Patent ID: 8386307

Claim:
A network-based system for allowing reward recipients to invest their rewards collectively comprising: one or more computer processors programmed to: provide over one or more computer networks reward information to a plurality of reward recipients, the reward information for each reward recipient comprising a reward balance associated with at least one financial account held by the reward recipient; store information corresponding to a plurality of investments, each investment having a number of available shares, wherein each share of each investment in the plurality of investments represents a portion of a total purchase price of the respective investment, and wherein an investment is open if it has at least one available share, and an investment is closed if it has zero available shares; generate one or more user interfaces on a computer display, the one or more user interfaces configured to permit reward recipients to make a selection to use at least a portion of their reward balance that is less than the total of their reward balance to be allocated shares of one or more open investments, and to permit reward recipients to make a selection to use at least a portion of their reward balance that is less than the total of their reward balance to be allocated shares of one or more closed investments from other reward recipients owning shares of the one or more closed investments; receive, via the one or more user interfaces, a selection made by one or more reward recipients to use at least a portion of their reward balance that is less than the total of their reward balance to be at least one of: the allocated shares or one or more open investments and the allocated shares of one or more closed investments from other reward recipients owning shares of the one or more closed investments; and one or more storage devices that store the information corresponding to the plurality of investments.