What is Obligation?
An obligation is a legal requirement to fulfill a responsibility. In the finance world, this often involves making specific payments by specific dates and/or ensuring that a company meets certain performance requirements.
How Does Obligation Work?
A borrower, for example, has an obligation to make payments of an agreed-upon size on an agreed-upon date. A company may have an obligation to provide certain disclosure to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A board may have an obligation to pay an executive a certain amount of money if certain events occur, and a lender may have an obligation to charge a certain amount of loan interest for a fixed period of time, even if it can get a higher interest rate later on other loans.
Why Does Obligation Matter?
In the finance world, obligations are everywhere, and the fulfillment or lack of fulfillment (or even speculation about the lack of fulfillment) of those obligations has a significant impact on the value of the entities that must meet or depend on the obligations. When a party does not fulfill an obligation, the other party to the contract generally has the right to seek recourse in court.
Personalized Financial Plans for an Uncertain Market
In today’s uncertain market, investors are looking for answers to help them grow and protect their savings. So we partnered with Vanguard Advisers -- one of the most trusted names in finance -- to offer you a financial plan built to withstand a variety of market and economic conditions. A Vanguard advisor will craft your customized plan and then manage your savings, giving you more confidence to help you meet your goals. Click here to get started.
Read This Next
Investing is hard. The world of finance is best left to...
Read More →
If you are sitting with a loss on a fundamentally sound investment, what can you do?...
Read More →
Think times are tough today? When Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated president during the Great ...
Read More →
You know those people who keep every store receipt and instruction manual nicely tucked away in a drawer or filing cabinet? Turns out, they've had the right idea all along. Why do I...
Read More →
What do former President George H.W. Bush, former Secretary of State James Baker, former British Prime...
Read More →
