Privacy policy — Smart Financial Calc

Who is responsible

Smart Financial Calc is a website operated by an individual in New York, United States (“the operator”), who is responsible for this policy and is the “controller” under European data protection law for the personal data collected through the site, and can be reached at smartfinancialcalc@gmail.com. Google decides independently how it uses advertising data, as described below.

The short version

Calculations run in your browser. What you type into a calculator is not sent to the site or to anyone else, unless you create and open a share link (see below).
There are no accounts and no sign-up. The site uses Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages are used, except on the fitness pages (the Fitness section, including its calculators, and the guide to fitness estimates) and the legal pages, and not for visitors whose connection is located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland (see “When Google Analytics does not run”). It never receives what you type into a calculator, and you can turn it off at the bottom of any page.
Apart from Google Analytics cookies and the advertising cookies and storage described below, nothing is kept on your device unless you ask for it: a “Continue in …” link passes your values to the next calculator within the same browser tab, and the Net Worth and Budget calculators save data on this device only when you choose to save it, until you delete it.
The hosting provider, Vercel Inc., processes standard request data to deliver pages.
The home page, calculator pages and guides, except the fitness pages (the Fitness section, including its calculators, and the guide to fitness estimates), may show ads from Google AdSense, which uses cookies and similar technologies, as explained below.

What is collected, and who receives it

Technical data from every page request, such as your IP address, the page address, your browser and the referring page: received by the hosting provider, Vercel Inc., and by Google where Google’s tools run on a page.
How pages are used, such as pages viewed, how far you scroll and which links to other sites you follow, with a cookie identifier where cookies are allowed: received by Google Analytics.
Advertising identifiers, such as cookie and device identifiers, on pages that show ads: received by Google and the ad technology providers it works with.
Your email address and message, if you email the site: received by the operator and stored in Gmail, provided by Google.
Not collected: what you type into a calculator and your results (unless you open a share link), and account details, since there are no accounts.

The operator does not combine this data or use it to build profiles of visitors. On pages with ads, Google and its partners use their identifiers for advertising, as described below.

What you enter into calculators

Every calculator does its math in your browser. The site does not send the values you enter to its server, to advertisers or to anyone else, and it never adds them to ad requests. Ad requests can include the address of the page you are on, but the values you type are not part of that address.

Some calculators offer a share link. A share link contains the values you entered, written into the link itself. It is created only when you ask for it, after a notice, and it goes wherever you send it. Anyone with the link can see those values, and when the link is opened, the full address, values included, reaches the hosting provider’s request logs like any other web address. When you open a share link, the site puts the values into the calculator and then removes them from the page address in your address bar. On pages with ads, the ad code is loaded only after that, so ad requests do not include the values; if the address cannot be cleaned up, no ads load on that page view. The fitness calculators have no share links, so body measurements are never written into a link.

What is stored on your device

The site’s own code sets no cookies, and it stores something on your device only when you ask for it, in three cases:

“Continue in …” links. Some calculators offer a link that carries your values to a related calculator. When you click it, the values are kept in this browser tab’s session storage, and the next calculator removes them as soon as it reads them. They are never sent anywhere. Values that are not picked up are no longer used after 10 minutes, and your browser deletes them when you close the tab.
Saving in the Net Worth and Budget calculators. These calculators let you save what you enter on this device. That data stays in your browser’s local storage, is never sent anywhere, and can be deleted from the calculator or by clearing this site’s data in your browser settings.
Turning analytics off. When you use “Turn analytics off” at the bottom of a page, the site remembers that choice in your browser’s local storage, so Google Analytics stays off on later visits. It is never sent anywhere. Turning analytics back on, or clearing this site’s data, removes it.

Google Analytics sets its own cookies on this site where they are allowed, as described below.

On pages with ads, Google’s advertising and consent code also stores cookies and local storage on this site, including your privacy choices. The consent message’s “Manage options” screen, where it is shown, lists each advertising partner and how long its cookies last.

Search

The search box downloads a list of the site’s pages and searches it in your browser. On the search results page, your search words are part of the page address, so they appear in the hosting provider’s request logs. Google Analytics receives that address without your search words. When you open a result, the next page is told only the site’s address, not your search words.

