributing other companies' mutual funds, which could, in turn, have a material adverse effect on our revenues and earnings.

The Department of Labor issued proposed regulations on October 22, 2010 seeking to change the definition of who is a fiduciary with respect to Investment Advice under ERISA, which applies to both 401(k) plans and IRAs. These regulations are in proposed form and have not yet been finalized. We cannot predict whether or when the regulations may be finalized, or how any final regulations may differ from the currently proposed regulations. If the regulations were to be issued substantially as currently drafted, they could impact how we receive fees, as well as how we compensate our advisors and design our investments and services for qualified accounts, which could negatively impact our results of operations.

Our insurance companies are subject to state regulation and must comply with statutory reserve and capital requirements. State regulators are continually reviewing and updating these requirements and other requirements relating to the business operations of insurance companies, including their underwriting and sales practices. The NAIC adopted a change to require principles-based reserves for variable annuities at the end of 2009, and continues to discuss moving to a principles-based reserving system for other insurance and annuity products. The requirement for principles-based variable annuity reserves, along with a similar risk-based capital requirement adopted previously, may result in statutory reserves and risk-based capital for variable annuities being more sensitive to changes in equity prices and other market factors. It is not possible at this time to estimate the potential impact on our insurance businesses of future changes in statutory reserve and capital requirements. Further, we cannot predict the effect that proposed federal legislation, such as the option of federally chartered insurers or a mandated federal systemic risk regulator, may have on our insurance businesses or their competitors. Compliance with applicable laws and regulations is time consuming and personnel-intensive. Moreover, the evaluation of our compliance with broker-dealer, investment advisor, insurance company and banking regulation by the SEC, OTS and other regulatory organizations is an ongoing feature of our business, the outcomes of which may not be foreseeable. Changes in these laws and regulations may materially increase our direct and indirect compliance and other expenses of doing business. Our financial advisors may decide that the direct cost of compliance and the indirect cost of time spent on compliance matters outweigh the benefits of a career as a financial advisor, which could lead to financial advisor attrition. The costs of the compliance requirements we face, and the constraints they impose on our operations, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, we may be required to reduce our fee levels, or restructure the fees we charge, as a result of regulatory initiatives or proceedings that are either industry-wide or specifically targeted at our company. Reductions or other changes in the fees that we charge for our products and services could reduce our revenues and earnings. Moreover, in the years ended December 31, 2009, 2008 and 2007, we earned $1.4 billion, $1.6 billion and $1.8 billion, respectively, in distribution fees. A significant portion of these revenues was paid to us by our own RiverSource family of mutual funds in accordance with plans and agreements of distribution adopted under Rule 12b-1 promulgated under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or Rule 12b-1. We believe that these fees are a critical element in the distribution of our own mutual funds. However, an industry-wide reduction or restructuring of Rule 12b-1 fees could have a material adverse effect on our ability to distribute our own mutual funds and the fees we receive for distributing other companies' mutual funds, which could, in turn, have a material adverse effect on our revenues and earnings.

Consumer lending activities at our bank are subject to applicable laws as well as regulation by various regulatory bodies. Changes in laws or regulation could affect our bank's ability to conduct business. These changes could include but are not limited to our bank's ability to market and sell products, fee pricing or interest

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rates that can be charged on loans outstanding, changes in communication with customers that affect payments, statements and collections of loans, and changes in accounting for the consumer lending business.

The majority of our affiliated financial advisors are independent contractors. Legislative or regulatory action that redefines the criteria for determining whether a person is an employee or an independent contractor could materially impact our relationships with our advisors, and our business, resulting in an adverse effect on our results of operations.

For a further discussion of the regulatory framework in which we operate, see Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K — "Business — Regulation."

We face risks arising from acquisitions.

We have made acquisitions in the past and expect to continue to do so.may pursue further acquisitions in the future. We face a number of risks arising from acquisition transactions, including difficulties in the integration of acquired businesses into our operations, difficulties in assimilating and retaining employees and intermediaries, difficulties in retaining the existing customers of the acquired entities, unforeseen liabilities that arise in connection with the acquired businesses, the failure of counterparties to satisfy any obligations to indemnify us against liabilities arising from the acquired businesses, and unfavorable market conditions that could negatively impact our growth expectations for the acquired businesses. These risks may prevent us from realizing the expected benefits from acquisitions and could result in the impairment of goodwill and/or intangible assets recognized at the time of acquisition.

A failure to protect our reputation including the proper management of conflicts of interest, could adversely affect our businesses.

Our reputation is one of our most important assets. Our ability to attract and retain customers, investors, employees and affiliated financial advisors is highly dependent upon external perceptions of our level of service, business practices and financial condition. Damage to our reputation could cause significant harm to our business and prospects and may arise from numerous sources, including litigation or regulatory actions, failing to deliver minimum standards of service and quality, compliance failures, unethical behavior and the misconduct of employees, affiliated financial advisors and counterparties. Negative perceptions or publicity regarding these matters could damage our reputation among existing and potential customers, investors, employees and affiliated financial advisors. Adverse developments with respect to our industry may also, by association, negatively impact our reputation or result in greater regulatory or legislative scrutiny or litigation against us.

Our reputation is also dependent on our continued identification of and mitigation against conflicts of interest. As we have expanded the scope of our businesses and our client base, we increasingly have to identify and address potential conflicts of interest, including those relating to our proprietary activities and those relating to our sales of non-proprietary products

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from manufacturers that have agreed to provide us marketing, sales and account maintenance support. For example, conflicts may arise between our position as a provider of financial planning services and as a manufacturer and/or distributor or broker of asset accumulation, income or insurance products that one of our affiliated financial advisors may recommend to a financial planning client. We have procedures and controls that are designed to identify, address and appropriately disclose conflicts of interest. However, identifying and appropriately dealing with conflicts of interest is complex, and our reputation could be damaged if we fail, or appear to fail, to deal appropriately with conflicts of interest. In addition, the SEC and other federal and state regulators have increased their scrutiny of potential conflicts of interest. It is possible that potential or perceived conflicts could give rise to litigation or enforcement actions. It is possible also that the regulatory scrutiny of, and litigation in connection with, conflicts of interest will make our clients less willing to enter into transactions in which such a conflict may occur, and will adversely affect our businesses.

Misconduct by our employees and affiliated financial advisors is difficult to detect and deter and could harm our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Misconduct by our employees and affiliated financial advisors could result in violations of law, regulatory sanctions and/or serious reputational or financial harm. Misconduct can occur in each of our businesses and could include:

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binding us to transactions that exceed authorized limits;

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hiding unauthorized or unsuccessful activities resulting in unknown and unmanaged risks or losses;

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improperly using, disclosing or otherwise compromising confidential information;

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recommending transactions that are not suitable;

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engaging in fraudulent or otherwise improper activity;

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engaging in unauthorized or excessive trading to the detriment of customers; or

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otherwise not complying with laws, regulations or our control procedures.

