Patent ID: 7685056

Claim:
A system operative to guarantee on a daily basis a minimum return by an open-ended mutual fund on a maturity date, the fund having traditional assets that correlate to a benchmark invested in a market, comprising: a valuation engine comprising a processor configured by code to: quantify an aggregate net asset value (ANAV) of the traditional assets of the fund as of a current date; calibrate a notional amount of a swap agreement relative to any change in the benchmark on the current date, wherein the swap agreement comprises a hedge against any decline in the benchmark and is separate from and in addition to said traditional assets of the fund; calibrate a notional amount of an option agreement in regard to the ANAV on the current date, wherein the option agreement comprises a hedge against any decline in the value of the fund below the minimum return on the maturity date and is separate from and in addition to said traditional assets of the fund; price a share of the fund at the close of the current date by adding the calibrations to the ANAV while the traditional assets remain fully and permanently invested in the market and dividing the total by a number of outstanding shares on the current date; and publish the price of the share for use on the current date.