ZA200506971B - Investment method and system - Google Patents

Description

INVESTMENT METHOD AND SYSTEM

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a financial method and system, and more particularly, to an financial method and system for members of an financial scheme.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

It has been found, especially in countries as the Republic of South Africa, that individuals are increasingly spending themselves into a state of poverty. An increasing higher standard of living of households, funded by credit, and which is unrelated to income, is the key reason why South Africans are considered amongst the worst savers in the world.

This trend seems to be increasing at a disturbing rate. The focus on saving seems to have disappeared from the list of important things to do. The South African Reserve Bank statistics show that, in 1980, the ratio of net personal savings, expressed as a percentage of personal disposable income, was 11.3%. In 2002 this figure fell to 0.4% which is very low by international standards.

In 1995, the total personal savings of the South African population was R6,2 billion. In 2002 this figure dropped to R2.9 billion, while personal disposable income increased from R349,3 billion to R685,3 billion, a massive rise of 96% percent over the same period.

It seems that individuals do not fully realize how failing to save will impact on them when they retire or have other financial needs, and of course in return, affect the country as the burden of more retired people with insufficient retirement income becomes part of society.

Effective saving requires three factors: Money, time and a return on financials. Generally, it is not how much an individual saves, but how soon an individual starts saving that makes the difference.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of this invention to provide an financial scheme and method which, at least partially, alleviates some of the abovementioned difficulties.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with this invention it is provided an investment method comprising the steps of: - negotiating a discount for financial/savings plan owners in respect of future purchases of goods or services made by such owners at a retail partner; - determining the value of purchases of goods or services made by such owners from the retail partners for a preceding period; and - investing at least part of the negotiated discount or monies corresponding to the at least part of the negotiated discount on behalf of owners.

There is provided for an owner to be an investor in an investment scheme or to be a member of a financial plan or savings plan.

There is provided for the investing of the at least part of the discount to be an financial plan thereof in an investment fund.

A further feature of the invention provides for the specific investment fund to be determined, at least in part, by the relevant investor ; alternatively, by a savings scheme administrator or in consultation between the financial scheme administrator and the investor and/or broker.

A still further feature of the invention provides for the investment to be made in accordance with rules of a specific investment fund.

There is provided for the determining of the value of purchases to include the determination of the total value of purchases at an individual retail partner or at all retail partners where purchases by a specific investment owner were made.

There is also provided for part of the discount to be used towards payment for the services of the financial scheme administrator.

ya 9 X a. SEN SE

The value of a discount offered to a an investment owner may be different from the discount negotiated with a retail partner and the value of the discount offered to investment owners may be different amongst owners and may be determined with reference to the investment owner's membership status on a loyalty programme offered by the administrator.

The status of a member on the loyalty programme may be determined by the amount of other products such as financial products the members buys from or owns with the administrator acting as a financial institution.

This invention extends to a method of financial planning including the steps of: - applying for an investment or financial plan with a financial institution and registering with an administrator to qualify for certain benefits in relation to the financial plan; - purchasing goods or services from any one or more retail partners and, at the same time; - informing the retail partner that a financial plan owner is making the purchase to ensure that the discount is recorded against the purchase for that specific member, and - receiving the discount in the form of a saving of part of the discount or as monies corresponding to that part of the discount being saved on behalf of the member by the scheme administrator.

This invention further extends to an investment system comprising; a recording means for recording a purchase by a client at a retailer; a computing means for computing a discount associated with the transaction; and payment means for paying at least part of the discount into an investment account of a client.

The recording means is a point of sale card reader device.

The computing means is a computer operated by the retailer; alternatively, the computing means is a computer operated by an administrator.

The payment means effects payment electronically to a client account.

These and other features of the invention are described in more detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

A preferred embodiment is described below, by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawing which shows a schematic diagram of an investment system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FEATURES OF THE INVENTION

1. Introduction

The “Save Thru Spend” (STS) benefit describes how the client can add value to their new or existing policy by purchasing from retail partners on a regular basis.

