Patent ID: 7398236

Claim:
A method for maintaining an account over a plurality of periods using a reverse budget implemented on a computer, wherein the account includes an available account balance derived from one or more revenue sources and a plurality of expenditures, comprising: adding an income amount from the one or more revenue sources to the available account balance; grouping each of the plurality of expenditures into one of a plurality of categories, wherein each of the plurality of expenditures is grouped into one of the plurality of categories based on a type of expenditure; specifying a budget amount for each of the plurality of categories, wherein the budget amount represents an amount that a sum of the plurality of expenditures in the respective category should not exceed during any one of the plurality of periods; calculating a remaining balance for each of the plurality of categories, wherein each remaining balance is calculated by adding the budget amount in the respective category at the beginning of each of the plurality of periods and then subtracting a sum of the plurality of expenditures grouped into the respective category during the respective period; calculating a cost associated with each of the plurality of expenditures, wherein the cost represents a total number of hours a user must spend working at a pay rate to pay for the respective expenditure during the respective period; outputting the available account balance, the cost and the remaining balance for at least one of the plurality of categories to the user; and revising at least one selected from the group consisting of the budget amount of at least one of the plurality of categories and one or more of the plurality of expenditures of at least one of the plurality of categories based on the available account balance, the cost, and the remaining balance for at least one of the plurality of categories.