We cannot always deter misconduct by our employees and affiliated financial advisors, and the precautions we take to prevent and detect this activity may not be effective in all cases. Preventing and detecting misconduct among our branded

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franchisee advisors and our unbranded affiliated financial advisors who are not employees of our company and tend to be located in small, decentralized offices, present additional challenges. We also cannot assure that misconduct by our employees and affiliated financial advisors will not lead to a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Legal and regulatory actions are inherent in our businesses and could result in financial losses or harm our businesses.

We are, and in the future may be, subject to legal and regulatory actions in the ordinary course of our operations, both domestically and internationally. Various regulatory and governmental bodies have the authority to review our products and business practices and those of our employees and independent financial advisors and to bring regulatory or other legal actions against us if, in their view, our practices, or those of our employees or affiliated financial advisors, are improper. Pending legal and regulatory actions include proceedings relating to aspects of our businesses and operations that are specific to us and proceedings that are typical of the industries and businesses in which we operate. Some of these proceedings have been brought on behalf of various alleged classes of complainants. In certain of these matters, the plaintiffs are seeking large and/or indeterminate amounts, including punitive or exemplary damages. See Item 3 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K — "Legal10-K—"Legal Proceedings." In or as a result of turbulent times such as those we have experienced, the volume of claims and amount of damages sought in litigation and regulatory proceedings generally increase. Substantial legal liability in current or future legal or regulatory actions could have a material adverse financial effect or cause significant reputational harm, which in turn could seriously harm our business prospects.

A downgrade or a potential downgrade in our financial strength or credit ratings could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Financial strength ratings, which various ratings organizations publish as a measure of an insurance company's ability to meet contract holdercontractholder and policyholder obligations, are important to maintain public confidence in our products, the ability to market our products and our competitive position. A downgrade in our financial strength ratings, or the announced potential for a downgrade, could have a significant adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations in many ways, including:

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reducing new sales of insurance products, annuities and investment products;

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adversely affecting our relationships with our affiliated financial advisors and third-party distributors of our products;

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materially increasing the number or amount of policy surrenders and withdrawals by contract holderscontractholders and policyholders;

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requiring us to reduce prices for many of our products and services to remain competitive; and

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adversely affecting our ability to obtain reinsurance or obtain reasonable pricing on reinsurance.

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A downgrade in our credit ratings could also adversely impact our future cost and speed of borrowing and have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and liquidity.

In view of the difficulties experienced recently by many financial institutions, including our competitors in the insurance industry, the ratings organizations have heightened the level of scrutiny that they apply to such institutions and have requested additional information from the companies that they rate. They may increase the frequency and scope of their credit reviews, adjust upward the capital and other requirements employed in the ratings organizations' models for maintenance of ratings levels, or downgrade ratings applied to particular classes of securities or types of institutions. Ratings organizations may also become subject to tighter laws and regulations governing the ratings, which may in turn impact the ratings assigned to financial institutions.

We cannot predict what actions rating organizations may take, or what actions we may take in response to the actions of rating organizations, which could adversely affect our business. As with other companies in the financial services industry, our ratings could be changed at any time and without any notice by the ratings organizations.

If our reserves for future policy benefits and claims or for our bank lending portfolio or for future certificate redemptions and maturities are inadequate, we may be required to increase our reserve liabilities, which couldwould adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We establish reserves as estimates of our liabilities to provide for future obligations under our insurance policies, annuities and investment certificate contracts. We also establish reserves as estimates of the potential for loan losses in our consumer lending portfolios. Reserves do not represent an exact calculation but, rather, are estimates of contract benefits or loan losses and related expenses we expect to incur over time. The assumptions and estimates we make in establishing reserves require certain judgments about future experience and, therefore, are inherently uncertain. We cannot determine with precision the actual amounts that we will pay for contract benefits, the timing of payments, or whether the assets supporting our stated reserves will increase to the levels we estimate before payment of benefits or claims. We monitor our reserve levels continually. If we were to

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conclude that our reserves are insufficient to cover actual or expected contract benefits or loan collections, we would be required to increase our reserves and incur income statement charges for the period in which we make the determination, which couldwould adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. For more information on how we set our reserves, see Note 2 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Morbidity rates or mortality rates that differ significantly from our pricing expectations could negatively affect profitability.

We set prices forRiverSource life insurance and some annuity products based upon expected claim payment patterns, derived from assumptions we make about our policyholders and contract holders,contractholders, the morbidity rates, or likelihood of sickness, and mortality rates, or likelihood of death. The long-term profitability of these products depends upon how our actual experience compares with our pricing assumptions. For example, if morbidity rates are higher, or mortality rates are lower, than our pricing assumptions, we could be required to make greater payments under disability income insurance policies, chronic care riders and immediate annuity contracts than we had projected. The same holds true for long term care policies we previously underwrote to the extent of the risks that we have retained. If mortality rates are higher than our pricing assumptions, we could be required to make greater payments under our life insurance policies and annuity contracts with guaranteed minimum death benefits than we have projected.

The risk that our claims experience may differ significantly from our pricing assumptions is particularly significant for our long term care insurance products notwithstanding our ability to implement future price increases with regulatory approvals. As with life insurance, long term care insurance policies provide for long-duration coverage and, therefore, our actual claims experience will emerge over many years. However, as a relatively new product in the market, long term care insurance does not have the extensive claims experience history of life insurance and, as a result, our ability to forecast future claim rates for long term care insurance is more limited than for life insurance. We have sought to moderate these uncertainties to some extent by partially reinsuring long term care policies we previously underwrote and by limiting our present long term care insurance offerings to policies underwritten fully by unaffiliated third-party insurers, and we have also implemented rate increases on certain in force policies as described in Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K — "Business — 10-K—"Business—Our Segments — Protection — Segments—Protection—RiverSource Insurance Products — Products—Long Term Care Insurance". We may be required to implement additional rate increases in the future and may or may not receive regulatory approval for the full extent and timing of any rate increases that we may seek.

We may face losses if there are significant deviations from our assumptions regarding the future persistency of our insurance policies and annuity contracts.

The prices and expected future profitability of our life insurance and deferred annuity products are based in part upon assumptions related to persistency, which is the probability that a policy or contract will remain in force from one period to the next. Given the ongoing economic and market dislocations, future consumer persistency behaviors could vary materially from the past. The effect of persistency on profitability varies for different products. For most of our life insurance and

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deferred annuity products, actual persistency that is lower than our persistency assumptions could have an adverse impact on profitability, especially in the early years of a policy or contract, primarily because we would be required to accelerate the amortization of expenses we deferred in connection with the acquisition of the policy or contract.

For our long term care insurance and certain universal life insurance policies with secondary guarantees, as well as variable annuities with guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefits, actual persistency that is higher than our persistency assumptions could have a negative impact on profitability. If these policies remain in force longer than we assumed, then we could be required to make greater benefit payments than we had anticipated when we priced or partially reinsured these products. Some of our long term care insurance policies have experienced higher persistency and poorer loss experience than we had assumed, which led us to increase premium rates on certain of these policies.

