System and method for trading securities using portfolios defined by an advisor

Abstract

A system and method allows an advisor to identify allocations of investments to each of several model portfolios in each of several investment strategies selected by the advisor, and to select asset classes to use and features to supply, as well as to select a primary and secondary investment to use for tax loss harvesting. Each of several investors is linked to an advisor and prompted with questions whose answers provide an initial assignment of the investor to an investment strategy from among those selected by the advisor to which the investor is linked and a model portfolio of that strategy. Investments are made and redeemed and rebalancing occurs in accordance with the model portfolio of the investor and the allocations of the advisor for that model portfolio.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of managing a plurality of investments for a plurality of investors on a computer system that maintains investor accounts, the method comprising:
 receiving a plurality of investment strategies from a plurality of investment advisors, each investment strategy of the plurality of investment strategies including a plurality of model portfolios, each model portfolio of the plurality of model portfolios including a plurality of first indications, each first indication of the plurality of first indications indicating a percentage of the model portfolio to be allocated to an investment of a plurality of investments;   receiving a selection of one of the plurality of investment advisors and answers to a plurality of questions from each of the plurality of investors;   linking each of the plurality of investors to a model portfolio of an investment strategy of one of the plurality of investment advisors responsive to the received answers and the received selection of each of the plurality of investors;   investing funds of each of the plurality of investors based on the plurality of first indications in the model portfolio linked to each of the plurality of investors;   receiving a second indication, from an investment advisor, indicating an updated percentage of one of the investments of the plurality of investments of a model portfolio of the investment advisor, the second indication superseding one of the plurality of first indications of the model portfolio of the one of the plurality of investment advisors; and   rebalancing the investments of a subset of the investors of the plurality of investors, the rebalancing including adjusting allocations of investments of the plurality of investments of the subset of investors to align with the plurality of first indications and the second indication of the model portfolio linked to each investor of the subset of investors, the subset of investors of the plurality of investors being investors whose investments are not aligned with at least one of the plurality of first indications and the second indication prior to the rebalancing.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving an instruction to change an amount of the funds invested by an investor, wherein
 if the instruction includes a request to increase the funds to be invested for the investor, purchasing, for the investor, investments aligned with the plurality of first indications and the second indication of the model portfolio linked to the investor; and 
 if the instruction includes a request to decrease the funds to be invested for the investor, selling a portion of at least one investment to maintain alignment with the plurality of first indications and the second indication of the model portfolio linked to the investor. 
   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein at least one of the rebalancing, the purchasing, or the selling is responsive to an instruction received by the computer system from an investment advisor of the plurality of investment advisors. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the rebalancing excludes investments corresponding to the second indication when the investments corresponding to the second indication are designated as other investments. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , additionally comprising:
 checking each investment strategy received against a set of rules, responsive to an indicator of whether the rules are or are not to be enforced; and   outputting a providing an error responsive to the checking.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 periodically analyzing, with the computer system, the investments of each of the plurality of investors to determine if the investments are aligned with each of the plurality of first indications and the second indication.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the rebalancing occurs after the periodically analyzing for each investor of the plurality of investors whose investments are not aligned with each of the plurality of first indications and the second indication. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 periodically analyzing, with the computer system, the investments of each of the plurality of investors to determine if tax loss harvesting may be performed; and   performing, with the computer system, tax loss harvesting on each of the investments of each of the plurality of investors that qualify for tax loss harvesting.   
     
