User controlled collaborative aspirational savings social network system and method having user controlled whiteboard system enabling articulation and end-to-end fulfillment of aspirations

Abstract

An internet-based, user-controlled aspirational savings social network system and associated method for end-to-end articulation, savings, and fulfillment of user's aspirations bridges the existing chasm between the user's savings and the purpose for their savings. A network platform facilitates users to discover and articulate aspirations and connects individual accounts assigned to the user's aspirational goals. A plan is developed for each account and a collaborative savings amplification tool of the platform increases the effective monetary amounts beyond the user's principal contributions and/or reduces the price of the aspired goods or services to advance the plan in ways that fulfill the aspirational goals. The network platform engages with a plurality of merchants associated with the aspirational goals to supply the goods or services and yield a comprehensive end-to-end solution. The saving social network system and method allows users to attain aspirations, including those that may otherwise have been out-of-reach.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An Internet based user controlled value amplification social network system ( 100 ) comprising:
 at least one hardware server ( 113 ) comprising at least one computer processor upon which is stored a host electronic network platform ( 110 ) configured to host individual accounts ( 112 ) for a plurality of individual platform users ( 114 ), wherein each individual account ( 112 ) is assigned a goal ( 116 ) of goods and/or services by the account user ( 114 ), wherein the goods and services of the goal ( 116 ) are available from goods/services providers ( 142 ) associated with the host electronic network platform ( 110 ), and wherein the host electronic network platform ( 110 ) develops and monitors a value amplification plan ( 118 ) associated with each individual account ( 112 );   an goal authoring tool ( 120 ) is on the host electronic network platform ( 110 ) that is housed on at least one server ( 113 ), wherein the authoring tool ( 120 ) is accessible by the individual platform users ( 114 ) on the Internet via the user's own electronic devices, wherein the authoring tool ( 120 ) includes at least one predefined category ( 122 ) of prospective goods and services to assist the user in assigning a goal ( 116 ), and wherein the authoring tool ( 120 ) is configured to assist individual platform users ( 114 ) in discovery and articulation of specific goals ( 116 ) to be assigned to each individual account of the user ( 114 ) by receiving inputs from the merchants ( 142 ) regarding prospective goods and services, and wherein the authoring tool ( 120 ) assigns at least an initial goal amount associated with an individual account ( 112 ) based upon the specific goal's goods and/or services which is available from goods, and/or services providers ( 142 ) associated with the host electronic network platform ( 110 ), and wherein the authoring tool ( 120 ) is associated with a proposed value amplification plan ( 118 ) associated with the goal ( 116 ) which is assigned to the individual account ( 112 );   a store of value provider interface ( 130 ) is on the host network platform ( 110 ) that is housed on at least one server ( 113 ), wherein the “store of value” “store of value” provider interface ( 130 ) is configured to engage with at least one store of value provider ( 132 ) and interacts with the goal authoring tool ( 120 ) to associate each individual account ( 112 ) associated with the goal ( 116 ) with one associated account with one associated store of value provider ( 132 ); and   a goods, and/or services provider interface ( 140 ) on the host network platform ( 110 ) that is housed on at least one server ( 113 ), wherein the goods, and/or services provider interface ( 140 ) is configured to engage with and be accessed by the plurality of goods, and/or, services providers ( 142 ) of goods and services associated with each goal ( 116 ) of each individual account ( 112 ), wherein the goods, and/or services provider interface interacts with the system ( 100 ) to allow the goods, and/or services provider ( 142 ) to provide input to the authoring tool ( 120 ) for associating goods and services with the user's goal ( 116 ).   
     
     
         2 . The Internet based user controlled value amplification system ( 100 ) according to  claim 1 , wherein the system ( 100 ) further includes a relationship scoring system ( 170 ) on the host network platform ( 110 ) that is housed on at least one server ( 113 ), wherein the relationship scoring system ( 170 ) interacts with the collaborative value amplification amplifications tool ( 150 ) and the authoring tool ( 120 ) to review the monetary and non-monetary contributions of a user's designated well-wishing community to quantify participation in the executed value amplification plan ( 118 ) for each user's goals ( 116 ). 
     
     
         3 . The Internet based user controlled value amplification system ( 100 ) according to  claim 1 , wherein the host network platform ( 110 ) is configured to co-ordinate the physical or virtual delivery and/or connectivity/exchange/barter of the goods and/or services associated with the goal ( 116 ) of an individual account ( 112 ) to the user ( 114 ) at a user designated location from the good and/or services provider ( 142 ) when the value amplification plan ( 118 ) associated with that individual account ( 112 ) has been achieved, and wherein the host network platform ( 110 ) is configured to co-ordinate the transfer of monetary amount from an individual account ( 112 ) to the good and/or services provider ( 142 ) for the goods and service associated with the goal ( 116 ) when the plan ( 118 ) associated with that individual account ( 112 ) has been achieved. 
     
