vested interest

vested interest idiom
A personal stake in something, as in She has a vested interest in keeping the house in her name. This term, first recorded in 1818, uses vested in the sense of “established” or “secured.”

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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