Patent ID: 7711623

Claim:
A system for objectively quantifying investment choices, comprising: at least one data processing device; instructions processable by said at least one data processing device; and an apparatus from which said instructions are accessible by said at least one data processing device; wherein said instructions are configured for causing said at least one data processing device to: provide a hierarchical weighting structure including a plurality of performance criteria and a plurality of performance factors selected to provide a desired investment effect, wherein a first group of said performance factors subtends from a first one of said performance criteria, a second group of performance factors subtends from a second one of said performance criteria, the plurality of performance criteria comprises at least risk and return associated with said investment choices, and the plurality of performance factors are at least time-based measurements of said performance criteria; provide a relative weighting value for each one of said performance criteria and for each one of said performance factors selected to provide the desired investment effect; provide a plurality of investment choices on which to perform a comparative assessment; provide a performance factor value corresponding to each one of said performance factors for each one of said investment choices; generate a score for each one of said performance factors for each one of said investment choices, wherein the score for each one of said performance factors is derived from the corresponding one of said performance factor values and the corresponding relative weighting value; derive a composite investment performance score from said performance factor scores and the corresponding relative weighting value for each one of said performance criteria for each one of said investment choices; and provide a comparative assessment for the plurality of investment choices at least partially based on the composite investment performance scores.