     
         4 . The Internet based user controlled value amplification system ( 100 ) according to  claim 2 , wherein the relationship scoring system ( 170 ) which quantifies the participation of other users ( 114 ) for each user's goals ( 116 ) are configured to be utilized over time to determine a user's standing, including reputational and endorsement equity, that may be considered by others and may be utilized to facilitate recruitment of other parties to serve as a resource in the social trade-off analysis in making the purchase or procurement related decision and/or to influence accountability on the part of the user and/or related parties, and/or to contribute to the value amplification and/or to provide the goods or services to fulfill the goal and/or to be compensated through a combination of equity noted above for the support they may provide in the purchase/procurement and related decision-making. 
     
     
         5 . The Internet based user controlled value amplification system ( 100 ) according to  claim 1 , wherein the host electronic network platform ( 110 ) provides users feedback in the form of curation, advice, social trade-off analysis and/or voting from the user's well-wishing community through which a more informed goal is identified, refined or canceled which may occur through feedback loops and mechanisms within the platform among the various collaborators resulting in errors/defects in the goods or services that constitute the goal to be fixed and/or the goods or services to be enhanced with features/functionality and/or manufacturing/delivery-efficiency and/or personalization of a more generic good or service includes the ability to capture a goal from either the physical environment, media environment, digital environment, or virtual worlds and which then drives the development of the value amplification plan ( 118 ) associated with each individual account ( 112 ) and wherein the host electronic network platform ( 110 ) monitors a value amplification plan ( 118 ) associated with each individual account ( 112 ) and provides visual indication of the amount of progress of the value amplification plan ( 118 ). 
     
     
         6 . The Internet based user controlled value amplification system ( 100 ) according to  claim 1 , wherein the host electronic network platform ( 110 ) wherein the host electronic network platform ( 110 ) provides users feedback in the form of curation, advice, social trade-off analysis and/or voting through which a more informed goal ( 116 ) is identified, refined or canceled and which drives the development of the value amplification plan ( 118 ) associated with each individual account ( 112 ). 
     
     
         7 . The Internet based user controlled value amplification system ( 100 ) according to  claim 1 , wherein the “store of value” provider interface ( 130 ) on the host network platform ( 110 ) is configured to assist in credit underwriting by at least one associated “store of value” provider ( 132 ) associated with a user's goal ( 116 ). 
     
     
         8 . The Internet based user controlled value amplification system ( 100 ) according to  claim 1 , wherein the “store of value” provider interface ( 130 ) on the host network platform ( 110 ) reviews a plurality of depository account types offered by a plurality of financial institutions in the establishment of each individual account ( 112 ) as a depository account with one associated “store of value” provider ( 132 ), wherein such review can include arbitrage across such different “store of value” provider ( 132 ) to obtain the best offer/rate/terms to optimize return for the user ( 114 ). 
     
     
         9 . The Internet based user controlled value amplification system ( 100 ) according to  claim 1 , wherein the goal authoring tool ( 120 ) assists individual platform users ( 114 ) in discovery and articulation of specific goals ( 116 ) to be assigned to each individual account ( 112 ) of the user ( 114 ) through the use of questionnaires filled out by the user ( 114 ) and images uploaded by the user ( 114 ). 
     
     
         10 . The Internet based user controlled value amplification system ( 100 ) according to  claim 1 , further including a collaborative value amplification tool ( 150 ) which includes enabling the user ( 114 ) to designate a set of social network users associated with an individual user's account that form the user's designated well-wishing community and to whom the user-aspiration are narrowcast or designated subset thereof, whereby the user ( 114 ) is empowered to send information to a limited set of users securely such that no one outside the narrowcast group obtains the requests. 
     
     
         11 . The Internet based user controlled value amplification system ( 100 ) according to  claim 10 , wherein system ( 100 ) can receive and assign monetary amounts to an individual's user account ( 112 ) from any member of the user's designated well-wishing community. 
     
     
         12 . The Internet based user controlled value amplification system ( 100 ) according to  claim 10 , wherein the system ( 100 ) is configured such that the user ( 114 ) may be any one of an individual, plurality of individuals, and organization or plurality of organizations and whereby the parties donating to the user ( 114 ) may be any one of an individual, plurality of individuals, and organization or plurality of organizations, and wherein a plurality of “store of value” providers ( 132 ) access the system ( 100 ) through the store of value provider interface ( 132 ) and a plurality of goods or services providers ( 142 ) access the system ( 100 ) through the goods and/or services provider interface ( 140 ). 
     
