Financial management system and method

Abstract

A system and method of performing financial management tracking comprising entering, on a mobile control device, data associated with a financial transaction; storing said entered financial transaction data in a database within said mobile control device; periodically synchronizing said mobile control device database with a base station database via a communications link such that budgetary and financial transaction data is update. In one embodiment of the invention, each member of a household utilizes a separate mobile control device, each of the mobile control devices is synchronized with the base device such that all mobile control devices are synchronized with each other.

1 . A method for managing financial transactions of a transacting entity having a computing device associated therewith, comprising:
 receiving transaction information associated with a financial transaction for the transacting entity;   evaluating the transaction information for determining whether the financial transaction is appropriate with respect to at least one constraint defined by at least one of budgetary information and account information associated with the transacting entity; and   propagating transaction evaluation result information toward the computing device, the transaction evaluation result information adapted for providing an indication to the transacting entity as to whether the financial transaction is appropriate.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the budgetary information is stored in a budgetary database. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the budgetary database comprises a plurality of records, each record comprising at least a budgetary item identifier field, an annual budget field, and a periodic budget field. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein, when the transaction information is evaluated using the budgetary information, evaluating the transaction information comprises:
 correlating a transaction type associated with the financial transaction to a budgetary item identifier field of one of the records of the budgetary database; and   determining, using the one of the records of the budgetary database, whether the financial transaction exceeds at least one of an annual budget and a periodic budget for the transaction type.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the account information is stored in an accounts database. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the accounts database comprises a plurality of records, each record comprising at least an account number field, an account type field, an institution field and an available balance field, the account number field identifying a credit or debit account, the account type field identifying the type of account, the institution field identifying the financial institution associated with the account, and the available balance field identifying an available balance or credit limit associated with the account. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein, when the transaction information is evaluated using the account information, evaluating the transaction information comprises:
 correlating a financial transaction type associated with the financial transaction to at least one of the fields of one of the records of the accounts database; and   determining, using the one of the records of the accounts database, whether the financial transaction exceeds an available balance from the available balance field of the one of the records of the accounts database.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 updating at least one of the budgetary information and the account information in response to a determination that evaluation of the transaction information indicates that the financial transaction is appropriate.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the transaction information is received from the computing device of the transacting entity via a communication network. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the computing device comprises a processor, a memory, an input device, and a display device. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the memory stores a transactions database including data relating to financial transactions initiated via the computing device. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the transactions database comprises a plurality of records, each record comprising at least an account number field, a transaction amount field, and a budgetary item identifier field, the account number field identifying a credit or debit account funding a respective transaction, the transaction amount field identifying the value of the respective transaction, the budgetary item identifier field identifying the type of the respective transaction. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the transactions database is updated in response to user interaction via the input device. 
     
     
         14 . A method for managing financial transactions of a transacting entity at a portable computing device, comprising:
 receiving, via an input device of the portable computing device, transaction information associated with a financial transaction for the transacting entity;   propagating the financial transaction information toward a serving device adapted for evaluating the transaction information for determining whether the financial transaction is appropriate with respect to at least one constraint defined by at least one of budgetary information and account information associated with the transacting entity;   receiving transaction evaluation result information indicative as to whether the financial transaction is appropriate; and   displaying, via a display device of the portable computing device, an indication as to whether the financial transaction is appropriate.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 storing the transaction information in a memory of the computing device.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 propagating, toward the serving device, an indication as to whether financial transaction is completed by the transacting entity, wherein the indication as to whether financial transaction is completed by the transacting entity is adapted for use by the serving device to update at least one of the budgetary information and the account information based on the financial transaction.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 authorizing the financial transaction in response to an indication that the financial transaction is appropriate.   
     
     
         18 . A system for managing financial information, comprising:
 a serving device, the serving device adapted for receiving transaction information associated with a financial transaction initiated by a transacting entity, evaluating the transaction information for determining whether the financial transaction is appropriate with respect to at least one constraint defined by at least one of budgetary information and account information associated with the transacting entity, and propagating transaction evaluation result information providing an indication as to whether the financial transaction is appropriate; and   at least one portable computing device, each of the at least one portable computing device comprising a processor, a memory, an input device, and a display device, each of the at least one portable computing device adapted for receiving transaction information via the input device and propagating the transaction information toward the serving device for evaluation of financial transactions, each of the at least one portable computing device adapted for receiving financial transaction evaluation results from the serving device and displaying the financial transaction evaluation results via the display device.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the serving device comprises at least one of a budgetary database storing budgetary information and an accounts database storing account information, wherein each of the at least one portable computing device comprises a transactions database storing financial transaction information. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the serving device is a portable computing device, wherein the serving device operates as a master device and each of the at least one portable computing device operates as a slave device.