Because our assumptions regarding persistency experience are inherently uncertain, reserves for future policy benefits and claims may prove to be inadequate if actual persistency experience is different from those assumptions. Although some of our products permit us to increase premiums during the life of the policy or contract, we cannot guarantee that these increases would be sufficient to maintain profitability. Additionally, some of these pricing changes require regulatory approval, which may not be forthcoming. Moreover, many of our products do not permit us to increase premiums or limit those increases during the life of the policy or contract, while premiums on certain other products (primarily long term care insurance) may not be increased without prior regulatory approval. Significant deviations in experience from pricing expectations regarding persistency could have an adverse effect on the profitability of our products.

We may be required to accelerate the amortization of deferred acquisition costs,DAC, which would increase our expenses and reduce profitability.

Deferred acquisition costs ("DAC")DAC represent the costs of acquiring new business, principally direct sales commissions and other distribution and underwriting costs that have been deferred on the sale of annuity, life and disability income insurance and, to a lesser extent, marketing and promotional expenses for personal

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auto and home insurance, and distribution expense for certain mutual fund products. For annuity and universal life products, DAC are amortized based on projections of estimated gross profits over amortization periods equal to the approximate life of the business. For other insurance products, DAC are generally amortized as a percentage of premiums over amortization periods equal to the premium-paying period. For certain mutual fund products, we generally amortize DAC over fixed periods on a straight-line basis.basis, adjusted for redemptions.

Our projections underlying the amortization of DAC require the use of certain assumptions, including interest margins, mortality rates, persistency rates, maintenance expense levels and customer asset value growth rates for variable products. We periodically review and, where appropriate, adjust our assumptions. When we change our assumptions, we may be required to accelerate the amortization of DAC or to record a charge to increase benefit reserves.

For more information regarding DAC, see Part II, Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K under the heading "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Operations—Critical Accounting Policies — Policies—Deferred Acquisition Costs and Deferred Sales Inducement Costs" and " Management's"Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Operations—Recent Accounting Pronouncements."

The occurrence of natural or man-made disasters and catastrophes could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

The occurrence of natural disasters and catastrophes, including earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, fires, severe winter weather, explosions, pandemic disease and man-made disasters, including acts of terrorism and military actions, could adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition. Such disasters and catastrophes may impact us directly by damaging our facilities, preventing our employees and financial advisors from performing their roles or otherwise disturbing our ordinary business operations and by impacting insurance claims, as described below. Such disasters and catastrophes may also impact us indirectly by changing the condition and behaviors of our customers, business counterparties and regulators, as well as by causing declines or volatility in the economic and financial markets.

The effects of natural and man-made disasters and catastrophes on certain of our businesses include but are not limited to the following: a catastrophic loss of life may materially increase the amount of or accelerate the timing in which benefits are paid under our insurance policies; significant property damage may materially increase the amount of claims submitted under our property casualty insurance policies; an increase in claims and any resulting increase in claims reserves caused by a disaster may harm the financial condition of our reinsurers, thereby impacting the cost and availability of reinsurance and the probability of default on reinsurance recoveries; and declines and volatility in the financial markets may decrease the value of our owned, managed and administered assets, which would harm our financial condition and reduce our management fees.

We cannot predict the timing and frequency with which natural and man-made disasters and catastrophes may occur, nor can we predict the impact that changing climate conditions may have on the frequency and severity of natural disasters such as hurricanes. As such, we cannot be sure that our actions to identify and mitigate the risks associated with such

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disasters and catastrophes, including predictive modeling, establishing liabilities for expected claims, acquiring insurance and reinsurance and developing business continuity plans, will be effective.

We may not be able to protect our intellectual property and may be subject to infringement claims.

We rely on a combination of contractual rights and copyright, trademark, patent and trade secret laws to establish and protect our intellectual property. Although we use a broad range of measures to protect our intellectual property rights, third parties may infringe or misappropriate our intellectual property. We may have to litigate to enforce and protect our copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets and know-how or to determine their scope, validity or enforceability, which represents a diversion of resources that may be significant in amount and may not prove successful. The loss of intellectual property protection or the inability to secure or enforce the protection of our intellectual property assets could have a material adverse effect on our business and our ability to compete.

We also may be subject to costly litigation in the event that another party alleges our operations or activities infringe upon such other party's intellectual property rights. Third parties may have, or may eventually be issued, patents or other protections that could be infringed by our products, methods, processes or services or could otherwise limit our ability to offer certain product features. Any party that holds such a patent could make a claim of infringement against us. We may also be subject to claims by third parties for breach of copyright, trademark, license usage rights, or misappropriation of trade secret rights. Any such claims and any resulting litigation could result in significant liability for damages. If we were found to have infringed or misappropriated a third-party patent or other intellectual property rights, we could incur substantial liability, and in some circumstances could be enjoined from providing certain products or services to our customers or utilizing and benefiting from certain methods, processes, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets or licenses, or alternatively could be required to enter into costly licensing arrangements with third parties, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Breaches of security, or the perception that our technology infrastructure is not secure, could harm our business.

Our business requires the appropriate and secure utilization of client and other sensitive information. Our operations require the secure transmission of confidential information over public networks. Security breaches in connection with the delivery of our products and services, including products and services utilizing the Internet, as well as intrusions resulting from the efforts of "hackers" seeking the sensitive data we possess, and the trend toward broad consumer and general public notification of such incidents, could significantly harm our business, financial condition or results of operations. Even if we successfully protect our technology infrastructure and the confidentiality of sensitive data, we could suffer harm to our business and reputation if attempted security breaches are publicized. We cannot be certain that advances in criminal capabilities, discovery of new vulnerabilities, attempts to exploit vulnerabilities in our systems, data thefts, physical system or network break-ins or inappropriate access, or other developments will not compromise or breach the technology or other security measures protecting the networks used in connection with our products and services.

Protection from system interruptions and operating errors is important to our business. If we experience a sustained interruption to our telecommunications or data processing systems, or other failure in operational execution, it could harm our business.

System or network interruptions could delay and disrupt our ability to develop, deliver or maintain our products and services, causing harm to our business and reputation and resulting in loss of customers or revenue. Interruptions could be caused by operational failures arising from our implementation of new technology, as well from our maintenance of existing technology. Our financial, accounting, data processing or other operating systems and facilities may fail to operate properly or become disabled as a result of events that are wholly or partially beyond our control, adversely affecting our ability to process transactions or provide products and services to our customers. These interruptions can include fires, floods, earthquakes, power losses,

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equipment failures, failures of internal or vendor software or systems and other events beyond our control. Further, we face the risk of operational failure, termination or capacity constraints of any of the clearing agents, exchanges, clearing houses or other financial intermediaries that we use to facilitate or are component providers to our securities transactions and other product manufacturing and distribution activities. These risks are heightened by our deployment in response to both investor interest and evolution in the financial markets of increasingly sophisticated products, such as those which incorporate automatic asset re-allocation, long/short trading strategies or multiple portfolios or funds, and business-driven hedging, compliance and other risk management strategies. Any such failure, termination or constraint could adversely impact our ability to effect transactions, service our clients and manage our exposure to risk.

