Liability Driven Investment - LDI

A form of investing in which the main goal is to gain sufficient assets to meet all liabilities, both current and future. This form of investing is most prominent with defined-benefit pension plans, whose liabilities can often reach into the billions of dollars for the largest of plans.

|||LDIs are most prominent in the funding schemes of defined-benefit pension plans, which are designed to provide a predetermined pension upon retirement. The liabilities in these funds arise as a result of the "guaranteed" pensions they are supposed to provide to members upon retirement.

In the early 2000s, the entire structure of the defined-benefit scheme was criticized as being faulty. The liabilities that sponsoring companies and plan members must pay for has increased substantially, which has caused some pension plans to reduce benefits to retired members, or even to shut down entirely.