System, method, and computer program product for allocating assets among a plurality of investments to guarantee a predetermined value at the end of a predetermined period

• US 8,224,728 B2
• Filed: 02/16/2010
• Issued: 07/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Prudential Insurance Company of America (Prudential Financial Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Prudential Insurance Company of America (Prudential Financial Incorporated)
• Inventors: Arena, Robert, O'Donnell, Robert, Schwartz, Robert, Kuperstock, N. David, Paris, Tim, Leach, Robert, Herschler, Jacob, Morell, Mike, Jackman-Ward, Fiona
• Primary Examiner(s): Hammond, III, Thomas M
• Application Number:
  US12/706,507
• Publication Number:
  US 20100185560A1
• Time in Patent Office: 882 Days
• Field of Search: 705 35- 45
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• 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

A system, method, and computer program product for allocating assets among a plurality of investments to guarantee a predetermined value at the end of a predetermined time period. A computer program controls the allocation of assets in the investment vehicle, which allows the investor to initially invest one hundred percent of the initial deposit in non-secure, high risk investments. At the end of the each trading day, the computer program determines if assets should be reallocated from the non-secure investments to the secure investments, from the secure investments to the non-secure investments, or if no reallocation is necessary.

Claims

1. A method for managing an investment by allocating assets between a plurality of investment accounts, the investment having a guaranteed value at the end of a predetermined time period to provide a guaranteed income regardless of market performance of the investment, the investment accounts including a secure account and a variable account, the secure account providing a minimum rate of return over the predetermined time period, an investor entitled to the guaranteed value having control in selecting one or more variable investments for the variable account, the method comprising:

accessing, by a computer system, a selection, made by the investor, of one or more variable investments of the variable account;

determining, by the computer system and based on said selection, if the value of the investment would accumulate to at least the guaranteed value at the end of the predetermined time period if the value of the variable account was reduced by a predetermined percentage and reallocated to the secure account for the remainder of the predetermined time period;

computing, by the computing system, the value of assets to be reallocated from the variable account to the secure account if the value of the investment would not accumulate to at least the guaranteed value at the end of the predetermined time period if the value of the variable account was reduced by the predetermined percentage and reallocated to the secure account for the remainder of the predetermined time period; and

producing, by the computing system, an output including information of assets to be reallocated to the secure account.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the output is a request to sell units of an investment of the variable account.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the output is adapted for display on a display device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the request is for transmission to a remote computer system for performing the request.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the request to the remote computer system;

receiving data in response to transmitting the request; and

storing the received data.

6. A method for managing an investment by allocating assets between a plurality of investment accounts, the investment having a guaranteed value at the end of a predetermined time period to provide a guaranteed income regardless of market performance of the investment, the investment accounts including a secure account and a variable account, the secure account providing a minimum rate of return over the predetermined time period, an investor entitled to the guaranteed value having control in selecting one or more variable investments for the variable account, the method comprising:

accessing, by a computer system, a selection, made by the investor, of one or more variable investments of the variable account;

determining, by the computer system and based on said selection, if the value of the investment would accumulate to at least the guaranteed value at the end of the predetermined time period if the value of the variable account was reduced by a predetermined percentage and reallocated to the secure account for the remainder of the predetermined time period;

computing, by a computer system, the value of assets to be reallocated from the secure account to the variable account if the value of the investment would accumulate to at least the guaranteed value at the end of the predetermined time period if the value of the variable account was reduced by the predetermined percentage and reallocated to the secure account for the remainder of the predetermined time period; and

producing, by a computer system, an output including information of assets to be reallocated to the variable account.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the output is a request to purchase units of an investment of the variable account.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the output is adapted for display on a display device.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the request is for transmission to a computer system for performing the request.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

transmitting the request to the computer system;

receiving data in response to transmitting the request; and

storing the received data.

11. A computer system programmed to allocate assets between investment accounts of an investment, the investment having a guaranteed value at the end of a predetermined time period to provide a guaranteed income regardless of market performance of the investment, the investment accounts including a secure account and a variable account, the secure account providing a minimum guaranteed rate of return, the variable account including at least one investment, an investor entitled to the guaranteed value having control in selecting the at least one investment, the computer system comprising:

one or more computer processors;

one or more tangible computer-readable storage media;

computer software stored on the one or more tangible computer-readable storage media and operable, when executed by the one or more computer processors, to;

access a selection, made by the investor, of one or more variable investments of the variable account;

compute a depreciated variable account value based on said selection, the depreciated variable account value being the value of the variable account at which the value of the investment would accumulate to the guaranteed value at the end of the predetermined time period if the depreciated variable account value was invested at the minimum guaranteed rate of return for the remainder of the predetermined time period;

determine if the depreciated variable account value is less than a first value;

compute a secure account reallocation value in response to the depreciated variable account value being less than the first value, the secure account reallocation value being the value of assets to be reallocated from the variable account to the secure account so that the depreciated variable account value equals a second value; and

a computer code segment which, when executed by a computer system, produces produce an output based on the secure account reallocation value.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the output is a request to sell units of an investment of the variable account.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the output is adapted for display on a display device.

14. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the request is for transmission to a computer system for performing the request.

15. The computer system of claim 14, the computer software operable, when executed by the one or more computer processors, to:

transmit the request to the remote computer system;

receive data in response to transmitting the request; and

store the received data.

16. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the investment is comprised of an initial principal amount;

and

the computer software is operable, when executed by the one or more computer processors, to allocate all of the initial principal amount to the variable account.

17. A computer system programmed to allocate assets between investment accounts of an investment, the investment having a guaranteed value at the end of a predetermined time period to provide a guaranteed income regardless of market performance of the investment, the investment accounts including a secure account and a variable account, the secure account providing a minimum guaranteed rate of return, the variable account including at least one investment, an investor entitled to the guaranteed value having control in selecting the at least one investment, the computer system comprising:

one or more computer processors;

one or more tangible computer-readable storage media;

computer software stored on the one or more tangible computer-readable storage media and operable, when executed by the one or more computer processors, to;

access a selection, made by the investor, of one or more variable investments of the variable account;

compute a depreciated variable account value based on said selection, the depreciated variable account value being the value of the variable account at which the value of the investment would accumulate to the guaranteed value at the end of the predetermined time period if the depreciated variable account value was invested at the minimum guaranteed rate of return for the remainder of the predetermined time period;

determine if the depreciated variable account value is greater than a first value;

compute a variable account reallocation value in response to the depreciated variable account value being greater than the first value, the variable account reallocation value being the value of assets to be reallocated from the secure account to the variable account so that the depreciated variable account value equals a second value; and

produce an output based on the secure account reallocation value.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the output is a request to purchase units of an investment of the variable account.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the output is adapted for display on a display device.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the request is for transmission to a computer system for performing the request.

21. The computer system of claim 20, the computer software operable, when executed by the one or more computer processors, to:

transmit the request to the remote computer system;

receive data in response to transmitting the request; and

store the received data.

22. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the investment is comprised of an initial principal amount;

and

the computer software is operable, when executed by the one or more computer processors, to allocate all of the initial principal amount to the variable account.

23. A computer system programmed to allocate assets between investment accounts of an investment, the investment having a guaranteed value at the end of a predetermined time period greater than or equal to an initial value of the investment to provide a guaranteed income regardless of market performance of the investment, the investment accounts including a secure account and a variable account, the secure account providing a minimum guaranteed rate of return, the variable account including at least one investment, an investor having control in selecting the at least one investment, the computer system comprising:

one or more computer processors;

one or more tangible computer-readable storage media;

computer software stored on the one or more tangible computer-readable storage media and operable, when executed by the one or more computer processors, to;

access a selection, made by the investor, of one or more variable investments of the variable account;

compute a depreciated variable account value based on said selection, the depreciated variable account value being the value of the variable account at which the value of the investment would accumulate to the guaranteed value at the end of the predetermined time period if the depreciated variable account value was invested at the minimum guaranteed rate of return for the remainder of the predetermined time period;

determine if the depreciated variable account value is less than a first value;

compute a secure account reallocation value in response to the depreciated variable account value being less than the first value, the secure account reallocation value being the value of assets to be reallocated from the variable account to the secure account so that the depreciated variable account value equals a second value; and

produce an output based on the secure account reallocation value.

24. The computer system of claim 23, wherein the output is a request to sell units of an investment of the variable account.

25. The computer system of claim 23, wherein the output is adapted for display on a display device.

26. The computer system of claim 24, wherein the request is for transmission to a computer system for performing the request.

27. The computer system of claim 26, the computer software operable, when executed by the one or more computer processors, to:

transmit the request to the remote computer system;

receive data in response to transmitting the request; and

store the received data.

28. The computer system of claim 23, wherein the investment is comprised of an initial principal amount;

and

the computer software is operable, when executed by the one or more computer processors, to allocate all of the initial principal amount to the variable account.

29. A computer system programmed to allocate assets between investment accounts of an investment, the investment having a guaranteed value at the end of a predetermined time period greater than an initial value of the investment to provide a guaranteed income regardless of market performance of the investment, the investment accounts including a secure account and a variable account, the secure account providing a minimum guaranteed rate of return, the variable account including at least one investment, an investor having control in selecting the at least one investment, the computer system comprising:

one or more computer processors;

one or more tangible computer-readable storage media;

computer software stored on the one or more tangible computer-readable storage media and operable, when executed by the one or more computer processors, to;

access a selection, made by the investor, of one or more variable investments of the variable account;

compute a depreciated variable account value based on said selection, the depreciated variable account value being the value of the variable account at which the value of the investment would accumulate to the guaranteed value at the end of the predetermined time period if the depreciated variable account value was invested at the minimum guaranteed rate of return for the remainder of the predetermined time period;

determine if the depreciated variable account value is greater than a first value;

compute a variable account reallocation value in response to the depreciated variable account value being greater than the first value, the variable account reallocation value being the value of assets to be reallocated from the secure account to the variable account so that the depreciated variable account value equals a second value; and

produce an output based on the secure account reallocation value.

30. The computer system of claim 29, wherein the output is a request to purchase units of an investment of the variable account.

31. The computer system of claim 29, wherein the output is adapted for display on a display device.

32. The computer system of claim 30, wherein the request is for transmission to a computer system for performing the request.

33. The computer system of claim 32, the computer software operable, when executed by the one or more computer processors, to:

transmit the request to the remote computer system;

receive data in response to transmitting the request; and

store the received data.

34. The computer program of claim 29, wherein the investment is comprised of an initial principal amount;

and

the computer software is operable, when executed by the one or more computer processors, to allocate all of the initial principal amount to the variable account.