Personal financial management system, method and program using a graphical object-oriented programming methodology

• US 7,050,997 B1
• Filed: 02/11/2000
• Issued: 05/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: John F. Wood Jr
• Original Assignee: John F. Wood Jr
• Inventors: Wood, John F. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kazimi, Hani
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kyle, Charles R.
• Application Number:
  US09/502,986
• Time in Patent Office: 2,293 Days
• Field of Search: 705/36, 705/37, 705/38
• US Class Current: 705/36.00R
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

A personal financial management system, method and program that models past current and projected financial transaction data. Each object represents a single financial entity such as accounts, loans, assets or expenses, or a financial activity such as account transfers, deposits or withdrawals. A graphical user interface enables the user to create objects and place the objects on a graphical time line simulating financial activity from all selected objects over a selected time span. The graphical user interface also allows manipulation of the graphical objects and enables future projection of planned financial transactions. The planned financial activity is tightly bound to past and current spending and budgeting, enabling the user to match current activities to planned activities, and to identify and correct discrepancies and shortfalls in projected activities. A to-do list provides the user with reminders of planned actions to be conducted. Customized objects may also be created by the user to satisfy special financial requirements.

Claims

1. A personal financial management software program embedded on computer-readable media for recording, predicting, and comparing financial data, comprising:

a graphical user interface for creating, manipulating and displaying system tools, the system tools including a current activity tool, a planning analysis tool and a budgeting analysis tool;

the current activity tool enabling users to enter current updates to financial transaction data objects and display a to-do list of activities prompting users to implement projected financial activity in the planning analysis tool;

the planning analysis tool enabling users to graphically plan and model financial activity by entering projected financial planning transaction objects and simulating financial activity from an earliest past date to a latest future data and including a financial activity simulator to identify, depict and eliminate discrepancies and shortfalls in the modeled transaction objects;

the budgeting analysis tool enabling users to compare current financial activity with simulated financial activity from the financial activity simulator showing actual and simulated cash flows, and enabling users to minimize differences between the actual and simulated cash flows; and

template objects comprising groups of related account, category and transaction objects representing multiple cash flows over a user-specified period of time, the template objects being created, manipulated, and displayed by users for simplified financial planning, budgeting and forecasting using the current activity tool, the planning analysis tool, and the budgeting analysis tool.

2. A personal financial management software program according to claim 1, wherein each object is derived from an object class selected from the group consisting of an account class, a transaction class, a category class, and a template class.

3. A personal financial management software program according to claim 2, wherein the account class comprises objects selected from the group consisting of bank account objects, credit account objects, investment account objects, loan account objects, and mortgage account objects.

4. A personal financial management software program according to claim 2, wherein the transaction class comprises objects selected from the group consisting of account/account transaction objects, account/category transaction objects, account/transaction transaction objects, category/transaction transaction objects, and close account transaction objects.

5. A personal financial management software program according to claim 2, wherein the category class comprises an expense category class and an income category class.

6. A personal financial management software program according to claim 5, wherein the expense category class comprises objects selected from the group consisting of subsistence expense objects, health expense objects, recreation expense objects, transportation expense objects, tax objects, and luxury expense objects.

7. A personal financial management software program according to claim 5, wherein the income category class comprises objects selected from the group consisting of investment income objects, retirement income objects, and labor income objects.

8. A personal financial management software program according to claim 2, wherein the template class comprises objects selected from the group consisting of scheduled spending template objects, scheduled income template objects, and loan payment template objects.

9. A personal financial management software program according to claim 1, further comprising system interface objects to accept user preference defaults for use by the program tools.

10. A personal financial management software program according to claim 1, further comprising cash objects used by transaction objects for tracking cash flows.

11. A personal financial management software program according to claim 1, further comprising a to-do list displayed in the current activity tool for enabling the planning analysis tool to prompt the user to implement projected financial activity.

12. A personal financial management software program according to claim 2, further comprising account data from other financial programs imported into account objects.

13. A personal financial management software program according to claim 2, further comprising category data from other financial programs imported into category objects.

14. A personal financial management software program according to claim 1, further comprising a programming means for enabling the user to create and incorporate a custom object wherein each custom object is derived from an object class selected from the group consisting of an account class, a transaction class, a category class, and a template class.

15. A personal financial management software program according to claim 1, wherein the planning analysis tool comprises a financial activity simulation of all objects created by the user, the simulation modeling all financial activity from the earliest past date to the latest future date entered.

16. A personal financial management software program according to claim 15, wherein the financial activity simulation identifies and graphically depicts discrepancies and shortfalls in the modeled transactions.

17. A personal financial management software program according to claim 15, wherein the financial activity simulation is adjusted to eliminate discrepancies and shortfalls, and to provide a more accurate fit with actual financial activity.

18. A method for recording, predicting, and comparing financial data using a personal financial management software program embedded on computer-readable media, comprising:

creating, manipulating, and displaying system tools by a graphical user interface, the system tools including a current activity tool, a planning analysis tool, and a budgeting analysis tool;

enabling users of the current activity tool to enter current updates to financial transaction data objects and display a to-do list of activities prompting users to implement projected financial activity in the planning analysis tool;

enabling users of the planning analysis tool to graphically plan and model financial activity by entering projected financial planning transaction objects and simulating financial activity from an earliest past date to a latest future data and including a financial activity simulator to identify, depict and eliminate discrepancies and shortfalls in the modeled transaction objects;

enabling users of the budgeting analysis tool to compare current financial activity with simulated financial activity from the financial activity simulator showing actual and simulated cash flows, and enabling users to minimize differences between the actual and simulated cash flows; and

grouping related account, category and transaction objects representing multiple cash flows over a user-specified period of time into template objects, the template objects being created, manipulated, and displayed by users for simplified financial planning, budgeting and forecasting using the current activity tool, the planning analysis tool, and the budgeting analysis tool.

