Personal Advisor Ratings

• US 20160225039A1
• Filed: 02/02/2016
• Published: 08/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Robert M. Hayden
• Original Assignee: Robert M. Hayden
• Inventors: Hayden, Robert M.
• Granted Patent: US 11,037,209 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0185 Product, service or business identity fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

A direct-to-consumer financial advisor rating system has a website in electronic communication with a server and is provided on a subscription basis. The server includes a scorer which retrieves a first rating, a second rating, and a third rating upon receiving a search request for an advisor, the first rating quantifying the advisor'"'"'s qualifications and expertise, the second rating quantifying the advisor'"'"'s communication, work flexibility and performance skills, the third rating quantifying the advisor'"'"'s ethics and independence from conflicts. The scorer uses the first, second and third ratings to calculate an overall rating score for the advisor, the overall rating score shown as a single number and representing a comprehensive analysis of a quality of the advisor, the overall rating score providing a measure with which to benchmark the advisor against other advisors. The website displays the overall rating score to the user who made the search request.

Claims

1. A direct-to-consumer financial advisor rating system, comprising:

a storage;

a website in electronic communication with a server;

the server having;

an interface including computer instructions executing on computer hardware, the interface only allowing a plurality of users at user terminals access to the system if they have paid for a subscription to the system;

a scorer including computer instructions executing on computer hardware, the scorer retrieving a first rating, a second rating, and a third rating upon receiving a search request for an advisor from one of the plurality of users at one of the user terminals, the first rating quantifying the advisor'"'"'s qualifications and expertise, the second rating quantifying the advisor'"'"'s communication, work flexibility and performance skills, the third rating quantifying the advisor'"'"'s ethics and independence from conflicts;

the scorer using the first, second and third ratings to calculate an overall rating score for the advisor, the overall rating score shown as a single number and representing a comprehensive analysis of a quality of the advisor, the overall rating score providing a measure with which to benchmark the advisor against other advisors;

the scorer transmitting said overall rating score to said storage to be saved;

the website displaying the overall rating score to said one of the plurality of users on said one of the user terminals after being allowed access to the system by the interface.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the scorer is configured to assign each of the first rating, second rating, and third rating with individual weights, said individual weights representing the importance of the respective rating in calculating the overall rating score.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the weight of the first rating is 30%, the weight of the second rating is 30%, and the weight of the third rating is 40%.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the weight of the third rating is greater than the weight of the first rating and the weight of the second rating, the greater weight of the third rating characterizing an importance of the advisor being free of conflicts of interest and self-interest.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the second rating is determined based on average user feedback.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein if said one of the plurality of users has met the advisor, the server is configured to obtain input data on user experience from said one of the plurality of users, wherein said input data is used to generate said average user feedback and is saved in said storage.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said scorer is configured to obtain the first rating and the third rating from said storage if available.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein if the first rating and the third rating have not been previously established and saved in said storage, the server is configured to transmit a signal to an analyst computer requesting independent review of the advisor'"'"'s background and determination of the first rating and the third rating.

9. The system of claim 8, the analyst computer is connected to at least one regulatory or industry database to retrieve information on the advisor'"'"'s background.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the server further comprises a comparer, said comparer performing comparative analysis of the advisor'"'"'s overall rating score relative to overall rating scores of other advisors, the website displaying the comparative analysis on said one of the user terminals, said storage saving the comparative analysis.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the comparative analysis, which is displayed on said one of the user terminals, includes the first rating, the second rating and the third rating as well as input data on user experience provided by other users for said advisor.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the server is configured to compile service fee information of said advisor, said comparer generating a fee comparison comparing the service fee information of said advisor with the service fee information of other advisors, the website displaying the fee comparison on said one of the user terminals.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the server further comprises a certifier, the certifier controlling access of said user terminals to said server, said certifier using security means to inhibit competitors of said advisor from tampering with said second rating and said overall rating score.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the certifier is configured to prompt a user on one of said user terminals to certify that said user is not a competitor of the advisor and has employed the advisor.

15. A method for providing direct-to-consumer analysis and rating of a financial advisor, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a storage;

providing a website in electronic communication with a server;

allowing a plurality of users at user terminals access to the system only if they have paid for a subscription to the system;

retrieving via the server a first rating, a second rating, and a third rating upon receiving a search request for an advisor from one of the plurality of users at one of the user terminals, the first rating quantifying the advisor'"'"'s qualifications and expertise, the second rating quantifying the advisor'"'"'s communication, work flexibility and performance skills, the third rating quantifying the advisor'"'"'s ethics and independence from conflicts;

storing the first rating, second rating and third rating in said storage;

using a scorer to calculate an overall rating score for said advisor based on said first rating, second rating, and third rating;

transmitting the overall rating score from the scorer to the storage to be saved; and

displaying the overall rating score to said one of the plurality of users on said one of the user terminals after being allowed access to the system.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of using the scorer to calculate the overall rating score includes:

assigning individual weights to each of the first rating, second rating and third rating, the individual weights representing the importance of the respective rating in calculating the overall rating score.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of assigning individual weights includes setting the individual weight of the third rating to be greater than the individual weight of the first rating and the individual weight of the second rating, the greater weight of the third rating characterizing an importance of the advisor being free of conflicts of interest and self-interest.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the second rating is determined based on average user feedback, and wherein if said one of the plurality of users has met the advisor, the server is configured to obtain input data on user experience from said one of the plurality of users, wherein said input data is used to generate said average user feedback and is saved in said storage.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the first rating and the third rating is retrieved from said storage if available;

and

wherein if the first rating and the third rating have not been previously established and saved in said storage, the server is configured to transmit a signal to an analyst computer requesting independent review of the advisor'"'"'s background and determination of the first rating and the third rating.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of using a certifier to control access of said user terminals to said server, said certifier using security means to inhibit competitors of said advisor from tampering with said second rating and said overall rating score.