Method and system for informing a user of the effect of a hypothetical purchase on the user's finances at the point of sale

A system for displaying to a user the effect of a hypothetical purchase on the user's budgetary goals comprising:

• a user computing system;
• a product/service category database, the product/service category database for associating one or more financial categories with one or more products and services stored within the database;
• one or more processors associated with one or more computing systems, the one or more processors associated with one or more computing systems implementing at least part of a process for displaying to a user the effect of a hypothetical purchase on the user's budgetary goals, the process for displaying to a user the effect of a hypothetical purchase on the user's budgetary goals including:
• a user defining one or more financial or budgetary goals associated with one or more financial categories for a defined period of time and entering data indicating the one or more financial or budgetary goals associated with one or more financial categories for the defined period of time into the user computing system;
• categorizing one or more products or services in the product/service category database as being associated with a particular financial category, the categorization being based on the user's historical categorizations of transactions involving the one or more products or services;
• receiving, at a point of sale for a seller, information from the user indicating that the user intends to purchase a specified product or service from a seller;
• using the one or more processors associated with the one or more computing systems to obtain data indicating the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing;
• using the one or more processors associated with the one or more computing systems to obtain data indicating the cost of the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing;
• using the one or more processors associated with the one or more computing systems to search the product/service category database to determine a financial category associated with the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing;
• using the one or more processors associated with the one or more computing systems to access the data indicating the user's one or more financial or budgetary goals associated with one or more financial categories to obtain data indicating the user's financial or budgetary goals for the defined period of time for the financial category associated with the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing;
• using the one or more processors associated with the one or more computing systems to obtain current financial data associated with the user to determine the user's spending so far in the defined period of time for the financial category associated with the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing;
• using the one or more processors associated with the one or more computing systems to analyze the data indicating the user's one or more financial or budgetary goals for the financial category associated with the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing for the defined period of time, data indicating the user's spending so far in the defined period of time for the financial category associated with the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing, and the data indicating the cost of the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing to generate data indicating a hypothetical remaining balance for the financial category of the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing for the defined period of time that would remain if the user were to purchase the product or service;
• and
• using the one or more processors associated with the one or more computing systems to display the at least part of the data indicating the hypothetical remaining balance for the financial category of the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing for the defined period of time that would remain if the user were to purchase the product or service on a display device of the user computing system.

A method for displaying to a user the effect of a hypothetical purchase on the user's budgetary goals comprising:

• a user defining one or more financial or budgetary goals associated with one or more financial categories for a defined period of time and entering data indicating the one or more financial or budgetary goals associated with one or more financial categories for the defined period of time into one or more computing systems;
• providing a product/service category database, the product/service category database for associating one or more financial categories with one or more products and services stored within the database;
• categorizing one or more products or services in the product/service category database as being associated with a particular financial category, the categorization being based on the user's historical categorizations of transactions involving the one or more products or services;
• receiving, at a point of sale for a seller, information from the user indicating that the user intends to purchase a specified product or service from a seller;
• using one or more processors associated with one or more computing systems to obtain data indicating the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing;
• using one or more processors associated with one or more computing systems to obtain data indicating the cost of the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing;
• using one or more processors associated with one or more computing systems to search the product/service category database to determine a financial category associated with the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing;
• using one or more processors associated with one or more computing systems to access the data indicating the user's one or more financial or budgetary goals associated with one or more financial categories to obtain data indicating the user's financial or budgetary goals for the defined period of time for the financial category associated with the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing;
• using one or more processors associated with one or more computing systems to obtain current financial data associated with the user to determine the user's spending so far in the defined period of time for the financial category associated with the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing;
• using one or more processors associated with one or more computing systems to analyze the data indicating the user's one or more financial or budgetary goals for the financial category associated with the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing for the defined period of time, data indicating the user's spending so far in the defined period of time for the financial category associated with the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing, and the data indicating the cost of the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing to generate data indicating a hypothetical remaining balance for the financial category of the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing for the defined period of time that would remain if the user were to purchase the product or service;
• and
• using one or more processors associated with one or more computing systems to display the at least part of the data indicating the hypothetical remaining balance for the financial category of the product or service the user is contemplating purchasing for the defined period of time that would remain if the user were to purchase the product or service on a display device of a computing system.