Risk management policies and procedures may not be fully effective in identifying or mitigating risk exposure in all market environments or against all types of risk, including employee and financial advisor misconduct.

We have devoted significant resources to develop our risk management policies and procedures and will continue to do so. Nonetheless, our policies and procedures to identify, monitor and manage risks may not be fully effective in mitigating our risk exposure in all market environments or against all types of risk. Many of our methods of managing risk and exposures are based upon our use of observed historical market behavior or statistics based on historical models. During periods of market volatility or due to unforeseen events, the historically derived correlations upon which these methods are based

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may not be valid. As a result, these methods may not accurately predict future exposures, which could be significantly greater than what our models indicate. This could cause us to incur investment losses or cause our hedging and other risk management strategies to be ineffective. Other risk management methods depend upon the evaluation of information regarding markets, clients, catastrophe occurrence or other matters that are publicly available or otherwise accessible to us, which may not always be accurate, complete, up-to-date or properly evaluated.

Moreover, we are subject to the risks of errors and misconduct by our employees and affiliated financial advisors, such as fraud, non-compliance with policies, recommending transactions that are not suitable, and improperly using or disclosing confidential information. These risks are difficult to detect in advance and deter, and could harm our business, results of operations or financial condition. We are further subject to the risk of nonperformance or inadequate performance of contractual obligations by third-party vendors of products and services that are used in our businesses. Management of operational, legal and regulatory risks requires, among other things, policies and procedures to record properly and verify a large number of transactions and events, and these policies and procedures may not be fully effective in mitigating our risk exposure in all market environments or against all types of risk. Insurance and other traditional risk-shifting tools may be held by or available to us in order to manage certain exposures, but they are subject to terms such as deductibles, coinsurance, limits and policy exclusions, as well as risk of counterparty denial of coverage, default or insolvency.

As a holding company, we depend on the ability of our subsidiaries to transfer funds to us to pay dividends and to meet our obligations.

We act as a holding company for our insurance and other subsidiaries.subsidiaries, through which substantially all of our operations are conducted. Dividends from our subsidiaries and permitted payments to us under our intercompany arrangements with our subsidiaries are our principal sources of cash to pay shareholder dividends and to meet our other financial obligations. These obligations include our operating expenses and interest and principal on our borrowings. If the cash we receive from our subsidiaries pursuant to dividend payment and intercompany arrangements is insufficient for us to fund any of these obligations, we may be required to raise cash through the incurrence of additional debt, the issuance of additional equity or the sale of assets. If any of this happens, it could adversely impact our financial condition and results of operations.

Insurance, banking and securities laws and regulations regulate the ability of many of our subsidiaries (such as our insurance, banking and brokerage subsidiaries and our face-amount certificate company) to pay dividends or make other permitted payments. See Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K — "Regulation"10-K—"Regulation" as well as the information contained in Part II, Item 7 under the heading "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources." In addition to the various regulatory restrictions that constrain our subsidiaries' ability to pay dividends or make other permitted payments to our company, the rating organizations impose various capital requirements on our company and our insurance company subsidiaries in order for us to maintain our ratings and the ratings of our insurance subsidiaries. The value of assets on the company-level balance sheets of our subsidiaries is a significant factor in determining these restrictions and capital requirements. As asset values decline, our and our subsidiaries' ability to pay dividends or make other permitted payments can be reduced. Additionally, the various asset classes held by our subsidiaries, and used in determining required capital levels, are weighted differently or are restricted as to the proportion in which they may be held depending upon their liquidity, credit risk and other factors. Volatility in relative asset values among different asset classes can alter the proportion of our subsidiaries' holdings in those classes,

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which could increase required capital and constrain our and our subsidiaries' ability to pay dividends or make other permitted payments. The regulatory capital requirements and dividend-paying ability of our subsidiaries may also be affected by a change in the mix of products sold by such subsidiaries. For example, fixed annuities typically require more capital than variable annuities, and an increase in the proportion of fixed annuities sold in relation to variable annuities could increase the regulatory capital requirements of our life insurance subsidiaries. This may reduce the dividends or other permitted payments which could be made from those subsidiaries in the near term without the rating organizations viewing this negatively. Further, the capital requirements imposed upon our subsidiaries may be impacted by heightened regulatory scrutiny and intervention, which could negatively affect our and our subsidiaries' ability to pay dividends or make other permitted payments. Additionally, in the past we have found it necessary to provide support to certain of our subsidiaries in order to maintain adequate capital for regulatory or other purposes and we may provide such support in the future. The provision of such support could adversely affect our excess capital, liquidity, and the dividends or other permitted payments received from our subsidiaries.

The operation of our business in foreign markets and our investments in non-U.S. denominated securities and investment products subjects us to exchange rate and other risks in connection with earnings and income generated overseas.

While we are a U.S.-based company, a portion of our business operations occur outside of the U.S. and some of our investments are not denominated in U.S. dollars. As a result, we are exposed to certain foreign currency exchange risks that could reduce U.S. dollar equivalent earnings as well as negatively impact our general account and other proprietary investment portfolios. Appreciation of the U.S. dollar could unfavorably affect net income from foreign operations, the value of non-U.S. dollar denominated investments and investments in foreign subsidiaries. In comparison, depreciation of the U.S. dollar could positively affect our net income from foreign operations and the value of non-U.S. dollar denominated

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investments, though such depreciation could also diminish investor, creditor and ratings agencyrating organizations perceptions of our company compared to peer companies that have a relatively greater proportion of foreign operations or investments.

We may seek to mitigate these risks by employing various hedging strategies including entering into derivative contracts. Currency fluctuations, including the effect of changes in the value of U.S. dollar denominated investments that vary from the amounts ultimately needed to hedge our exposure to changes in the U.S. dollar equivalent of earnings and equity of these operations, may adversely affect our results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.

Changes in U.S. federal income or estate tax law could make some of our products less attractive to clients.

Many of the products we issue or on which our businesses are based (including both insurance products and non-insurance products) enjoy favorable treatment under current U.S. federal income or estate tax law. Changes in U.S. federal income or estate tax law could thus make some of our products less attractive to clients.

We are subject to tax contingencies that could adversely affect our provision for income taxes.

We are subject to the income tax laws of the U.S., its states and municipalities and those of the foreign jurisdictions in which we have significant business operations. These tax laws are complex and may be subject to different interpretations. We must make judgments and interpretations about the application of these inherently complex tax laws when determining the provision for income taxes and must also make estimates about when in the future certain items affect taxable income in the various tax jurisdictions. Disputes over interpretations of the tax laws may be settled with the taxing authority upon examination or audit. In addition, changes to the Internal Revenue Code, administrative rulings or court decisions could increase our provision for income taxes.