Hosting and request logs

The site is a static website served by Vercel Inc. The only code of the site’s own that runs at the hosting provider is the location check described below. When your browser requests a page, the hosting provider processes the technical data that comes with every web request: your IP address, the address requested, the date and time, your browser’s user-agent string and the referring page. It uses this data to deliver pages and protect the service, and keeps it for a limited time under its data processing terms with the operator. For the location check described below, the site’s code also looks up the country of your IP address. The operator does not combine these logs with other data or use them to build profiles of visitors.

When you follow a link from one of the site’s pages, to this site or another, the next page is told only the site’s address, never which page you came from or what was in its address.

On pages where Google Analytics could load, and only after the other checks described under “When Google Analytics does not run”, your browser asks the site whether your connection is in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland. The site’s code at the hosting provider answers only “yes” or “no”, based on the country of your IP address. The answer is used for that page only and is not stored in your browser, no cookie is set, and nothing is sent to Google. Like any other request, this one appears in the hosting provider’s request logs.

Analytics

The site uses Google Analytics 4, a web analytics service provided by Google, to count visits and see which pages and calculators are used, so the operator can tell what to fix and improve. It is not used for advertising. Other than the advertising described below, the site uses no tracking pixels, session recording or similar tools.

What Google Analytics receives

The address and title of each page you view. The site sends the address without anything after a “?” or “#”, so the values in a share link and your search words are not included.
The address of the page that brought you here, shortened the same way.
Technical details that come with any web request, such as your browser, device type, operating system, screen size, language and IP address. Google uses the IP address to estimate an approximate location (country, region and city). Google states that Google Analytics 4 does not log or store IP addresses.
How you use the pages, such as how long a page stays open, whether you scroll to the end and which links to other sites you follow.
Where cookies are allowed, a random identifier stored in a cookie, so that page views can be grouped into visits and repeat visits recognized.

The site sends no events of its own and never sends what you enter into a calculator or its results. Google signals and ad personalization are switched off in the site’s Google Analytics tag, so this data is not used for personalized advertising or for demographic and interest reports.

Cookies

Where cookies are allowed, Google Analytics sets two cookies on this site: _ga, which tells visitors apart, and _ga_ followed by an ID, which keeps track of the current visit. By default both expire 2 years after your last visit. Browsers can remove them sooner: Google notes that Chrome keeps such cookies for at most 400 days, and Safari for 7 days, if you do not come back.

How long the data is kept

Google Analytics deletes user-level and event-level data automatically after 14 months, the retention period set in the site’s Google Analytics property. Reports that contain only totals, such as page views per month, are not affected by that setting.

When Google Analytics does not run

The site does not load Google Analytics at all when:

your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal;
you have turned analytics off with “Turn analytics off” at the bottom of any page;
the hosting provider places your connection in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, or the site cannot find out where it is. The site does not ask visitors there for consent to analytics, so it does not use analytics for them;
your device is set to a time zone in Europe, or your browser does not reveal its time zone (in that case the site does not even ask where your connection is);
you are on a fitness page (the Fitness section, including its calculators, and the guide to fitness estimates) or a legal page (this policy, the terms and the disclaimer);
you are on the “page not found” page.

As a second safeguard, Google Analytics is told not to set or read its cookies for anyone Google itself locates in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland (Google’s consent mode, with analytics storage denied); Google then receives only limited information about the visit, without a cookie identifier. This helps only where Google places a connection in those regions and the hosting provider did not. If a connection appears to be outside those regions to both (for example, through a VPN) and the device is set to a time zone outside Europe, Google Analytics runs as it does for other visitors, cookies included. For all visitors, Google Analytics is told that advertising storage, sending data for advertising and ad personalization are not allowed.

Your choices

Use “Turn analytics off” at the bottom of any page. This removes the Google Analytics cookies from this site and stores the choice in this browser; “Turn analytics on” reverses it.
Turn on Global Privacy Control in your browser, if it offers it.
Install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, or block or delete cookies in your browser settings.

The site works the same with analytics off or blocked.

How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services

Emails you send

If you email the site, including through the correction form, which only prepares an email in your own email app, the operator receives your email address and whatever you write. That information is used only to reply and to investigate and fix what you report. It is not sold or shared for marketing. Published corrections describe the problem, never who reported it. Emails are received and stored in Gmail, provided by Google. They are kept only as long as needed for these purposes, and you can ask for yours to be deleted.

