Patent ID: 8200561

Claim:
A method comprising: one or more processors of one or more computer systems receiving information regarding each financial product of a set of one or more financial products available for investment in a plurality of accounts of an investor having different tax treatment, the plurality of accounts including a taxable account and a tax deferred account; the one or more processors receiving information regarding current investments held in the taxable account and the tax deferred account, including information regarding an actual amount of unrealized capital gains associated with each financial product that is part of the current investments held, wherein the actual amount is positive for at least one financial product that is part of the current investments held; the one or more processors determining one or more tax characteristics associated with each financial product in the set of one or more financial products by evaluating one or more of information regarding distributions by the financial product and information regarding turnover associated with the financial product; and the one or more processors formulating advice regarding a recommended portfolio of financial products from the set of one or more financial products, the advice including a recommendation with respect to which of the taxable account and the tax deferred account each financial product in the recommended portfolio should be held by performing a portfolio optimization process that selects the financial products for inclusion in the recommended portfolio based at least in part upon the information regarding the current investments, the one or more tax characteristics, one or more relevant financial circumstances of the investor and tax implications of holding the one or more financial products in the taxable account versus the tax deferred account.