Risks Relating to Our Common Stock

The market price of our shares may fluctuate.

The market price of our common stock may fluctuate widely, depending upon many factors, some of which may be beyond our control, including:

>•

changes in expectations concerning our future financial performance and the future performance of the financial services industry in general, including financial estimates and recommendations by securities analysts;

>•

differences between our actual financial and operating results and those expected by investors and analysts;

>•

our strategic moves and those of our competitors, such as acquisitions or restructurings;

>•

changes in the regulatory framework of the financial services industry and regulatory action;

•

changes in accounting standards applicable to our businesses and the financial services industry; and

>•

changes in general economic or market conditions.

Stock markets in general have experienced volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of a particular company. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock.

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Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and of Delaware law may prevent or delay an acquisition of our company, which could decrease the market value of our common stock.

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and Delaware law contain provisions intended to deter coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids by making them unacceptably expensive to the raider and to encourage prospective acquirors to negotiate with our board of directors rather than to attempt a hostile takeover. These provisions include, among others:

>•

a board of directors that is divided into three classes with staggered terms;terms, however, in 2010, our shareholders approved an amendment to our certificate of incorporation that provides for the annual election of all directors beginning at our 2013 annual meeting of shareholders;

>•

elimination of the right of our shareholders to act by written consent;

>•

rules regarding how shareholders may present proposals or nominate directors for election at shareholder meetings;

>•

the right of our board of directors to issue preferred stock without shareholder approval; and

>•

limitations on the right of shareholders to remove directors.

Delaware law also imposes some restrictions on mergers and other business combinations between us and any holder of 15% or more of our outstanding common stock.

We believe these provisions protect our shareholders from coercive or otherwise unfair takeover tactics by requiring potential acquirors to negotiate with our board of directors and by providing our board of directors time to assess any acquisition proposal. They are not intended to make our company immune from takeovers. However, these provisions apply

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even if the offer may be considered beneficial by some shareholders and could delay or prevent an acquisition that our board of directors determines is not in the best interests of our company and our shareholders.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

None.

Item 2. Properties.

We operate our business from two principal locations, both of which are located in Minneapolis, Minnesota: the Ameriprise Financial Center, an 897,280848,000 square foot building that we lease, and our 903,722885,000 square foot Client Service Center, which we own. Each of these principal locations meets high environmental standards: The Client Service Center has achieved the U.S. Green Building Council ("USGBC") LEED Gold Certification, and the Ameriprise Financial Center has achieved USGBC LEED Silver Certification. Our lease term for the Ameriprise Financial Center began in November 2000 and is for 20 years, with several options to extend the term. Our aggregate annual rent for the Ameriprise Financial Center is $15 million. Ameriprise Financial, Inc. owns the 170,815171,000 square foot Oak Ridge Conference Center, a training facility and conference center in Chaska, Minnesota, which can also serve as a disaster recovery site, if necessary. We also lease space in an operations center located in Minneapolis, and we occupy space in a second operations center located in Phoenix, Arizona.

Our property and casualty subsidiary, IDS Property Casualty,Ameriprise Auto and Home Insurance, leases approximately 142,000 square feet at its corporate headquarters in DePere, Wisconsin, a suburb of Green Bay. The lease has a ten-year term expiring in 2014 with an option to renew the lease for up to six renewal terms of five years each. They also lease a 34,000 square foot office space in Phoenix, Arizona with a lease term expiring in 2014.

SAI leases its corporate headquarters, containing approximately 88,00080,000 square feet, in LaVista, Nebraska, a suburb of Omaha, under a lease that runs through January 31, 2018 with renewal options. SAI also maintains data centers and disaster recovery facilities in Omaha, Nebraska and Kansas City, Missouri.

Threadneedle leases one office facility in London, England and one in Swindon, England. It is the sole tenant of its London office, a 60,410 square foot building, under a lease expiring in June 2018. Threadneedle also leases part of a buildingproperty in Frankfurt, Germany, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Singapore and Australia and rents offices in a number of other European cities, Hong Kong, Singapore and AustraliaDubai to support its global operations.

J. & W. SeligmanColumbia Management leases offices in New York City containing approximately 100,00090,000 square feet under a lease expiring in 2019.2019 and, in first quarter 2011, will relocate from Bank of America facilities in Boston to its own space in Boston containing approximately 156,000 square feet under a lease that expires in 2021. In addition, Seligman occupies a space of 11,425 square feet in Menlo Park, California under a lease that expires in 2023. Seligman also occupies 35,0002023, and Columbia Wanger leases 48,000 square feet in South Portland, MaineChicago, Illinois under a lease that expires in 2015.2019.

AFSI leases offices containing approximately 84,000 square feet in Detroit, Michigan, under a lease expiring in 2016.

Generally, we lease the premises we occupy in other locations, including the executive and bank offices that we maintain in New York City and branch offices for our employee branded advisors throughout the United States. We believe that the facilities owned or occupied by our company suit our needs and are well maintained.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

Owing to conditions then-prevailing in the credit markets and the isolated defaults of unaffiliated structured investment vehicles held in the portfolios of money market funds advised by its RiverSource Investments LLC subsidiary (the "2a-7 Funds"), the Company closely monitored the net asset value of the 2a-7 Funds during 2008 and 2009 and, as circumstances have warranted from time to time injected capital into one or more of the 2a-7 Funds. Management believes that the market conditions which gave rise to those circumstances have significantly diminished.

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The Company has not provided a formal capital support agreement or net asset value guarantee to any of the 2a-7 Funds.

The Company and its subsidiaries are involved in the normal course of business in legal, regulatory and arbitration proceedings, including class actions, concerning matters arising in connection with the conduct of its activities as a diversified financial services firm. These include proceedings specific to the Company as well as proceedings generally applicable to business practices in the industries in which it operates. The Company can also be subject to litigation arising out of its general business activities, such as its investments, contracts, leases and employment relationships. Uncertain economic conditions, heightened volatility in the financial markets, such as those which have been experienced from the latter part of 2007 through 2009, and significant regulatoryrecently enacted financial reform proposalslegislation may increase the likelihood that clients and other persons or regulators may present or threaten legal claims or that regulators increase the scope or frequency of examinations of the Company or the financial services industry generally.

As with other financial services firms, the level of regulatory activity and inquiry concerning the Company's businesses remains elevated. From time to time, the Company receives requests for information from, and/or has been subject to examination or claims by, the SEC, the FINRA, the OTS, state insurance and securities regulators, state attorneys general and various other governmental and quasi-governmental authorities on behalf of themselves or clients concerning the Company's business activities and practices, and the practices of the Company's financial advisors. Pending matters about whichDuring recent periods, the Company has during recent periods received information requests include:or inquiries regarding certain pending matters, including: sales and product or service features of, or disclosures pertaining to, mutual funds, annuities, equity and fixed income securities, insurance products, brokerage services, financial plans and other advice offerings; trading practices within the Company's asset management business, supervision of the Company's financial advisors; supervisory practices in connection with financial advisors' outside business activities; sales practices and supervision associated with the sale of fixed and variable annuities

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and non-exchange traded (or "private placement") securities; information security; the delivery of financial plans and the suitability of particular trading strategies, investments and product selection processes. The number of reviews and investigations has increased in recent years with regard to many firms in the financial services industry, including Ameriprise Financial. The Company has cooperated and will continue to cooperate with the applicable regulators regarding their inquiries.