An administrator enters into a contract with retailers to receive a rebate, in favour of clients, on the purchases made by clients. In exchange, the administrator will introduce the client to the retail partner as a potential client. The administrator offers, directly or indirectly, financial services to its clients such as insurance, retirement annuities, medical aid, endowments, unit trusts and the like. The administrator may also offer a loyalty scheme in terms of which a client receives a benefit such as reduced rates for, for example, gym membership fees or hotel rates. The benefit is dependent on a client’s status in the loyalty scheme and the client can upgrade his or her status by certain actions such as attending a gymnasium on a regular basis to earn more points.

The client will choose a policy in respect of which to receive the STS rebate into (the “Investo” product). The administrator will receive the benefit on behalf of the client and will allocate it to the client's policy and to a loyalty scheme status pool, if the client is also a loyalty scheme member, Loyalty scheme members will receive a quarterly allocation from the pool to their policy based on their loyalty scheme tier status.

2. Marketing Overview

Many people are increasingly spending themselves into a state of poverty. Increased use of credit and rising net wealth of households relative to their income are the key reasons why

South Africans, amongst others, are considered poor savers in the world.

This trend seems to be increasing at a disturbing rate. The focus on saving has disappeared from the list of important things to do and it has taken a very low place on the list of important things in life to do. South African Reserve Bank statistics show that in 1980 the ratio of net personal savings, expressed as a percentage of personal disposable income, was 11,3%. In 2002 it fell to 0,4%. This is very low by world standards.

In 1995 the total personal saving was R6,2 billion. In 2002 this figure dropped to R2,9 billion, while personal disposable income increased from R349,3 billion to R685,3 billion, a massive 96 percent rise over the same period.

There are similar trends in other countries.

With this significant increase in disposable income, why has there not been a corresponding increase in financial savings and fiscal prudence?

The question: Do we fully realise how failing to save will impact on us when we retire and, of course in turn, affect a country as the burden of more retired people with insufficient income becomes part of society?

To save effectively you need three things: Money, time and a return on your investment. It is not how much you save, but how soon you start saving that makes the difference.

The STS product has a unique benefit in the sense that if a client shops with the administrator's list of retail partners, the retail partners will give clients discount on their total spending. The partner philosophy is based on the basis that they must be retailers where clients will normally spend on a monthly basis, therefore clients do not have to buy things that they do not normally buy.

Table 1: The impact of the saving at the Retailers on an investment:

Monthly Spending Retailer Percentage Saving Benefit percentage

Or once-off amount

R750 Telephone R56.25

If a client decides to invest R1000 per month in an investment product, the administrator will invest R81.25 per month into the client's investment. This R81.25 covers more than initial charges on the investment and effectively increases the client's investment’s fund value and growth opportunities. This savings benefit and the bonus booster (for loyalty scheme members) offer real value and a great opportunity to enhance savings. 3. Product Specification

Partners and Benefits

The table below refers to those type of retail partners with whom the administrator has currently contracted. It is anticipated that there will be many more retail partners as the offering matures.

Table 2. Table of Benefits

Application

Partner Benefit Frequency PP

Frequency 15% Discount on all installations and)

Security initial once-off upgrades

R3 per month for all NEW clients monthly monthly ehicle Tracking R123 upfront on signing of new contract [initial once-off

R10 per month for all NEW clients monthly monthly jnsurance [10% of the insurance premium monthly monthly 10% of cellphone account on all NEW

Cell phone monthly monthly contracts as-and- i 8% rebate on all purchases monthly

Prepaid when used } as-and-

Optometrist 4% rebate on all purchases monthly when used as-and- ravel 7.5% of travel ticket once-off when used as-and-

Luggage 20% rebate on all purchases monthly hen used as-and-

Removals 5% rebate monthly when used a. 0.6% of the total registered bond back

Mortgage originators oo initial monthly into their investment (spread over term)

These rebate amounts may or may not be value added tax (VAT) inclusive so the VAT portion, in some cases, must still be extracted before the rebate is allocated to the policy and to the loyalty pool.