     
         9 . A system for managing a plurality of investments for a plurality of investors, the system comprising:
 at least one processor; and   a memory storing instructions that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to perform
 receiving a plurality of investment strategies from a plurality of investment advisors, each investment strategy of the plurality of investment strategies including a plurality of model portfolios, each model portfolio of the plurality of model portfolios including a plurality of first indications, each first indication of the plurality of first indications indicating a percentage of the model portfolio to be allocated to an investment of a plurality of investments; 
 receiving a selection of one of the plurality of investment advisors and answers to a plurality of questions from each of the plurality of investors; 
 linking each of the plurality of investors to a model portfolio of an investment strategy of one of the plurality of investment advisors responsive to the received answers and the received selection of each of the plurality of investors; 
 investing funds of each of the plurality of investors based on the plurality of first indications in the model portfolio linked to each of the plurality of investors; 
 receiving a second indication, from an investment advisor, indicating an updated percentage of one of the investments of the plurality of investments of a model portfolio of the investment advisor, the second indication superseding one of the plurality of first indications of the model portfolio of the one of the plurality of investment advisors; and 
 rebalancing the investments of a subset of the investors of the plurality of investors, the rebalancing including adjusting allocations of investments of the plurality of investments of the subset of investors to align with the plurality of first indications and the second indication of the model portfolio linked to each investor of the subset of investors, the subset of investors of the plurality of investors being investors whose investments are not aligned with at least one of the plurality of first indications and the second indication prior to the rebalancing. 
   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to perform:
 receiving an instruction to change an amount of the funds invested by an investor, wherein
 if the instruction includes a request to increase the funds to be invested for the investor, purchasing, for the investor, investments aligned with the plurality of first indications and the second indication of the model portfolio linked to the investor; and 
 if the instruction includes a request to decrease the funds to be invested for the investor, selling a portion of at least one investment to maintain alignment with the plurality of first indications and the second indication of the model portfolio linked to the investor. 
   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein at least one of the rebalancing, the purchasing, or the selling is responsive to an instruction received by the system from an investment advisor of the plurality of investment advisors. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the rebalancing excludes investments corresponding to the second indication when the investments corresponding to the second indication are designated as other investments. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to perform:
 checking each investment strategy received against a set of rules, responsive to an indicator of whether the rules are or are not to be enforced; and   outputting a providing an error responsive to the checking.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to perform:
 periodically analyzing, with the system, the investments of each of the plurality of investors to determine if the investments are aligned with each of the plurality of first indications and the second indication.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the rebalancing occurs after the periodically analyzing for each investor of the plurality of investors whose investments are not aligned with each of the plurality of first indications and the second indication. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to perform:
 periodically analyzing, with the system, the investments of each of the plurality of investors to determine if tax loss harvesting may be performed; and   performing, with the system, tax loss harvesting on each of the investments of each of the plurality of investors that qualify for tax loss harvesting.   
     
     
         17 . A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a system, cause the system to perform:
 receiving a plurality of investment strategies from a plurality of investment advisors, each investment strategy of the plurality of investment strategies including a plurality of model portfolios, each model portfolio of the plurality of model portfolios including a plurality of first indications, each first indication of the plurality of first indications indicating a percentage of the model portfolio to be allocated to an investment of a plurality of investments;   receiving a selection of one of the plurality of investment advisors and answers to a plurality of questions from each of a plurality of investors;   linking each of the plurality of investors to a model portfolio of an investment strategy of one of the plurality of investment advisors responsive to the received answers and the received selection of each of the plurality of investors;   investing funds of each of the plurality of investors based on the plurality of first indications in the model portfolio linked to each of the plurality of investors;   receiving a second indication, from an investment advisor, indicating an updated percentage of one of the investments of the plurality of investments of a model portfolio of the investment advisor, the second indication superseding one of the plurality of first indications of the model portfolio of the one of the plurality of investment advisors; and   rebalancing the investments of a subset of the investors of the plurality of investors, the rebalancing including adjusting allocations of investments of the plurality of investments of the subset of investors to align with the plurality of first indications and the second indication of the model portfolio linked to each investor of the subset of investors, the subset of investors of the plurality of investors being investors whose investments are not aligned with at least one of the plurality of first indications and the second indication prior to the rebalancing.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the system is further caused to perform:
 receiving an instruction to change an amount of the funds invested by an investor wherein
 if the instruction includes a request to increase the funds to be invested for the investor, purchasing, for the investor, investments aligned with the plurality of first indications and the second indication of the model portfolio linked to the investor; and 
 if the instruction includes a request to decrease the funds to be invested for the investor, selling a portion of at least one investment to maintain alignment with the plurality of first indications and the second indication of the model portfolio linked to the investor. 
   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the system is further caused to perform:
 periodically analyzing, with the system, the investments of each of the plurality of investors to determine if the investments are aligned with each of the plurality of first indications and the second indication.   
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 19 , wherein the rebalancing occurs after the periodically analyzing for each investor of the plurality of investors whose investments are not aligned with each of the plurality of first indications and the second indication.