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

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.

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.

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.