These legal and regulatory proceedings and disputes are subject to uncertainties and, as such, the Company is unable to estimatepredict the possible lossultimate resolution or range of loss that may result. An adverse outcome in one or more of these proceedings could result in adverse judgments, settlements, fines, penalties or other relief, in addition to further claims, examinations or adverse publicity that could have a material adverse effect on the Company's consolidated financial condition or results of operations.

Certain legal and regulatory proceedings are described below.

In June 2004, an action captioned John E. Gallus et al. v. American Express Financial Corp. and American Express Financial Advisors Inc., was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, and was later transferred to the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. The plaintiffs alleged that they were investors in several of the Company's mutual funds and they purported to bring the action derivatively on behalf of those funds under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the '40 Act).Act. The plaintiffs alleged that fees allegedly paid to the defendants by the funds for investment advisory and administrative services were excessive. Plaintiffs seek an order declaring that defendants have violated the '40 Act and awarding unspecified damages including excessive fees allegedly paid plus interest and other costs. On July 6, 2007, the Courtdistrict court granted the Company's motion for summary judgment, dismissing all claims with prejudice. Plaintiffs appealed the Court'sdistrict court's decision, and on April 8, 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed the district court's decision, and remanded the case for further proceedings. The Company filed with the United States Supreme Court a Petition for Writ of Certiorari to review the judgment of the Court of Appeals in this case and such review is expected to occur later this year afterin light of the Supreme Court issues its opinion inCourts anticipated review of a similar excessive fee case now pending before it.

Relevantcaptioned Jones v. Harris Associates. On March 30, 2010, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Jones v. Harris Associates, and on April 5, 2010, the Supreme Court vacated the Eighth Circuit's decision in this case and remanded it to market conditions since the latter partEighth Circuit for further consideration in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Jones v. Harris Associates. Without any further briefing or argument, on June 4, 2010, the Eighth Circuit remanded the case to the district court for further consideration in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Jones v. Harris Associates. The district court ordered briefing and heard oral argument on September 22, 2010 on the impact of the Jones v. Harris Associates decision. On December 8, 2010, the district court re-entered its July 2007 order granting summary judgment in favor of the Company. On January 10, 2011, plaintiffs filed a large client claimed a breachnotice of certain contractual investment guidelines. In April 2009, the client presented a formal Request for Arbitration. The parties subsequently submitted to mediation and, in the fourth quarter of 2009, executed a definitive comprehensive settlement agreement. We do not anticipate any future provision in respect of this matter, and our business relationshipappeal with the client is expected to continue for the foreseeable future because the client's investment mandate has been renewed and extended.Eighth Circuit.

In July 2009, two issuers of private placement interests (Medical Capital Holdings, Inc./Medical Capital Corporation and affiliated corporations and Provident Shale Royalties, LLC and affiliated corporations) sold by ourthe Company's subsidiary Securities America, Inc. ("SAI") were placed into receivership,the subject of SEC actions (brought against those entities and individuals associated with them), which has resulted in the filing of several putative class action lawsuits and numerous arbitrations naming both SAI and Ameriprise Financial, as well as related regulatory inquiriesinquiries. Approximately $400 million of Medical Capital and actions.Provident Shale investments made by SAI clients are outstanding and currently in default. On January 26, 2010, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts filed an Administrative Complaint against SAI, which is being adjudicated in an administrative hearing that is expected to conclude during the second quarter of 2011. A significant volume of FINRA arbitrations have been brought against SAI. Several of them have been settled, and there has been one adverse ruling, but most are scheduled throughout the course of 2011 and 2012. The putative class actions and arbitrations generally allege violations of state and/or federal securities laws in connection with SAI's sales of these private placement interests. TheThese actions were commenced in September 2009 and thereafter, seek unspecified damages,thereafter. The Medical Capital-related class actions were centralized and moved to the Central District of California by order of the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation under the caption "In re: Medical Capital Securities Litigation." The Provident Shale-related class actions remain pending in Texas federal court. On June 22, 2010, the Liquidating Trustee of the Provident Liquidating Trust filed an adversary action ("Liquidating Trustee Action") in the Provident bankruptcy proceeding naming SAI on behalf of both the Provident Liquidating Trust and a number of individual Provident investors who are stillalleged to have assigned their claims. The Liquidating Trustee Action generally alleges the same types of claims as are alleged in their earliest procedural stages.

Item 4. Submissionthe Provident class actions as well as a claim under the Bankruptcy Code. The Liquidating Trustee Action has been moved from bankruptcy court to the Texas federal court with the other Provident class actions. Motions to dismiss are pending in both the Provident Shale and Medical Capital class actions, but on January 24, 2011 the Medical Capital Class Action was temporarily transferred to the Northern District of MattersTexas, where the Provident class action is pending, so that coordinated settlement negotiations can be conducted under that single Court's supervision. On February 17, 2011, the named plaintiffs to the class actions filed with the Court a VoteSettlement Agreement and Motion for Preliminary Approval of Security Holders.Class Action Settlement, seeking the court's approval of agreed-upon settlement terms. A preliminary approval hearing has been set for March 18, 2011, and the judge has issued a temporary restraining order which stays pending arbitration matters scheduled through this date.

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PARTPart II.

Item 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Our common stock trades principally on The New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbol AMP. As of February 16, 2010,2011, we had approximately 26,38024,915 common shareholders of record. Price and dividend information concerning our common shares may be found in Note 28 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Information comparing the cumulative total shareholder return on our common stock to the cumulative total return for certain indices is set forth under the heading "Performance Graph" provided in our 20092010 Annual Report to Shareholders and is incorporated herein by reference.

We are primarily a holding company and, as a result, our ability to pay dividends in the future will depend on receiving dividends from our subsidiaries. For information regarding our ability to pay dividends, see the information set forth under the heading "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources" contained in Part II, Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Share Repurchases

The following table presents the information with respect to purchases made by or on behalf of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. or any "affiliated purchaser" (as defined in Rule 10b-18(a)(3) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) of our common stock during the fourth quarter of 2009:2010:

N/A Not applicable.

⁽¹⁾

On April 22, 2008,May 11, 2010, we announced that our Board of Directors authorized us to repurchase up to $1.5 billion worth of our common stock through April 22, 2010.the date of the company's 2012 annual shareholders meeting. The share repurchase program does not require the purchase of any minimum number of shares, and depending on market conditions and other factors, these purchases may be commenced or suspended at any time without prior notice. Acquisitions under the share repurchase program may be made in the open market, through privately negotiated transactions or block trades or other means. Since September 2008 through the date of this report, we have suspended our stock repurchase program. We may resume activity under our stock repurchase program and begin repurchasing shares in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions from time to time without notice. We reserve the right to suspend any such repurchases and to resume later repurchasing at any time, and expressly disclaim any obligation to maintain or lift any such suspension.

