Patent ID: 7386494

Claim:
A method of receiving a subscription to a mutual fund, the method comprising: receiving a request for a home page, the request specifying a domain, but not explicitly specifying a file within said domain; responsive to the request, providing the home page comprising a notice of a subscription offering and a link to a web page; receiving a request for the web page; providing web page information allowing a user to subscribe to the mutual fund responsive to the receiving the request for the web page; receiving an indication of an amount of money to be invested in the mutual fund; identifying that a subscription period for the mutual fund has ended; and providing to management of the mutual fund a number of subscribers to the mutual fund responsive to the subscription period for the mutual fund having ended, wherein the request for the web page is received by a broker; the indication is received by the broker; and the providing step is additionally responsive to information collected by the broker before the mutual fund was in operation.