The cell phone partner requires special treatment as the administrator has an existing agreement with them. In order to accommodate this, when the client approaches the cell phone partner, the sales agent will fax them an explanation of the loyalty scheme and the

STS benefits. The difference is:

Loyalty scheme:

The client receives a 10% discount upfront.

STS:

The client receives a 10% rebate before VAT. The VAT exclusive amount is then divided between the client's policy (75%) and the loyalty scheme pool (25%). If the client is a loyalty scheme client, they will receive a quarterly allocation of this pool in the form of a factor applied to the rebate amount.

The client selects the preferred benefit and the sales agent proceeds with the transaction accordingly. 4. The Process

Table 3. Process Overview po received (Multiply clients)

H 3 +] = -

E mare oct lS 2 0

S [5 Proceed © 3 ba 34

In general, the process is as follows:

Clients will spend at one of the retail partners mentioned above. e The administrator will receive the specified rebate gross of VAT. e The administrator will then pay VAT on the rebate and issue a VAT invoice to the Retail

Partner. e The rebate (net of VAT) will be split as follows:

75% Investment policy 25% Loyalty scheme » All STS rebates will be grouped before paying to the client at the dates specified below. e There will be an administration charge per monthly bulked allocation to the client's policy.

The administrator will carry part of this charge. * No charge will be applied to the application of the loyalty scheme benefit.

Critical Dates — Basic benefit

The retailers will be sending the administrator a “snapshot” of the client spend up to the last day of the month. All retailers will be sending spend-data effective on this day.

The administrator will receive this data on or before the 7" of every month. Data received on the 7" will relate to the spend in the immediately preceding month. This data will be reworked into amounts that must be allocated to client accounts. For the purpose of this specification it will be assumed that these amounts are known.

These amounts must be applied to the policy on the 15" of the same month. The time between the 7" and the 15" of the same month will be used to reconcile the data and to perform accuracy-checks.

EXAMPLE

Client spends during May. On the 7" of June the administrator receives, from the retailer, all the relevant spend for the calendar month of May. The administrator reworks this into a monetary amount into the client's policy of Rx. Rx gets applied to the policy on the 15" of

June.

Critical Dates — Loyalty benefit

The loyalty amount will be calculated by the administrator. For the purpose of this specification we will assume that these amounts are available every time this benefit needs to be applied.

The loyalty amount will be paid into the policy approximately every quarter. The relevant dates for payments as declared by the administrator are: eo 15 April e 15July e 15 October e¢ 15 January of every year.

The booster will be applied for a three month period. To remain consistent the administrator will also incorporate the 1 month lag as well as the implicit lag between the end of any month and the 15" of the following month.

EXAMPLE

The booster applied on the 15" of June will relate to spend in the calendar months of April,

March and February of the same year.

Reversals

Reversals may arise where the client has requested a refund or similar transaction to be effected in respect of a purchase made. If this request is performed after receiving the spend data the spend data will have been overstated.

To remain equitable the administrator will have to cancel units to the extent of any over- payment made. The monetary amount will be given through to the system and units will be cancelled to the value of this monetary amount with the heading “STS reversal”.

These units must be cancelled without any exit fees and/or other fees applying.

If the contract has already been terminated when the reversal is requested on the system the administrator will not be able to reclaim the money. The administrator intend to use a percentage of the total rebate to cover for this anti-selective risk.

The client will have to select at inception the contract to which he or she wishes to apply the

STS and/or loyalty benefits. Whichever contract the client selects will be used to calculate the “adjusted” reduction in yield. 5. Process Specification

New Business Application Process

The client will be quoted by a broker on a new policy(ies). If the policy falls within the applicable investment product range, the client will be advised of the STS benefit as well as the retail partners associated with the benefit.

If the client accepts the quote, the broker will assist them in completing the product application form. In this process, the client will be requested to indicate whether they would like to be contacted by each of the retail partners. The required information will allow the client to select whether they would like to be contacted for a quote or only for marketing information. In addition, the client will be requested to capture their existing non-retail partner contract expiry date for security and cell phone contracts. This will allow the administrator to follow up with the client as their contract nears expiry to remind them of the retail partner benefit.

