Privacy Policy

The short version: no accounts and your calculator inputs never leave your device. Ads on this site are served by Google, which uses cookies.

Last updated: October 24, 2026

Who runs this site

Finance Friend is a personal, educational website run by me, Jacob Myers. It doesn't sell anything; ads help cover the cost of running it. You can reach me at jacobm@financefriend.org.

What I collect

No accounts, forms, or sign-ups. I never ask for your name, email, or any other personal details.
Calculator inputs stay in your browser. The mortgage, auto, rent vs buy, tax, bond, and investing calculators run entirely on your device. The numbers you type are never sent to me. "Save as PDF" also happens in your browser - it uses your browser's print dialog, so the file goes straight to your device.
Lookups. When you look up home values for a state or ZIP code, or a company by its ticker symbol, that state, ZIP, or ticker is sent to my server so it can fetch the data for you. The server briefly caches the result so repeat lookups are faster. It doesn't save who asked.
Server logs. Like nearly every website, my hosting provider, Cloudflare, handles standard request details - your IP address, browser type, the page requested, the referring page, and the time - and keeps short-term logs of them. These are used for security and troubleshooting. I don't use them to identify or track anyone.
Visit statistics. Cloudflare turns that traffic into summary statistics I can see in its dashboard - things like how many visits the site gets and rough location (country). This part doesn't add a script or cookie. I only look at the totals.
Cloudflare Web Analytics. Each page also loads a small analytics script from Cloudflare (static.cloudflareinsights.com). It reports the page you viewed, the referring page, your browser type, rough location (country), and how fast the page loaded. Cloudflare says it doesn't use cookies or other storage on your device and doesn't fingerprint or track you across sites. I only see totals.

The server logs and visit statistics (including Cloudflare Web Analytics) are kept to keep the site secure and working and to see which pages are useful. Every website needs your IP address to send you a page, so this can't be switched off ahead of time.

This site is meant for, and only available to, visitors in the United States. Visits from other countries are blocked.

Advertising and cookies

This site shows ads through Google AdSense. I don't set any cookies myself, and the only analytics is the cookie-free Cloudflare Web Analytics described above, but Google and its advertising partners do use cookies and similar technologies to show ads, limit how often you see them, measure how they perform, and prevent fraud.

Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this site and other websites.
Google's advertising cookies let it and its partners show you ads based on your visits here and elsewhere on the internet. You can learn more in how Google uses information from sites that use its services.
You can turn off personalized ads from Google in My Ad Center, and opt out of many other vendors' personalized ads at aboutads.info. You'll still see ads, just less personalized ones.
Where a U.S. state privacy law requires it, you'll be asked for consent, or offered an opt-out, through a message from Google before personalized ads are shown.

Ads are chosen by Google, not by me, and an ad appearing here isn't a recommendation. See the Terms of Use.

Outside services

Hosting, network, and email (Cloudflare). The site is hosted by Cloudflare, Inc., which also runs its domain name service. Every visit is handled by Cloudflare's servers, so it receives your IP address and the details listed above, and uses them to deliver the page and protect the site from attacks. It also runs the Web Analytics described above, adds a small script that hides my email address from spam bots, and forwards email you send to my contact address. See Cloudflare's privacy policy.
Google AdSense. Ads load from Google's servers (such as googlesyndication.com and doubleclick.net). Your browser connects to them directly, so Google can see your IP address, browser details, and the page you're on, and uses cookies as described above.
Data providers. Home prices come from the U.S. Census Bureau, and company financials and insider trades from the SEC's EDGAR system. My server contacts them, not your browser, so they never see your IP address.
Links to other sites. I link to sources like the IRS, Cornell's Legal Information Institute, and YouTube channels. Once you click through, that site's own privacy policy applies.
Tips (Buy Me a Coffee). The "Buy me a coffee" link at the bottom of each page is a plain link - nothing from Buy Me a Coffee loads on this site. If you click it and leave a tip, you're on their site, and their privacy policy covers what you enter there. I never receive your card details.

California and other U.S. state privacy rights

I don't sell personal information for money, and I don't collect anything that identifies you by name. But under California law (the CCPA, as amended by the CPRA) and similar laws in other states, letting Google's ad cookies run on this site may count as "sharing" personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising - ads based on what you do across different websites. So here's what that covers:

What's involved: identifiers (IP address, cookie and device IDs) and internet activity (pages you view here, browser type, the referring page). Google also infers a rough location from your IP address. Nothing sensitive - no names, account numbers, Social Security numbers, or precise location.
Where it comes from: your browser, when you load a page.
Who receives it: Cloudflare (hosting and security, as a service provider) and Google and its advertising partners (ads, measurement, and fraud prevention).
Why: to deliver the site, keep it secure, count visits, and show ads.
How long it's kept: server logs and visit statistics follow Cloudflare's retention schedule. Google keeps ad data under its own privacy policy. I don't keep a separate copy.
Under 16: I don't knowingly sell or share personal information of anyone under 16.

Opting out of sale or sharing. You can opt out in any of these ways:

Turn on Global Privacy Control (GPC) in your browser. Google receives that signal with ad requests and, where state law requires it, switches to non-personalized ads.
Use the "Do not sell or share my personal information" link or message from Google, shown to visitors in states with these laws.
Turn off personalized ads in My Ad Center, or block third-party cookies in your browser.
Email me at jacobm@financefriend.org.

Your other rights. You can ask to know what personal information relates to you, to delete it, or to correct it, and you can name an authorized agent to ask for you. Because I don't keep information tied to you, I usually can't match a request to anyone. If that happens I'll tell you, and I'll pass the request on to Cloudflare for its logs. I won't treat you differently for using any of these rights - the site works the same either way.

Children

This site isn't directed at children under 13 and doesn't knowingly collect information from them.

Your choices

Because I don't keep personal information tied to you, there's generally nothing to look up, correct, or delete. Server logs and visit statistics are kept by Cloudflare and deleted on its normal schedule. For ad cookies, use the controls above, or block or clear cookies in your browser settings.

If you live in a U.S. state with a privacy law, you have rights such as asking what data relates to you and asking for it to be deleted - see California and other U.S. state privacy rights above. Email me at jacobm@financefriend.org and I'll help, including passing requests on to Cloudflare for its logs.

Changes

If this policy changes, I'll update it here and change the date at the top. See also the Terms of Use.