⁽²⁾

Restricted shares withheld pursuant to the terms of awards under the amended and restatedrevised Ameriprise Financial 2005 Incentive Compensation Plan (the "Plan") to offset tax withholding obligations that occur upon vesting and release of restricted shares. The Plan provides that the value of the shares withheld shall be the closing price of common stock of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. on the date the relevant transaction occurs.

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Item 6. Consolidated Five-Year Summary of Selected Financial Data

The following table sets forth selected consolidated financial information from our audited Consolidated Financial Statements as of December 31, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 2006 and 20052006 and for the five-year period ended December 31, 2009.2010. Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current year's presentation. ForOn April 30, 2010, we acquired the periods preceding our separation from American Express Company ("American Express"), we prepared our Consolidated Financial Statements as if we had been a stand-alone company. Inlong-term asset management business of Columbia Management Group. Results presented below include the preparationresults of our Consolidated Financial Statements for those periods, we made certain allocationsthis business after the date of expenses that our management believed to be a reasonable reflection of costs we would have otherwise incurred as a stand-alone company but were paid by American Express. Accordingly, our Consolidated Financial Statements include various adjustments to amounts in our consolidated financial statements as a subsidiary of American Express.acquisition. The selected financial data presented below should be read in conjunction with our Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes included elsewhere in this report and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations."

⁽¹⁾

During 2007 2006 and 2005,2006, we recorded non-recurring separation costs as a result of our separation from American Express. During the years ended December 31, 2007 2006 and 2005,2006, $236 million ($154 million after-tax), and $361 million ($235 million after-tax) and $293 million ($191 million after-tax), respectively, of such costs were incurred. These costs were primarily associated with establishing the Ameriprise Financial brand, separating and reestablishing our technology platforms and advisor and employee retention programs.

⁽²⁾

Diluted shares used in this calculation represent basic shares due to the net loss. Using actual diluted shares would result in anti-dilution.

(3)

Balance Sheet data represents assets and liabilities before consolidated investment entities, as reported on our Consolidated Balance Sheets.

(4)

Total Ameriprise Financial, Inc. shareholders' equity for 2007, 2008 and 2009 was adjusted for a change in accounting method, as described in Note 1 to our Consolidated Financial Statements.

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Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis of our consolidated financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the "Forward-Looking Statements," our Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes that follow and the "Consolidated Five-Year Summary of Selected Financial Data" and the "Risk Factors" included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K. Certain reclassifications of prior year amounts have been made to conform to the current presentation.

Overview

We provide financial planning, products and services that are designed to be utilized as solutions for our clients' cash and liquidity, asset accumulation, income, protection and estate and wealth transfer needs. Our model for delivering these solutions is centered on building long-term personal relationships between our affiliated advisors and clients, and in the case of our products distributed through unaffiliated advisors, by supporting those advisors in building strong client relationships. We believe that our focus on personal relationships, together with our strengths in financial planning and product development and distribution, allow us to betterfully address the evolving financial needs of our clients and our primary target market segment, the mass affluent and affluent, which we define as households with investable assets of more than $100,000.

Our branded affiliated advisors' financial planning and advisory process is designed to provide comprehensive advice when appropriate, to addressthat focuses on all aspects of our clients' cash and liquidity, asset accumulation, income, protection, and estate and wealth transfer needs.finances. This approach allows us to recommend actions and a broad range of product solutions consisting of investment, annuity, insurance, banking and other financial products that can help clients attain over time a return or form of protection while accepting what they determine to be an appropriate range and level of risk. Our focusapproach puts us in a strong position to capitalize on significant demographic and market trends, which we believe will continue to drive increased demand for our financial planning and other financial services. Our focusemphasis on deep client-advisor relationships has been central to the abilitysuccess of our business model to succeed through the extreme market conditions of 2008 and 2009,the past few years, and we believe it will help us to respond tonavigate future market and economic cycles.

Our multi-platform network of affiliated financial advisors is the primary means by which we develop personal relationships with retail clients. As of December 31, 2009,2010, we had a network of more than 12,00011,400 financial advisors and registered representatives ("affiliated financial advisors"). We refer to the affiliated financial advisors who use our brand name as our branded advisors, and those who do not use our brand name but who are affiliated as registered representatives of ours, as our unbranded advisors. The financial product solutions we offer through our affiliated advisors include both our own products and services and the products of other companies. Our branded advisor network is the primary distribution channel through which we offer our investmentlife insurance and annuity products and services, as well as a range of banking and protection products. Our asset management, annuity and auto and home protection products are also distributed through unaffiliated advisors and affinity relationships. We offer our branded advisors training, tools, leadership, marketing programs and other field and centralized support to assist them in delivering advice and product solutions to clients. We support unaffiliated advisors with strong sales and service support and our solutions which they provide to clients. We believe our approach not only improves the products and services we provide to their clients, but also allows us to reinvest in enhanced services for clients and increase support for financial advisors. Our integrated model of financial planning, diversified product manufacturing and affiliated and non-affiliated product distribution affords us a betterdeep understanding of our clients, which allows us to better manage the risk profile of our businesses. We believe our focus on meeting clients' needs through personal financial planning results in more satisfied clients with deeper, longer lasting relationships with our company and a higher retention of our experienced financial advisors.

We have four main operating segments: Advice & Wealth Management, Asset Management, Annuities and Protection, as well as our Corporate & Other segment. Our four main operating segments are aligned with the financial solutions we offer to address our clients' needs. The products and services we provide retail clients and, to a lesser extent, institutional clients, are the primary source of our revenues and net income. Revenues and net income are significantly affected by investment performance and the total value and composition of assets we manage and administer for our retail and institutional clients as well as the distribution fees we receive from other companies. These factors, in turn, are largely determined by overall investment market performance and the depth and breadth of our individual client relationships.

We continue to establish Ameriprise Financial as a financial services leader as we focus on meeting the financial needs of the mass affluent and affluent, as evidenced by our continued leadership in financial planning, a client retention percentage rate of 93% and our status as a top ten ranked firm within core portions of our four main operating segments, including the size of our U.S. advisor force, long-term U.S. mutual funds, variable annuities and variable universal life ("VUL") insurance.

Equity price, credit market and interest rate fluctuations can have a significant impact on our results of operations, primarily due to the effects they have on the asset management and other asset-based fees we earn, the "spread" income generated on our annuities, banking and deposit products and universal life ("UL") insurance products, the value of deferred acquisition costs ("DAC") and deferred sales

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inducement costs ("DSIC") assets associated with variable annuity and variable ULVUL products, the values of liabilities for guaranteed benefits associated with our variable annuities and the

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values of derivatives held to hedge these benefits. For additional information regarding our sensitivity to equity price and interest rate risk, see Part II, Item 7A "Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk."