On completion and acceptance of the application by the administrator, the administrator will be responsible for issuing and dispatching a Save Thru Spend card and booklet with the policy documentation.

Lead File Generation Process

The administrator will generate a lead information file for each retail partner according to the information they have specified that they will require.

The lead information will be in either XML format or CSV format according to the retail partner requirements and made available on the administrator FTP server. If no lead information has been received, the file will still be generated but will be blank.

Retailer Sales Process

Each retail partner will determine their preferred method of following up with the client based on the lead information forwarded from the administrator.

As the client may not yet have received his/her policy documentation, the administrator will provide a script for all retail partners to be used when approaching the client.

On capture of the details of the sale, the retail partner will apply a check digit validation algorithm to the administrator client number in order to ensure its validity as well as its correct capture.

Monthly Feed Process

The retail partner will generate a file containing all Save Thru Spend client transactions on a monthly basis.

Timings for the receipt, reconciliation and allocation of these spends will be as follows:

Monthly: allocate

Bank depos spends “File teed / Quarterly. allocate bonus booster

Acrurragation of clini spend transactions 1st RORIE cd \ 15%

Spend cut of File cut oft flecon cut oft

Depost cot off \ . _

Momentum: file validity check

Heastnabilty check ‘Bank recorciliatien ~Genwralg Retailer invoke

Each transaction received from the retail partner will be VAT inclusive.

The administrator can only accommodate XML format for these feeds and to this end will provide the file layout template. The generated file must then be FTP’ed to the administrator server prior to the 7" of each month.

When the monthly feed file is generated, the retail partner deposits the rebate amounts into the administrator's bank account. The reference number for this deposit must be the same as the retailer name and sequence number fields in the file header for matching purposes. The bank reference field can only accommodate 30 alpha numeric characters, so it will be necessary to take this into account.

There may be some delay between the time when the retail partner deposits the rebate amount and when it is received into the administrator bank account and this will be built into

Spend Reconciliation Process.

Spend Reconciliation Process

The spend reconciliation process consists of the following checks:

File Verification.

Check control totals to file detail.

Check to see if file has already been checked and processed based on the file reference numbers (file name and header information).

Generate discrepancy report.

File reasonability and correctness.

Check rebate calculations of each record in the file to the control totals in the file footer.

Generate discrepancy report.

File and bank spend reconciliation.

Check Retail Partner control totals to amount received in the bank statements. The file header information must correspond to the bank deposit reference.

Generate discrepancy reports.

Any discrepancies will be followed up by the administrator.

Rebate Allocation Process

After the reconciliation process has been successfully completed, the Save Thru Spend system will extract the VAT payable from the retail partner control total amounts and apportion the net amounts, at policy level, between the loyalty scheme (25% of net amount) for the and normal benefit (75% of net amount) for policy allocation. Each allocation to the policy will carry an administration fee.

Multiply Loyalty scheme

Each STS client who is also a loyalty scheme client will be entitled to a quarterly Bonus-

Booster allocation to their policy. This amount is calculated by applying a Bonus-Booster

Factor to each spend received in the period.

The Bonus-Booster Factors are as follows:

Loyalty Status io 27

Gall

Private Club 400%

Cell phone Example:

The following example compares the different discounts that a prospective policyholder may receive depending on whether he/she is: an Investo client ONLY a loyalty client ONLY a client with both Investo and loyalty.

According to the agreement with the cell phone company, the administrator will receive a 10% discount on tariff and airtime for contracts taken out by the administrator's policyholders.

Under the proposed Investo product offering, all Investo clients will receive 75% of this discount (7.5%) directly into their investment policy. The remaining 25% of the discount will be used by the loyalty scheme to enhance the effective discount for those Investo clients that are also Loyalty contract holders.

In all instances, the Investo discounts are quoted before the appropriate deduction for VAT.

The cell phone company comparison:

Multiply Status Investo only | Loyalty Only Investo & Loyalty | Investo & (pre-VAT) (pre-VAT)* Loyalty (pre-

VAT)**

Private Club 25.0% 30.0% 25.0% * If the client elects to invest the discount directly into the investment policy. ** If the client elects to receive the discount upfront.

