US Patent 7895096 Consumer future purchase tool and method

The invention relates to a method to help a user save for a future purchase. The method steps include organizing spending data of the user into a plurality of spending categories, wherein the user is saving money for the future purchase, and wherein the user elects to forgo spending in at least one spending category of the plurality of spending categories to facilitate the future purchase, obtaining a savings plan, wherein the savings plan comprises the at least one spending category and a target savings amount, sending a prompt to a user to obtain spending data associated with the savings plan, tracking spending data of the user responsive to the prompt, and generating a notification to the user related to the savings plan based on spending data.