19. A method according to claim 18, wherein the objects belong to object classes comprising an account class, a transaction class, a category class, and a template class derived from a time/value class.

20. A method according to claim 19, wherein the category class comprises an expense category class and an income category class.

21. A method according to claim 18, further comprising accepting user preference defaults by system interface objects for use by the program tools.

22. A method according to claim 18, further comprising tracking cash flows by cash objects used by transaction objects.

23. A method according to claim 18, further comprising enabling the planning analysis tool to prompt the user to implement projected financial activity by a to-do list displayed in the current activity tool.

24. A method according to claim 19, further comprising importing account data from other financial programs into account objects.

25. A method according to claim 19, further comprising importing category data from other financial programs into category objects.

26. A method according to claim 18, further comprising enabling the user to create and incorporate custom objects into the personal financial management software program.

27. A method according to claim 18, wherein simulating financial activity comprises simulating financial activity of all objects created by the user from the earliest entered date to the latest future date entered.

28. A method according to claim 27, wherein simulating financial activity further comprises identifying and graphically depicting discrepancies and shortfalls in the simulated transactions.

29. A method according to claim 27, wherein simulating financial activity further comprises adjusting objects to eliminate discrepancies and shortfalls, and providing a more accurate fit with actual financial activity.

30. A computer software program on a computer-readable medium incorporating the method recited in claim 18.

31. A computer-implemented method for personal financial management, comprising the steps of:

creating, manipulating, and displaying system tools by a graphical user interface, the system tools including a current activity tool, a planning analysis tool, and a budgeting analysis tool;

using the system tools, entering data from past, current, and projected financial transactions into objects belonging to an account class, a category class, and a transaction class;

using system tools, defining objects belonging to a template class that associate common activities of financial transactions comprising objects of an account class, a category class, and a transaction class;

using the planning analysis tool, graphically planning and modeling financial activity by entering projected financial planning transaction objects and simulating financial activity from an earliest past date to a latest future data and including a financial activity simulator to identify, depict and eliminate discrepancies and shortfalls in the modeled transaction objects;

tracking cash flows due to transactions entered by a user by use of cash objects;

using the budgeting analysis tool, comparing current financial activity with simulated financial activity from the financial activity simulator showing actual and simulated cash flows, and enabling users to minimize differences between the actual and simulated cash flows;

displaying a to-do list of activities in the planning analysis tool for prompting the user to initiate planned actions; and

grouping related account, category and transaction objects into representing multiple cash flows over a user-specified period of time template objects, the template objects being created, manipulated, and displayed for simplified financial planning, budgeting and forecasting using the current activity tool, the planning analysis tool, and the budgeting analysis tool.

32. A computer software program contained on a computer-readable medium incorporating the method recited in claim 31.

33. A computer programmed to perform the steps in the computer-implemented method as recited in claim 31.

34. A personal financial management software system embedded on computer-readable media for recording, predicting, and comparing financial data, comprising:

a graphical user interface for creating, manipulating and displaying system tools, the system tools including a current activity tool, a planning analysis tool, and a budgeting analysis tool;

the current activity tool enabling users to enter current updates to financial transaction data objects and displaying a to-do list of activities prompting users to implement projected financial activity in the planning analysis tool;

the planning analysis tool enabling users to graphically plan and model financial activity by entering projected financial planning transaction objects and simulating financial activity from an earliest past date to a latest future data and including a financial activity simulator to identify, depict and eliminate discrepancies and shortfalls in the modeled transaction objects;

the budgeting analysis tool enabling users to compare current financial activity with simulated financial activity from the financial activity simulator showing actual and simulated cash flows, and enabling users to minimize differences between the actual and simulated cash flows; and

template objects comprising groups of related account, category and transaction objects representing multiple cash flows over a user-specified period of time, the template objects being created, manipulated, and displayed by users for simplified financial planning, budgeting and forecasting using the current activity tool, the planning analysis tool, and the budgeting analysis tool.

35. A personal financial management software system according to claim 34, wherein the objects belong to object classes comprising an account class, a transaction class, a category class, and a template class derived from a time/value class.

36. A personal financial management software system according to claim 34, further comprising system interface objects to accept user preference defaults for use by the program tools.

37. A personal financial management software system according to claim 34, further comprising cash objects used by transaction objects for tracking cash flows.

38. A personal financial management software system according to claim 34, further comprising a to-do list displayed in the current activity tool for enabling the planning analysis tool to prompt the user to implement projected financial activity.

39. A personal financial management software system according to claim 35, further comprising account data from other financial programs imported into account objects.

40. A personal financial management software system according to claim 35, further comprising category data from other financial programs imported into category objects.

41. A personal financial management software system according to claim 34, further comprising a programming means for enabling the user to create and incorporate custom objects into the personal financial management software program.

42. A personal financial management software system according to claim 34, wherein the planning analysis tool comprises a financial activity simulation of all objects created by the user, the simulation modeling all financial activity from the earliest past date to the latest future date entered.