Advertising

The home page, calculator pages and guides may show ads served by Google AdSense. Ads never appear on the fitness pages (the Fitness section, including its calculators, and the guide to fitness estimates), this page, the search page, the contact and corrections pages, or the other legal pages.

Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites. More broadly, Google and third-party vendors use cookies, web beacons, IP addresses and similar identifiers to serve ads, measure them and prevent fraud. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and other sites on the internet. Where the law allows and, where required, you have agreed, these ads can be personalized. Third parties may place and read cookies in your browser, or use web beacons or IP addresses, to collect information as a result of ad serving on this site.

To turn personalized ads from Google on or off, use My Ad Center. To opt out of personalized ads from other ad companies that take part in the Digital Advertising Alliance’s program, use its opt-out page. Blocking or deleting cookies in your browser settings limits this tracking, but it does not by itself turn off personalized ads from Google; use My Ad Center for that.

Consent in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland

On pages that show ads, visitors in these regions are asked for their choices through Google’s consent tool (Privacy & messaging), which uses the IAB Transparency & Consent Framework. You can change or withdraw your choices at any time with “Privacy and cookie settings” at the bottom of any page that shows ads.

US state privacy rights

Some US states give residents the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information for targeted advertising. To opt out on this site:

use the opt-out link in the privacy message on pages that show ads, where it is shown for your location;
turn on Global Privacy Control in your browser: on pages with ads, the site then asks Google to limit its use of data and show only non-personalized ads (Google’s “restricted data processing”);
turn off personalized ads in My Ad Center.

The operator cannot link an email address to your browser’s ad cookies, so an opt-out has to be made in one of these ways; if you email smartfinancialcalc@gmail.com, you will get help with them. You can also ask what personal information the operator holds about you (in practice, emails you have sent and, if you provide your _ga cookie value, the Google Analytics data tied to it) or ask for it to be deleted, and you can appeal a refusal by replying to the operator’s answer.

Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control

Browsers’ “Do Not Track” setting has no common standard, and the site does not change what it does when it receives that signal. The site does respond to Global Privacy Control: Google Analytics is not loaded, and on pages with ads Google is asked to show only non-personalized ads.

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland

Legal bases. Request data handled by the hosting provider (to deliver the site and keep it secure) and emails you send (to reply and fix what you report) are processed on the basis of legitimate interests. The site does not use Google Analytics for visitors whose connection the hosting provider places in these regions or whose device is set to a time zone in Europe. Google Analytics can run for a visitor from these regions only if both checks miss (for example, a VPN that appears to be elsewhere and a device set to a time zone outside Europe); it then sets its cookies unless Google itself places the connection in these regions. For that case the operator relies on its legitimate interest in counting visits. The location check relies on the operator’s legitimate interest in not using analytics for visitors in these regions; it uses only the country of your IP address and stores nothing. You can object at any time: use “Turn analytics off” at the bottom of any page, or Global Privacy Control, and neither the location check nor analytics will run. Advertising cookies and personalized ads rely on your consent, given in the consent message. Some advertising partners say they rely on legitimate interests for some purposes; you can object to that under “Manage options” in the consent message.

Your rights. You can ask to access, correct or delete your personal data, to restrict or object to its use, or to receive it in a portable format, and you can withdraw consent at any time with “Privacy and cookie settings” on pages that show ads. Withdrawing consent does not affect what was done before. Send requests to smartfinancialcalc@gmail.com. You can also complain to the data protection authority where you live or work: in the United Kingdom, the Information Commissioner’s Office; in Switzerland, the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.

Transfers. The site is run from the United States, and the data described here is processed in the United States, and in other countries where the hosting provider and Google operate, by the operator, the hosting provider and Google. Google and the hosting provider rely on the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, its UK Extension and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, and otherwise on standard contractual clauses approved for the EU, the UK and Switzerland.

Children’s privacy

The site is intended for a general audience and is not directed at children under 13. It does not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has emailed personal information, contact the operator and it will be deleted.

Your choices and requests

You can use the site without an account and without giving your name or email address. To ask what information the operator holds about you (in practice, emails you have sent) or to have it deleted, email smartfinancialcalc@gmail.com. Google Analytics data is tied only to a random identifier in the _ga cookie; if you send that cookie’s value, the operator can delete the matching data in Google Analytics. Depending on where you live, you may have further rights under local law.

Changes to this policy

When what the site collects changes, this policy is updated and the effective date at the top changes.