     
         13 . The Internet based user controlled value amplification system ( 100 ) according to  claim 10 , wherein the host electronic network platform ( 110 ) provides users feedback in the form of curation, advice, social trade-off analysis and/or voting from the user's well-wishing community through which a more informed goal ( 116 ) is identified, refined or canceled and which drives the development of the value amplification plan associated with each individual account. 
     
     
         14 . The Internet based user controlled value amplification system ( 100 ) according to  claim 10 , wherein the collaborative value amplification tool ( 150 ) includes group purchasing discounts and/or access to goods or services which would not be accessible without the collective group buying power attributable to an individual user's accounts ( 112 ) wherein a group is formed by a collection of individual platform user's having aligned goals ( 116 ), and wherein the groups may include the user(s), their well-wishing community(ities) and related parties (including the store of value providers and/or good or services providers, including any incentives/rewards they may provide). 
     
     
         15 . The Internet based user controlled value amplification system ( 100 ) according to  claim 14 , wherein the collaborative value amplification tool ( 150 ) includes content co-creation by the individual platform users ( 114 ), by any combination of the goods and/or services providers ( 142 ), “store of value” providers ( 132 ), members of the user designated well-wishing community and/or user designated broader audience, or the host network platform ( 110 ) itself. 
     
     
         16 . The Internet based user controlled value amplification system ( 100 ) according to  claim 10 , wherein the system ( 100 ) is configured to utilize the specific goal ( 116 ) of the user ( 114 ), other user information and the user's progress with the given plan ( 118 ) to perform credit or insurance underwriting associated with the specific aspiration goal ( 116 ) of the user ( 114 ). 
     
     
         17 . The Internet based user controlled value amplification system ( 100 ) according to claim  10 , wherein the collaborative value amplification tool ( 150 ) includes gamification of individual accounts ( 112 ), including gamification by any combination of the goods an/or services providers ( 142 ), “store of value” providers ( 132 ), members of the user designated well-wishing community and/or user designated broader audience, or the host network platform ( 110 ) itself. 
     
     
         18 . An internet based user controlled value amplification social network system comprising:
 A host electronic network platform configured to host individual accounts for a plurality of individual users, wherein each individual account is assigned an goal of goods and/or services by the account user, and wherein the host electronic network platform develops, modifies and monitors a value amplification plan associated with each individual account;   An goal authoring tool on the network platform configured to assist individual platform users in discovery and articulation of specific goals to be assigned to each individual account of the user, and to assign at least an initial monetary goal amount associated with the individual account based upon the specific goal assigned to the account;   A financial institution interface on the network platform configured to engage with at least one financial institution and to associate each individual account with one associated depository account with one associated financial institution;   Collaborative value amplification amplifications tool interacting with the host electronic network platform and configured to increase the effective monetary amounts in an individual account to advance the value amplification plan to the goal above the principal contributions of the user, wherein the collaborative value amplification tool includes at least a social network based crowdfunding of a specific goal assigned to one of an individual user's accounts by a user designated well-wishing community; and group purchasing discounts attributable to an individual user's accounts wherein a group for group purchasing is formed by a collection of individual platform user's having aligned goals; and   A goods or services provider interface on the host network platform configured to engage with a plurality of goods or services providers of goods and services associated with each goal of each individual account, and wherein the system is configured to have the goods or services providers involved in discovery and articulation of specific goals to be assigned to each individual account of the user, and in delivering the goods or services associated with attaining a specific goal directly to the user.   
     
     
         19 . A method of implementing user controlled value amplification for specific goods and/or services comprising the steps of:
 Providing a host electronic network platform configured to host individual accounts for a plurality of individual platform users;   Identifying a specific goal to be assigned to each individual account of the user with an goal authoring tool on the host electronic network platform accessible by the individual platform users   Assigning an goal of specific goods and/or services including an initial monetary goal amount by the account user to each individual user's account;   Developing, Monitoring and Modifying a value amplification plan associated with each individual account by the host electronic network platform;   Establishing each individual account as a depository account with an associated financial institution through the host electronic network platform;   Amplifying the effective monetary amounts in an individual account to advance the value amplification plan to the goal above the principal contributions of the user and the interest earned on the principal contributions of the user; and   Utilizing the specific goal of the user, other user information and the user's progress with the given plan to perform credit or insurance underwriting associated with the specific aspiration goal of the user.   
     
     
         20 . The method of implementing user controlled value amplification for specific goods and/or services according to  claim 19  further including the steps of coordinating the delivery of the goods and service associated with the goal of an individual account to the user from the goods or services provider when the value amplification plan associated with that individual account has been achieved; and coordinating the transfer of monetary amount from an individual account to the goods or services provider for the goods and service associated with the goal the when the value amplification plan associated with that individual account has been achieved.