Privacy policy

What I collect, and what I don’t

You can browse every post on this site without an account, without an email signup, and without entering any personal information. There’s no required login, no paywalled content, no email gate. Reading the site costs you nothing in data terms.

The only personal information SimpleMoneyHabits has about you is whatever you actively choose to give us. That generally means contacting me on X, where any information shared is governed by X’s own privacy practices, not this site’s.

Your consent

Please read this entire policy carefully before using the website (simplemoneyhabits.com) or providing any information that is personally identifiable or not personally identifiable. When you visit this site, you consent to the collection, use, processing, and disclosure of your information in accordance with this policy. If you do not agree to the terms of this policy, you are not authorized to use the site.

What gets logged automatically

Two things happen automatically when anyone visits a website, including this one. They’re standard, they’re not personal in any meaningful sense, but they’re worth being upfront about.

Google Analytics. The site runs Google Analytics to understand basic traffic patterns: how many people visit, which posts they read, roughly where they’re coming from geographically (city level, not address level), and which devices they’re using. This is aggregate, anonymized data. It tells me whether the FIRE posts are getting more traffic than the reviews; it does not tell me who you are. If you want to opt out, you can install the official Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, which blocks the tracking entirely.

Standard server logs. The server hosting this site keeps records of every request that comes in: your IP address, the time of the request, what page you asked for, and what browser you were using. These logs exist for security and infrastructure reasons (catching bad actors, debugging errors, monitoring uptime). They’re standard for any website on the internet.

Cookies

The site uses cookies for two purposes: enabling basic functionality (remembering you’re logged in if you have a WordPress account, which most readers don’t) and powering Google Analytics. Most browsers let you block or clear cookies in your settings; doing so won’t break the reading experience here.

The site does not use cookies for advertising retargeting, third-party data brokers, or anything in that family.

What I do with information you actively share

If you reach out on X or otherwise share information with me, that information is used for the reason you sent it. If you ask a question, I use it to answer the question. If you suggest a topic, I use it to think about future posts. I don’t add your handle to a database, sell it to anyone, or use it for anything you didn’t intend.

What I share with third parties

The short answer is: nothing personal, ever, intentionally. The longer answer:

Standard site infrastructure (hosting, analytics, content delivery) inherently passes some data through third-party services in order to function. Google Analytics is the main example; my hosting provider is the other. These services have their own privacy policies, and I rely on them being run by reputable companies with reasonable security practices. Beyond that, I don’t sell, rent, trade, or share reader information with anyone.

Third-party sites and sponsors are not currently authorized to collect information from this site or its visitors directly. If that ever changes, this policy will be updated to reflect it.

If law enforcement showed up with a valid legal request, I’d comply with it like any other US-based website operator would. That’s a theoretical concern for ~99% of readers, but worth saying out loud.

Security

I use commercially reasonable efforts to prevent unauthorized access, disclosure, loss, or destruction of any information you share with the site. That said, no data transmission over the internet is completely secure. While the site uses standard security practices appropriate to a small independent publisher, no security system can be guaranteed against all forms of attack, and I can’t promise that every piece of information will always be protected from every possible bad actor.

Accessing, correcting, and deleting your information

Because the site collects almost nothing about readers directly, there’s usually nothing to access, correct, or delete. If you’ve shared information with me through X DMs, an old contact form, or any other voluntary channel, and you want to know what I have, correct it, or have it deleted, contact me on X at @HabitsProf and I’ll respond within a reasonable period.

I may ask you to identify yourself before processing the request, to make sure I’m actually talking to the person whose information is being requested. To the extent applicable by law, I may decline to process requests that are unreasonably repetitive, require unreasonable technical effort, or jeopardize the privacy of others.

For Google Analytics data specifically, the cleanest way to remove yourself from collection going forward is the official Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, which blocks tracking across every site that uses GA, including this one.

Feedback surveys

From time to time I may run a brief reader survey to understand what’s working and what isn’t. Any information collected through a survey is treated the same as other information described in this policy: used for the reason it was sent, not sold or shared with third parties, and not added to any database I don’t already maintain (which, again, is approximately none).

Children’s privacy

This site is intended for adults thinking about adult financial decisions and is intended for use by U.S. residents over the age of 18. The site is built to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and I do not knowingly collect or retain information from anyone under the age of 18.

If you are a minor, not a U.S. resident, or do not agree with the terms of this privacy policy, please do not access or use this website. If you are a minor and personal information of yours has somehow ended up on this site, contact me on X and I will delete whatever’s there.

External links

Posts on this site link to other websites: company pages I’m reviewing, source articles I’m citing, books I’m recommending, and so on. Once you click out of SimpleMoneyHabits onto another site, that other site’s privacy policy applies, not this one. I can’t speak to how anyone else handles your data, only how I handle it here.

U.S. law and use of materials on this website

This site is operated from the United States and intended for use by U.S. residents. All legal matters related to this website are governed by federal U.S. laws and the laws of the state of New Jersey. If you are visiting this website from outside of the U.S., please understand that any information you provide will be used as stated in this policy and protected under U.S. law and not the law of your home country.

Updates to this privacy policy

I reserve the right to update and revise the content of this policy at any time. If a meaningful change is made to how the site handles data, this page gets updated and the date stamp at the bottom moves forward. The “Last updated” line at the bottom is the truth of when this policy was current. I encourage you to check back from time to time so you always know what information is collected, how it’s used, and with whom (if anyone) it’s shared.

Questions

If you have a question about how this site handles your information, the best place to reach me is on X at @HabitsProf. I read replies and DMs.