Patent ID: 7698196

Claim:
A method for benchmarking relative to an index a performance of a financial product having an irregular cash flow, said being method implemented with a computer system comprising one or more computer processors, the method comprising the steps of: receiving using at least one of said computer processors first cash flow data for the financial product over a period of time, the data including at least one input event and at least one output event; receiving using at least one of said computer processors values for the index over the period of time; determining using at least one of said computer processors a performance characteristic of the financial product; determining using at least one of said computer processors a value of a scaling function, wherein a performance characteristic of an investment of a second cash flow in shares valued relative to the index during the period of time has a specified relationship to the performance characteristic of the financial product, the second cash flow corresponding to the first cash flow modified by the scaling function; the determined value of the scaling function providing a measure of the performance of the financial product relative to the index.