Patent ID: 7860791

Claim:
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software, the software operable when executed by a processor to: store account data associated with a financial instrument issued to a customer, the financial instrument comprising an account with an account balance, wherein the account balance is based at least in part on an initial deposit into the account; and market performance of one or more variable investments; determine a protected value, the protected value representing a guaranteed return regardless of the market performance of the one or more variable investments and the protected value being fixed at the time of a particular event at a value at least equal to the greatest of the initial deposit, the account balance at the time of the particular event, and the highest value of the account balance on at least one anniversary of a customer specific date between the date of the initial deposit and the time of the particular event; and calculate a fee for the financial instrument; wherein the customer specific date is specific to the customer, determined no later than the time the financial instrument is issued to the customer, and independent of any transaction specific date related to the financial instrument, including the date of the initial deposit.