This is a system which is sort of a corollary of the FreeLifePlanningCoachSoftware system. It is based on solving a restricted problem. Some other names or descriptions are:
Purchasing Decision Support System (PDSS)
Much work has progressed on the life planner since that last segment was written. I have discovered much related information, basically in terms of rational agency, BDI agents and practical reasoning. Practical Reasoning is reasoning that results in action, as opposed to Epistemic Reasoning which ends in belief.
Some papers addressing that can be found here:
http://frdcsa.org/~andrewdo/essential-reading/data/ai-research/
The Utility Maximization System. What is it? It basically is practical reasoning restricted to personal finance. The idea is to take a shopping list, combined with a list of all liabilities and other places that your money could go, and to work with your Life Planner (Action-Planner) and Temporal Planner (SPSE2) to determine where you should allocate your money.
I am trying to use various implementations of so-called Argumentation-Based Practical Reasoning. It basically, with the user's help, constructs a set of arguments for and against a given allotment, and tries to prove defeasibly that a person should make a particular choice.
I have no pretensions towards theoretical perfection, only that the "Spend Management" for a person becomes a more rigorous process, and that better justifications for usages may be given.
It is natural that subjective preferences (I would rather buy this than that) are taken into consideration. Ultimately, it is only a decision support system. But the idea is to stretch the dollar. That is where interaction with the life planner comes in, in determining which goals are important.
Naturally, an online shopping management component should be integrated, and come to think of it, the bLeaf Ethical Consumer system (http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/shopping/bleaf_bptzu.html) should be used in helping to decide how to make the purchases.
This system is intended to solve the Utility Maximization Problem (conversely the Expenditure Minimization Problem) of microeconomics. It makes explicit the reasons for or against a given allotment of funds.
It is related to e-procurement and spend management.
The particular Argumentation Based Practical Reasoning system that I am using is called EPR. It is available here:
http://www.wietskevisser.nl/research/epr/
I would hope that it is free software, although I do not know. Some other likely choices are: John Pollock's OSCAR architecture, and the ASPIC systems.