Patent ID: 8086508

Claim:
A method comprising: automatically receiving account data in a financial management system via a network, wherein automatically receiving comprises retrieving data that is resident on a storage medium, wherein the account data comprises, an identification of a plurality of financial institutions; an identification of a plurality of accounts; an identification of an account holder; and identifications of one or more entities to whom the account holder delegates access to the plurality of accounts; the financial management system receiving, and storing for later use, the account holder's authentication credentials for accessing each of the plurality of financial institutions without participation of the account holder; the financial management system using the authentication credentials to automatically collect account data from each of the plurality of financial institutions, wherein collecting comprises using direct data feeds, XML exchange, and data harvesting scripts, wherein automatically collecting account data comprises the financial management system connecting to the plurality of financial institutions without human intervention; storing the account data in the financial management system; automatically receiving account data from the financial institution via the network; updating the stored account data; and providing access to the stored account data to the one or more entities.