System and method for financial planning

• US 7,809,625 B1
• Filed: 03/24/2006
• Issued: 10/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Original Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Inventors: Pacheco, Robert Anthony, Thurmond, Thomas Alfred, Benavidez, Baldemar II
• Primary Examiner(s): Havan; Thu Thao
• Application Number:
  US11/388,421
• Time in Patent Office: 1,656 Days
• Field of Search: 705 36 R- 37
• US Class Current: 705/36.00R
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

Disclosed are systems and methods for financial planning. The systems and methods communicate with a customer and provide a financial planning service for use with at least one financial planning product by collecting data from a customer using a structured data collection form which is dynamically modified based on the financial product selected, the data provided by the customer, and data relating to the customer that is retrieved from a database.

Claims

1. A system for financial planning, the system comprising at least one subsystem for:

communicating with a customer;

providing at least one financial product, whereby the customer selects the at least one financial product;

accessing a database and acquiring a first set of data, using a data collection engine, relating characteristics of the customer for use in a financial planning service related to the at least one financial product; and

collecting a second set of data, using the data collection engine, from the customer for use in the financial planning service related to the at least one financial product, whereby the second set of data is collected using a structured data collection form, wherein the form has multiple customer information fields for a customer to enter information and wherein at least one of the quantity of or the layout of the customer information fields on the form are dynamically modified, using a form presentation engine communicatively coupled to the data collection engine, based on the at least one financial product selected by the customer and the first set of data relating the characteristics of the customer and the second set of data collected from the customer.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the customer comprises a member of a membership organization and the database comprises a membership database comprising the first set of data which was collected prior to the communicating.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the database comprises a publicly available database.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one subsystem for:

reviewing the first set of data relating to the customer and the second set of data collected from the customer.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one subsystem for:

generating a report from the first set of data relating to the customer and the second set of data collected from the customer.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one subsystem for:

providing the customer with a report generated from the first set of data relating to the customer and the second set of data collected from the customer.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one subsystem for:

communicating with the customer to discuss a report generated from the first set of data relating to the customer and the second set of data collected from the customer.

8. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-readable instructions for financial planning, said computer-readable instructions comprising instructions for:

communicating with a customer;

providing at least one financial product, whereby the customer selects the at least one financial product;

accessing a database and acquiring a first set of data, using a data collection engine, relating characteristics of the customer for use in a financial planning service related to the at least one financial product; and

collecting a second set of data, using the data collection engine, from the customer for use in the financial planning service related to the at least one financial product, whereby the second set of data is collected using a structured data collection form, wherein the form has multiple customer information fields for a customer to enter information and wherein at least one of the quantity of or the layout of the customer information fields on the form are dynamically modified, using a form presentation engine communicatively coupled to the data collection engine, based on the at least one financial product selected by the customer and the first set of data relating the characteristics of the customer and the second set of data collected from the customer.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the customer comprises a member of a membership organization and the database comprises a membership database comprising the first set of data which was collected prior to the communicating.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the database comprises a publicly available database.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, further comprising computer-readable instructions comprising instructions for:

reviewing the first set of data relating to the customer and the second set of data collected from the customer.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, further comprising computer-readable instructions comprising instructions for:

generating a report from the first set of data relating to the customer and the second set of data collected from the customer.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, further comprising computer-readable instructions comprising instructions for:

providing the customer with a report generated from the first set of data relating to the customer and the second set of data collected from the customer.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, further comprising computer-readable instructions comprising instructions for:

communicating with the customer to discuss a report generated from the first set of data relating to the customer and the second set of data collected from the customer.

15. A method for financial planning, the method comprising:

communicating with a customer;

providing at least one financial product, whereby the customer selects the at least one financial product;

accessing a database and acquiring a first set of data, using a data collection engine, relating characteristics of the customer for use in a financial planning service related to the at least one financial product; and

collecting a second set of data, using the data collection engine, from the customer for use in the financial planning service related to the at least one financial product, whereby the second set of data is collected using a structured data collection form, wherein the form has multiple customer information fields for a customer to enter information and wherein at least one of the quantity of or the layout of the customer information fields on the form are dynamically modified, using a form presentation engine communicatively coupled to the data collection engine, based on the at least one financial product selected by the customer and the first set of data relating the characteristics of the customer and the second set of data collected from the customer.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the customer comprises a member of a membership organization and the database comprises a membership database comprising the first set of data which was collected prior to the communicating.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the database comprises a publicly available database.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

reviewing the first set of data relating to the customer and the second set of data collected from the customer.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

generating a report from the first set of data relating to the customer and the second set of data collected from the customer.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

providing the customer with a report generated from the first set of data relating to the customer and the second set of data collected from the customer.

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

communicating with the customer to discuss a report generated from the first set of data relating to the customer and the second set of data collected from the customer.