Patent ID: 7716106

Claim:
A method for providing a common index securities fund that provides liquidity in a plurality of small businesses, the method executed by a plurality of computer processors coupled to at least one computer storage medium and interconnected via one or more networks comprising the Internet, the method comprising the computer processor executed steps of: a. defining a fund in the at least one computer storage medium, the fund representing a financial stake in a plurality of small businesses in at least one class, wherein the plurality of small businesses are not publicly traded; b. deriving and storing data representing an initial payout by the fund to each small business corresponding to a future payment stream by the small business to the fund; c. defining and storing data representing a set of shares representing claims against the fund; d. defining and storing data indicating at least one index representative of the at least one class; and e. for individual small businesses in the plurality of small businesses, i. computing the future payment stream to be made by the small business to the fund; and ii. at least one of the plurality of processors adjusting the future payment stream in response to a change in the at least one index wherein the value of the set of shares is a function of the future payment stream.