Patent US 7,783,553

An article of manufacture is provided to make decisions regarding funding additional contributions to an investment that is funded using an asset accumulation strategy. A data processor automatically determines an absolute value of a compound average annual rate of return of the investment for a plurality of successive time instances, and an absolute value of an internal rate of return of the investment for a plurality of successive time instances. The data processor then identifies a first time instance when the absolute value of the compound average annual rate of return of the investment exceeds the absolute value of the internal rate of return of the investment. Another article of manufacture identifies a first time instance when the compound average annual rate of return of the investment exceeds the internal rate of return of the investment and when a total return is greater than zero. Another article of manufacture identifies a first time instance when the net present value of the investment is less than zero and the total return is greater than zero. The first time instance represents the time in which it is recommended that funding of additional contributions to the investment should be stopped. The data processor then outputs a message recommending that funding of additional contributions to the investment should be stopped upon identifying the first time instance.