Effect of tax on Retirement Annuity (RA)

Contributions to a Retirement Annuity are tax deductible within certain limits.

The current limits applicable to the tax deductibility of contributions to Retirement Annuities are the greatest of: * 15% of the taxpayer's non-retirement funding income, or * R3 500 less the deductible pension fund contribution, or *R1 750

The administrator has structured the "Save Thru Spend" benefit in such a way that we will apply the benefit as extra premiums on an RA contract and therefore it will also be tax deductible. Remember that all premiums not previously allowed as a deduction, will be deductible at retirement, if the client already contributes the maximum deductible amount.

Inquiry Process

The inquiry process needs to accommodate the following role players:

The Client

The Retail Partner

The Broker/ Consultant

To this end, the administrator will ring-fence an area in the call centre where agents will be trained on facilitating various types of inquiry by the role players.

The Client

Each client is issued with a Save Thru Spend card on which is printed their unique client number as well as the administrator call center.

Agents will be able to provide the client with product information, including:

Which policy is linked to the Save Thru Spend benefit.

Confirmation of whether the policy linked to the benefit is in force.

Transference of the benefit to another policy in the client’s portfolio.

Activation of loyalty membership.

General product information.

Retailers linked to the Save Thru Spend benefit.

Retailer benefits offered.

Timing of allocation of benefits to policy.

Loyalty booster information.

In addition, the client will be able to access their Save Thru Spend statement online. Call

Center agents will have access to this same statement and so will be able to facilitate queries around the information contained in the statement.

A sample of information contained in the statement would be:

Process Description Invoice Ref Spend VAT *Rebate

Date Date 7 Apr | Vehicle 1 Mar | TKOO1 R15.11 | R80.92 tracking 2005 2005 Installation 7 Apr] Tracking 1 Mar | TKOO2 R 85.00 R1.04 | R5.59 2005 Debit Order 2005 7 Apr | Spend at (6 Mar |1001/005 | R1,000.00 | R4.91 | R26.32 2005 Optomestrists | 2005

Spend at Cell EC001123 | R500.00 | R6.14 | R32.89

2005 phone 2005 compan

Apr | Tr to Policy 15 Apr | SS1 R145.72 7 May | Tracking 1 Apr | TKOO3 R85.00 R1.04 | R5.59 2005 Debit Order 2005 7 May | Spend at Cell | 5 Apr | EC001124 | R350.00 R4.30 | R23.02 2005 phone 2005 compan 7 May | Reversal 6 Mar | 1001/005 -R500.00 | -R2.46 | -R13.15 2005 Optometrists | 2005 15May |TrtoPolicy |15 May |SS2 R15.46 2005 7 Jun | Tracking 1 May | TKOO3 R85.00 R1.04 | R5.59 2005 Debit Order 2005 7 Jun|SpendatCell {5 May EC001124 | R750.00 [R9.21 | R49.34 5005 phone 2005

OE compan » Ea Sy, Ty T - 3 “ Ea ~ 3 ty EYL 15.1 Jun | Tito Policy, | 15 1Jun i883, FL | ig ly JR 0 [iRS4SST 2008, 4 To 5 512905 ph TLL LL CER rate TR SAE EA I SIE OT TREY IRR 1 A 7 Jul | Tracking 1 Jun | TKOO3 R85.00 R1.04 | R5.59 2005 Debit Order 2005 7 Jul AGO01 R1000.00 | R4.91 |R26.32 insurance 2005 2005 debit order 7 Jul | Spend at Cell | 5 Jun | EC001124 | R600.00 | R7.37 | R39.47 phone 2005 2005 compan 15 Jul | Trf to Policy 15 Jul | SS4 R45.06 2005 |2005

Pail salah ale lil Ge abi Ul Tid glen ital Ra 7 Aug | Reversal Cell [5 Jun | EC001124 | -R600.00 | -R2.95 | -R15.79 phone 2005 2005 compan 15 Aug | Td from} 15 Aug|S8S6 |. -A23.69 * Rebate amount is net of VAT and booster allocation.

