Financial planning engine

Abstract

A system and a method are disclosed for generating financial goal packages. Personal and financial information is received from a user. Multiple budgeting strategies are generated based on the received personal and financial information. The budgeting strategies specify an amount of money to be saved by the user every set time period. A selection of a budgeting strategy is received from the user. Multiple goal packages specifying an allocation for the money saved by the user are generated. The multiple goal packages are scored based on the selected budgeting strategy. A goal package is selected based on the scores of each of the goal packages. The selected goal package is displayed to the user via a graphical user interface.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for generating a financial goal package comprising:
 receiving personal and financial information from a user, the personal information including at least one of an age of the user, a marital status of the user, and a planned retirement age of the user, and the financial information including information regarding an account of the user in at least one financial institution;   generating a plurality of budgeting strategies based on the received personal and financial information, the plurality of budgeting strategies specifying an amount of money to be saved every set time period by the user;   receiving a selection of a budgeting strategy from the plurality of budgeting strategies;   generating a plurality of goal packages, the each goal package of the plurality of goal packages specifying an allocation for money saved by the user;   scoring each of the generated goal packages based on the selected budgeting strategy;   selecting a goal package from the generated plurality of goal packages, the selection based at least in part on the scores of each of the generated goal packages; and   displaying the selected goal package to the user via a graphical user interface.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the plurality of budgeting strategies comprises:
 determining a saving potential of the user based at least in part on the received financial information, the saving potential representing an amount of money that the user can set aside based on the user's expenses;   determining whether the saving potential is larger than a upper threshold value;   responsive to determining that the saving potential is larger than the first value, generating the plurality of budgeting strategy based on a first plan; and   responsive to determining that the saving potential is smaller than the upper threshold value:
 determining whether the user's income is larger than a low-income threshold value, 
 responsive to determining that the saving potential is not larger than the low-income threshold value, displaying an error message to the user, and 
 responsive to determining that the user's income is larger than the low-income threshold value:
 determining whether the saving potential is larger than a lower threshold value, 
 responsive to determining that the saving potential is larger than the lower threshold value, generating the plurality of budgeting strategies based on a second plan, and 
 responsive to determining that the saving potential is smaller than the lower threshold value, generating the plurality of budgeting strategies based on a third plan. 
 
   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the saving potential is based at least on the user's minimum debt payment amount, a cost of living kernel, a housing kernel, the user's discretionary fixed costs, and a user's retirement contribution amount. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the wherein the first value is a percentage of the user's income. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the second value is based on the user's minimum debt payment amount, a cost of living kernel, and a housing kernel. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the plurality of goal packages comprises:
 generating a plurality of goals based on the received personal and financial information from a user, each goal of the plurality of generated goals including a goal amount and a goal date;   determining whether each of the plurality of goals are feasible based on the selected budgeting strategy; and   generating a plurality of goal packages by permuting the feasible goals.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein generating the plurality of goal packages further comprises:
 determining whether each generated goal package is feasible based on the selected budgeting strategy; and   responsive to determining that a goal package is not feasible, relaxing a goal constraint of the goal package.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein relaxing a goal constraint comprises reducing the goal amount of a goal of the goal package. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein relaxing a goal constraint comprises increasing the goal date of a goal of the goal package. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein scoring each of the generated goal packages comprises:
 decreasing the score of a goal package that does not include a goal of the plurality of generated goals, the decrease in the score of the goal package based on an importance of the not included goal.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein scoring each of the generated goal packages comprises:
 decreasing the score of a goal package for having to obtain a debt to achieve a goal of the goal package.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein scoring each of the generated goal packages comprises:
 increasing the score of a goal package for completing a goal of the goal package within a set time period.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining a cash flow based on the received financial information, the cash flow including a positive cash flow and a negative cash flow, the positive cash flow and the negative cash flow including an amount, a frequency, an a likelihood; and wherein the budgeting strategies are based on cash flows with a probability larger than a threshold value. 
     
     
         14 . A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions, the instructions when executed by a processor cause the processor to:
 receive personal and financial information from a user, the personal information including at least one of an age of the user, a marital status of the user, and a planned retirement age of the user, and the financial information including information regarding an account of the user in at least one financial institution;   generate a plurality of budgeting strategies based on the received personal and financial information, the plurality of budgeting strategies specifying an amount of money to be saved every set time period by the user;   receive a selection of a budgeting strategy from the plurality of budgeting strategies;   generate a plurality of goal packages, the each goal package of the plurality of goal packages specifying an allocation for money saved by the user;   score each of the generated goal packages based on the selected budgeting strategy;   select a goal package from the generated plurality of goal packages, the selection based at least in part on the scores of each of the generated goal packages; and   
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the instructions for generating the plurality of budgeting strategies cause the processor to:
 determine a saving potential of the user based at least in part on the received financial information, the saving potential representing an amount of money that the user can set aside based on the user's expenses;   determine whether the saving potential is larger than a upper threshold value;   responsive to determining that the saving potential is larger than the first value, generate the plurality of budgeting strategy based on a first plan; and   responsive to determining that the saving potential is smaller than the upper threshold value:
 determine whether the user's income is larger than a low-income threshold value, 
 responsive to determining that the saving potential is not larger than the low-income threshold value, display an error message to the user, and 
 responsive to determining that the user's income is larger than the low-income threshold value:
 determine whether the saving potential is larger than a lower threshold value, 
 responsive to determining that the saving potential is larger than the lower threshold value, generate the plurality of budgeting strategies based on a second plan, and 
 responsive to determining that the saving potential is smaller than the lower threshold value, generate the plurality of budgeting strategies based on a third plan. 
 
   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the saving potential is based at least on the user's minimum debt payment amount, a cost of living kernel, a housing kernel, the user's discretionary fixed costs, and a user's retirement contribution amount. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein:
 the first value is a percentage of the user's income; and   the second value is based on the user's minimum debt payment amount, a cost of living kernel, and a housing kernel.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the instructions for generating the plurality of goal packages cause the processor to:
 generate a plurality of goals based on the received personal and financial information from a user, each goal of the plurality of generated goals including a goal amount and a goal date;   determine whether each of the plurality of goals are feasible based on the selected budgeting strategy; and   generate a plurality of goal packages by permuting the feasible goals.   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the instructions for generating the plurality of goal packages further cause the processor to:
 determine whether each generated goal package is feasible based on the selected budgeting strategy; and   responsive to determining that a goal package is not feasible, relax a goal constraint of the goal package.   
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to determine a cash flow based on the received financial information, the cash flow including a positive cash flow and a negative cash flow, the positive cash flow and the negative cash flow including an amount, a frequency, an a likelihood; and wherein the budgeting strategies are based on cash flows with a probability larger than a threshold value.