In June 2009, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") updated the accounting standards related to the required consolidation of certain variable interest entities ("VIEs"). We adopted the accounting standard effective January 1, 2010 and recorded as a cumulative change in accounting principle an increase to appropriated retained earnings of consolidated investment entities of $473 million and consolidated approximately $5.5 billion of client assets and $5.1 billion of liabilities in VIEs onto our Consolidated Balance Sheets that were not previously consolidated. Management views the VIE assets as client assets and the liabilities have recourse only to those assets. While the economics of our business have not changed, the financial statements were impacted. Prior to adoption, we consolidated certain property funds and hedge funds. These entities and the VIEs consolidated as of January 1, 2010, are defined as consolidated investment entities ("CIEs"). Changes in the valuation of the CIE assets and liabilities impact pretax income. The net income of the CIEs is reflected in net income attributable to noncontrolling interests. The results of operations of the CIEs are reflected in the Corporate & Other segment. On a consolidated basis, the management fees we earn for the services we provide to the CIEs and the related general and administrative expenses are eliminated and the changes in the assets and liabilities related to the CIEs, primarily debt and underlying syndicated loans, are reflected in net investment income. We continue to include the fees in the management and financial advice fees line within our Asset Management segment.

Management believes that operating measures, which exclude net realized gains or losses, integration and restructuring charges and the impact of consolidating CIEs, best reflect the underlying performance of our 2010 and 2009 core operations and facilitate a more meaningful trend analysis. Management uses certain of these non-GAAP measures to evaluate our financial performance on a basis comparable to that used by some securities analysts and investors. Also, certain of these non-GAAP measures are taken into consideration, to varying degrees, for purposes of business planning and analysis and for certain compensation-related matters. Throughout our Management's Discussion and Analysis, these non-GAAP measures are referred to as operating measures. While the consolidation of the CIEs impacts our balance sheet and income statement, our exposure to these entities is unchanged and there is no impact to the underlying business results. The CIEs we manage have the following characteristics:

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They were formed on behalf of institutional investors to obtain a diversified investment portfolio and were not formed in order to obtain financing for Ameriprise Financial.

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Ameriprise Financial receives customary, industry standard management fees for the services it provides to these CIEs and has a fiduciary responsibility to maximize the investors' returns.

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Ameriprise Financial does not have any obligation to provide financial support to the CIEs, does not provide any performance guarantees of the CIEs and has no obligation to absorb the investors' losses.

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Management excludes the impact of consolidating the CIEs on assets, liabilities, pretax income and equity for setting our financial performance targets and annual incentive award compensation targets.

It is management's priority to increase shareholder value over a multi-year horizon by achieving our on-average, over-time financial targets.

Our financial targets are:

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Net operating revenue growth of 6% to 8%,

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EarningsOperating earnings per diluted share growth of 12% to 15%, and

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ReturnOperating return on equity excluding accumulated other comprehensive income of 12% to 15%.

Net revenues for the year ended December 31, 2009 were $7.8 billion, an increase of $889 million, or 13%, from the prior year. Net income attributable to Ameriprise Financial for the year ended December 31, 2009 was $722 million compared to a net loss attributable to Ameriprise Financial of $38 million for the year ended December 31, 2008. Earnings per diluted share for the year ended December 31, 2009 were $2.95, compared to a loss per share of $0.17 for the year ended December 31, 2008.

On SeptemberApril 30, 2009,2010, we announced a definitive agreement to acquireacquired the long-term asset management business of Columbia Management Group ("Columbia") from Bank of America N.A.(the "Columbia Management Acquisition"). The total consideration to be paid will be between $900 million and $1.2 billion based on net asset flows at Columbia before closing andacquisition, the integration of which is expected to be funded through the use of cash on hand. The transactioncompleted in 2011, is expected to close infurther enhance the springscale and performance of our retail mutual fund and institutional asset management businesses. Our initial estimate of the purchase price was $927 million, which included a provisional estimate of a payable to Bank of America of $31 million and $30 million of assumed liabilities. We recorded the assets and liabilities acquired at fair value and allocated the costs to goodwill and intangible assets. In the fourth quarter of 2010, subject to satisfactionwe determined the provisional payable was no longer necessary and goodwill was reduced by $31 million as of closing conditions that are generally present in similar acquisitions. Relatedthe acquisition date. We incurred pretax non-recurring integration costs related to the transaction, we incurred $7Columbia Management Acquisition of $100 million of pretax non-recurring acquisition and integration costs duringfor the year ended December 31, 2009,2010. In total, we have incurred $107 million of pretax non-recurring integration costs through December 31, 2010, and expect to incur between $130 million and $160 million in total of such costs through 2011. These costs include system integration costs, proxy and other regulatory filing costs, employee reduction and retention costs, and investment banking, legal and other acquisition costs. We have realized integration gross expense synergies of approximately $75 million for the year ended December 31, 2010, and expect annualized

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We continuesynergies to establish Ameriprise Financial as a financial services leader as we focus on meeting the financial needs of the mass affluent and affluent, as evidenced by our continued leadership in financial planning, a client retention percentagereach $150 million to $190 million for 2012. The rate of 93%, and, upon the anticipated closing of our acquisition of Columbia's long-term asset management business, our status as a top ten ranked firm within core portions of each of our four main operating segments, including our U.S. advisor force, long-term U.S. mutual funds, variable annuities and variable universal life insurance.decline in costs from such synergies may vary by quarter.

In the fourth quarter of 2008, we completed the all cash acquisitions of H&R Block Financial Advisors, Inc., subsequently renamed Ameriprise Advisor Services, Inc. ("AASI"), J.&W. Seligman & Co., Incorporated ("Seligman") and Brecek & Young Advisors, Inc. to expandwhich further expanded our retail distribution and asset management businesses.capabilities. The cost of the acquisitions was $787 million, which included the purchase price and transaction costs. We recorded the assets and liabilities acquired at fair value and allocated the remaining costs to goodwill and intangible assets. IntegrationWe incurred integration charges related to these acquisitions of $7 million, $91 million and $19 million were included in general and administrative expense for the years ended December 31, 2010, 2009 and 2008, respectively.

Separation from American Express

On February 1, 2005, the American Express Board of Directors announced its intention to pursue the disposition of 100% of its shareholdings in our company (the "Separation") through a tax-free distribution to American Express shareholders. Effective as of the close of business on September 30, 2005, American Express completed the Separation of our company and the distribution of our common shares to American Express shareholders (the "Distribution"). Prior to the Distribution, we had been a wholly owned subsidiary of American Express. Our separation from American Express resulted in specifically identifiable impacts to our 2007 consolidated results of operations and financial condition.

We incurred a total of $890 million of non-recurring separation costs as part of our separation from American Express. These costs were primarily associated with establishing the Ameriprise Financial brand, separating and reestablishing our technology platforms and advisor and employee retention programs. Our separation from American Express was completed in 2007.

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