** These transactions are not eligible for the booster.

If a client is querying a spend rebate which should appear on the statement but does not, the call center agent may request a copy of the original invoice. This will be scanned into the workflow system and followed up with the relevant retail partner.

The Retail Partner

Where follow up with the Retail Partner is required, Momentum will contact the following:

Scenario 1: Client does not have their Save Thru Spend Client Number

The client may approach the retail partner without a Save Thru Spend card. In this instance, the client will be required to provide some form of valid photo identification, being either a driver's licence or ID document. The ID number may be used to look up the client number required for transacting in one of the following ways:

By phoning the call center

By accessing the browser-based lookup facility.

Scenario 2: Monthly Feed File has not been received in order to fulfil the obligations to the client, the administrator requires that the monthly transaction feed file is received from the retail partner by the 7" of every month. If it is not received, the administrator will remind the retail partner of the requirement. The cut off for the administrator to receive this file is by midnight on the 9" of every month.

Scenario 3: Monthly Feed File fails Spend Reconciliation Process

If the monthly transaction feed file received by the retail partner fails any one of the checks described in the spend reconciliation process above, the administrator will contact the retail partner to describe the nature of the file check failure.

If the file fails either the verification check or the reasonability and correctness check, the retail partner will be requested to resend the file with the same file sequence number in the header and the same file name.

If the file fails the reconciliation with the bank deposit, the retail partner will be contacted by the adminstrator with the details of the failure.

The corrected file and/or bank deposit will be required within 48 hours of notification of the error as the spend reconciliation process will need to be repeated until no further errors are found.

Scenario 4: Retail Partner does not receive monthly invoice from the administrator

If the administrator fails in its obligation to invoice the retail partner for the rebates received, the Retail Partner will need to notify the administrator of their error.

Scenario 5: Retail Partner does not receive daily leads file from the administrator

The retail partner should receive a new leads file from the administrator Monday through

Friday by 6am. If no new leads have been received by the administrator, this file will be empty.

If the file has not been renewed, the retail partner should contact the administrator to advise them of the problem. The administrator will undertake to investigate and correct the error within 48 hours if reasonably possible.

The Broker (Broker Services)

The Broker will have access via the call center to each of their client's policy and Save Thru

Spend benefit information. The call centre will also be able to provide the brokers with general product and Save Thru Spend benefit information.

Further summary reports made available to the broker may include:

Summary statement of all clients with the Save Thru Spend benefit; and

Summary statement of benefit allocations to policies. This should be emailed to the broker either monthly or at his/her own selection.

FTP Access

The administrator will provide each retail partner with access to a FTP server in order to send and receive information.

6. SUMMARY

A broker 3 approaches, or is approached, by a client with a view to selling a financial product such as a retirement annuity, endowment or unit trust, to the client.

An application form for the financial product includes an authorisation section where the client authorised the provision of some of his personal details to a partner or partners.

The broker submits the form to the administrator for recording of the sale and the details of the client on its computer system.

The client now receives a card that displays a client number. The client uses the card every time a purchase is made at a partner. The client number is also encoded in a magnetic strip on the client card.

The administrator provides partners with a list of clients including the corresponding client numbers that the partners may contact. Some of the partners, however, do not require a list of clients but will still record purchases against the client numbers as is described further below.

Client numbers are also available on a web site should a client not have his or her card available.

In one embodiment, the client makes a purchase at the partner and pays for the purchase in cash, cheque or by bank credit or debit card. The client card is used to record the transaction. This may be done by manually recording the client number against the transaction or by swiping the card through a card reader to read the client number and thus record the transaction against the client number. Some retailers may, for example, use their point of sale card reader machines to read the membership card and record the transaction,

The client then receives a printed slip showing that the transaction has been recorded. The same point of sale device is, or was, used to pay by credit card to debit card for the goods or services purchased by the client.

For some other partners, such as partners providing motor vehicle finance or the like to clients, the partner provides the administrator with the identification number of the client. The administrator them matches the identity number with the specific partner.

