amounts. Amounts are net of benefit payments recovered or expected to be recovered under reinsurance contracts. Benefits under variable annuity guarantees include the changes in fair value of GMWB and GMAB embedded derivatives and the derivatives hedging these benefits, as well as the changes in fair value of derivatives hedging GMDB provisions. Benefits, claims, losses and settlement expenses also include amortization of DSIC.

Amortization of DAC Direct sales commissions and other costs capitalized as DAC are amortized over time. For annuity and UL contracts, 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, DAC are generally amortized over fixed periods on a straight-line basis adjusted for redemptions. See ‘‘Deferred Acquisition Costs and Deferred Sales Inducement Costs’’ under ‘‘Critical Accounting Policies’’ for further information on DAC.

Interest and Debt Expense Interest and debt expense primarily includes interest on corporate debt and debt of consolidated investment entities, the impact of interest rate hedging activities and amortization of debt issuance costs.

General and Administrative Expense General and administrative expense includes compensation, share-based awards and other benefits for employees (other than employees directly related to distribution, including financial advisors), integration costs, professional and consultant fees, information technology, facilities and equipment, advertising and promotion, legal and regulatory and corporate related expenses.

Assets Under Management and Administration Assets under management (‘‘AUM’’) include assets for which we provide investment management services, such as the assets of the Columbia funds and Threadneedle funds, assets of institutional clients and assets of clients in our affiliated advisor platform held in wrap accounts as well as assets managed by sub-advisers selected by us. AUM also includes certain assets on our Consolidated Balance Sheets for which we provide investment management services and recognize management fees in our Asset Management segment, such as the assets of the general account, RiverSource Variable Product funds held in separate accounts of our life insurance subsidiaries and client assets of CIEs. These assets do not include assets under advisement, for which we provide model portfolios but do not have full discretionary investment authority. Assets under administration (‘‘AUA’’) include assets for which we provide administrative services such as client assets invested in other companies’ products that we offer outside of our wrap accounts. These assets include those held in clients’ brokerage accounts. We generally record fees received from administered assets as distribution fees. We do not exercise management discretion over these assets and do not earn a management fee. These assets are not reported on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. AUA also includes certain assets on our Consolidated Balance Sheets for which we do not provide investment management services and do not recognize management fees, such as investments in non-affiliated funds held in the separate accounts of our life insurance subsidiaries. These assets do not include assets under advisement, for which we provide model portfolios but do not have full discretionary investment authority. The following table presents detail regarding our AUM and AUA: December 31, 2011 2010 Change (in billions) Assets Under Management and Administration Advice & Wealth Management AUM $ 104.7 $ 97.5 7% Asset Management AUM 435.5 456.8 (5) Eliminations (12.6) (12.4) (2) Total Assets Under Management 527.6 541.9 (3) Total Assets Under Administration 103.7 105.6 (2) Total AUM and AUA $ 631.3 $ 647.5 (3)%

Total AUM decreased $14.3 billion, or 3%, to $527.6 billion as of December 31, 2011 compared to the prior year primarily due to Asset Management AUM net outflows, partially offset by wrap account net inflows.

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