unfunded liabilities
Debts without reserves
Unfunded liabilities are financial obligations an organization owes but hasn't set aside money to cover.
The term appears most often in discussions of pension plans and government programs like Social Security: The pension system faces billions in unfunded liabilities.
The gap between what's promised and what's funded represents future costs that must eventually come from somewhere—higher taxes, reduced benefits, or borrowed money.
- entitlement programsGuaranteed government benefit systems
- fiscal cliffScheduled austerity convergence point
- pension reformChanging retirement payment systems
- social securityPublic financial protection programs
- balance sheetAssets-liabilities-equity report
public pensions · pension fund · amortization · tax policy · solvency · demographic shifts · future generations · legislative reform · off the books · debt restructuring · empty promises · fiscal deficit · systemic risk · government bonds · welfare state · economic downturns · pay-as-you-go · ticking time bomb
- expensesexpenses, expense, expenditure, cost, costs
unfunded liabilitiesassets
Owned items of value
cash reserves · endowment · liquid assets · surplus funds · surplus
unfunded liabilitiesfiscal surplus
Revenue exceeding outlays
surplus · budget surplus · financial solvency · rainy day fund
unfunded, liabilities, funded, funding, funds, funder, funders, refund, refunded