Method and apparatus for enabling individual or smaller investors or others to create and manage a portfolio of securities or other assets or liabilities on a cost effective basis

Claim 1

A program encoded on a computer readable medium for executing on a computer, enabling an individual or smaller investor to create, manage and trade a portfolio of market tradable assets or liabilities, directly owned by the investor in a market for each of the assets or liabilities and for interfacing with a system for managing a plurality of individual or smaller investors' portfolios via a first communication link over which the individual or smaller investor transmits to the system trading data regarding trades of at least one asset or liability directly owned by the investor and that the individual or smaller investor desires to make, said program comprising: a) a graphical investor interface prompting the individual or smaller investor for investor identification information, investor investment information, including an amount to be invested and a payment method, and investor preference data; b) an asset allocation modeling process creating a percentage allocation of assets for the individual or smaller investor based on the investor preference data, wherein the graphical investor interface displays via the computer display a plurality of assets or liabilities among which the individual or smaller investor can select to create an individual or smaller investor portfolio containing assets or liabilities directly owned by the investor and commensurate with the percentage allocation of assets; c) a risk and differential return calculation process continuously calculating a risk and a differential return of the entire individual or smaller investor portfolio relative to a standard industry measurement in response to changes in the portfolio made by the individual or smaller investor, and providing the relative risk and differential return to the graphical investor interface, which displays the relative risk and differential return to the individual or smaller investor, said risk and differential return process allocating the investment amount across the entire individual or smaller investor portfolio to identify trades of the assets or liabilities directly owned by the investor and contained in the portfolio that are required to achieve the desired risk and differential return, wherein said trades include single shares, odd lots and/or fractional shares of the assets or liabilities; d) a portfolio editor process enabling the individual or smaller investor to modify the investor portfolio; e) a value at risk and sensitivity calculation process calculating a value at risk and a sensitivity return of the entire individual or smaller investor portfolio, and providing such value and analysis to the graphical investor interface, which displays the value and analysis to the individual or smaller investor; and f) a communication process communicating said investor identification information along with any trades of market tradable assets or liabilities to be executed in a market for each of the assets or liabilities to create or modify an individual or smaller investor's portfolio to ensure an individual or smaller investor's actual portfolio matches an individual or smaller investor's desired portfolio to the system, and matching the parameters of any limitations imposed on the portfolio, as said trading data via the first communication link, said trading data including an order to trade the portfolio of assets or liabilities, said communication process communicating trades including single shares, odd lots and/or fractional shares of said assets or liabilities to the system for managing a plurality of individual or smaller investor's portfolios for aggregation of said single shares, odd lots and/or fractional shares with other investors' trades.

Claim 21

A method using aggregation for creating and managing a portfolio of market tradable assets or liabilities, comprising the steps of: obtaining a plurality of investor preferences for characteristics of a plurality of distinct assets or liabilities for the portfolio of an investor; employing the plurality of investor preferences to select a plurality of distinct market tradable assets or liabilities to be owned directly by the investor and to be transacted in a market for each of the assets or liabilities in a plurality of transactions for the investor; aggregating the plurality of transactions of the investor with a plurality of transactions of a plurality of other investors over an applicable characteristic of the plurality of assets or liabilities, wherein said aggregating includes aggregating single shares, odd lots and/or fractional shares using a computer; and placing one or more trades based on said aggregating, wherein the selected plurality of distinct market tradable assets or liabilities are owned directly by the investor in the investor's portfolio as a result of said one or more trades.

Claim 22

A method using aggregation for creating and managing a portfolio of market tradable assets or liabilities, comprising the steps of: obtaining a plurality of investor preferences for characteristics of a plurality of distinct assets or liabilities for the portfolio of an investor; employing the plurality of investor preferences to select a plurality of distinct market tradable assets or liabilities to be owned directly by the investor and to be transacted in a market for each of the assets or liabilities in a plurality of transactions for the investor; aggregating the plurality of transactions of the investor with a plurality of transactions of a plurality of other investors over an applicable characteristic of the plurality of assets or liabilities, wherein said aggregating includes aggregating single shares, odd lots and/or fractional shares using a computer; and placing one or more trades based on said aggregating, wherein the selected plurality of distinct market tradable assets or liabilities are owned directly by the investor in the investor's portfolio as a result of said one or more trades.

Claim 65

The method according to claims 20 , further comprising creating an affinity group comprising individuals having similar characteristics, the similar characteristics being selectable by the investor, determining what assets or liabilities have been traded by the affinity group, and executing a trade of those assets or liabilities that have been traded by the affinity group on behalf of the investor.