The administrator invoices partners based on the transaction details received from partners.

The partners then pay the administrator who them invest part of the payment on behalf of the client. The administrator deducts an administrator fee from the payment.

A client can view the history of his purchases at partners on a web site.

The status of a client that belongs to a loyalty scheme offered by the administrator influences the amount of the payment received from partners that it invests for the client. The higher the status of the client, the more money is invested for the client by the administrator. For example, a client may belong to a medical aid scheme offered the administrator (as a financial institution). The medical aid scheme awards points to a client for the use of certain services or products such as, for example, the use of a gymnasium. The more the client visits the gymnasium, the more points the client will earn and higher his or her status will become so that the client qualifies for an additional sum invested by the administrator on behalf of the client.

The apparatus 1 of the investment system includes a recording means 5 for recording a purchase by a client at a retailer 2. A computing means 6 for computing a discount associated with the transaction; and payment means 4 for paying at least part of the discount into an investment account of a client.

The recording means 5 is a point of sale card reader device.

The computing means is a computer 6 operated by the retailer, alternatively the computing means is a computer 4 operated by an administrator.

Claims (20)

Claims

1. An investment method comprising the steps of: - negotiating a discount for financial/savings plan owners in respect of future purchases of goods or services made by such owners at a retail partner; - determining the value of purchases of goods and services made by such owners from the retail partners for a preceding period; and - investing at least part of the negotiated discount or monies corresponding to the at least part of the negotiated discount on behalf of owners.

2. An investment method as claimed in claim 1 in which an owner is an investor in an investment scheme.

3. An investment method as claimed in claim 1 in which the owner is a member of a financial plan.

4. An investment method as claimed in claim 1 in which an owner is a member of a savings plan.

5. An investment method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the at least part of the discount is invested in an investment fund.

6. An investment method as claimed in claim 5 in which the specific investment fund in which part of the discount is invested is influenced by the relevant owner.

7. An investment method as claimed in claim 5 in which the specific investment fund is determined, at least in part, by a savings scheme administrator.

8. An investment method as claimed in claim 5 in which the specific investment fund is determined in consultation between the financial scheme administrator and the investor and/or broker.

9. An investment method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the investment is made in accordance with rules of a specific investment fund.

10. An investment method as claimed in any one of the preceding in which the determining of the value of purchases includes the determination of the total value of purchases at an individual retail partner.

11. An investment method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9 in which the determining of the value of purchases includes determination of the total value of purchases made at all retail partners where purchases by a specific investment owner were made.

12. An investment method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which part of the discount is used towards payment for the services of the financial scheme administrator.

13. An investment method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the value of a discount offered to an investment owner is different from the discount negotiated with a retail partner and the value of the discount offered to investment owners is determined with reference to the investment owner's membership status on a royalty programme offered by the administrator.

14. An investment method as claimed claim 13 in which the status of a member of the loyalty programme is determined by the amount of other financial products the members buys from or owns with the administrator acting as a financial institution.

15. A method of financial panning including the steps of applying for an investment or financial plan with a financial institution and registering with an administrator to qualify for certain benefits in relation to the financial plan; purchasing goods or services from any one or more retail partners and, at the same time; informing the retail partner that a financial plan owner is making the purchase to ensure that a discount is recorded against the purchase for that specific member; and receiving the discount in the form of a saving of part of the discount or as monies corresponding to that part of the discount being saved on behalf of the member, by the scheme administrator.

16. An investment system comprising a recording means for recording a purchase by a client at a retailer; a computing means for computing a discount associated with the transaction; and payment means for paying at least part of the discount into an investment account of a client.

17. An investment system as claimed in claim 16 in which the recording means is a point of sale card reader device.

18. An investment system as claimed in any one of claims 16 or 17 in which the computing means is a computer operated by the retailer.

19. An investment system as claimed in any one of claims 16 or 17 in which the computing means is a computer operated by an administrator.

20. An investment system as claimed in any on of claims 16 to 19 in which the payment means effects payment electronically to a client account. Dated this 'S day of DususT ANS Patent stores agent for the Applicant