Privacy

Public reading

You can read the guides and take the quiz without an account. The shared web server skips Finance Help pages in its ordinary access log so a copied query string does not become an analytics record. Short security and service logs may still record the time, route, result, and a safe request reference when needed to keep the site working. They do not record quiz answers, contact messages, email bodies, login cookies, or webhook bodies.

Editor access

The private editor uses a Ghost login cookie to keep authorized staff signed in. The Finance Hub asks Ghost to verify that session and the exact allowed editor account before showing content, traffic, leads, or email status. Editor account details, lead details, and unpublished drafts are not public.

Analytics, quiz reports, and contact

The site uses self-hosted, cookie-free analytics to answer a short list of practical questions: which guides people read, how they found the site, how far they read, which primary-source links they follow, and whether they click the optional contact link. It also records when the quiz invitation is shown or dismissed and when each broad part of the quiz is started or completed.

The analytics service does not use cookies, advertising pixels, persistent visitor IDs, fingerprinting, or session replay. The site keeps one bounded source label in browser session storage so a reader who moves to another guide does not get counted as a new source. That label can only be Google search, another approved search engine, a referral domain, direct or unknown, or an approved campaign code. It cannot contain a query, name, email address, ZIP code, or free-form campaign text.

GoatCounter does not keep raw IP addresses or full browser user-agent strings. To avoid counting every refresh as a new visit, it holds an IP address and browser string in server memory for up to eight hours, converts that combination to a random session reference, and then discards the original values. Stored records can include the page, time, referral domain or approved campaign code, country, general browser and device information, reading-depth milestone, and anonymous session reference.

Raw quiz answers stay in your browser. They are never sent to analytics.

If you ask for the full money comparison, the private report service receives the email address, quiz score, broad goal, starting-point range, time range, take-home-income range, monthly amount, optional ZIP code, and whether you separately asked to receive new guides. It needs those fields to create and send the requested report. It does not receive account numbers, exact balances, Social Security numbers, phone numbers, or the raw answer chosen for each quiz question.

The report record is stored in a private database on the EREBORA server. Its directory is private to the report service and the database file is restricted to that service account. Resend processes the email delivery using a sending-only key restricted to this domain. The service stores Resend's message reference and signed delivery-event status. It does not store the raw webhook, recipient list, subject, click URL, IP address, or browser string from a webhook.

Report records are kept for up to 24 months for delivery support, abuse prevention, and lead follow-up. A reader who checks the separate guide box may receive later educational email; leaving it unchecked sends only the requested report. The operator reviews eligible records and routine backups each month; deletion requires a verified backup first. Reply to the report to ask for correction or deletion sooner.

The homepage stores only the date when the quiz invitation was last shown, so it can wait seven days before appearing again. That date stays in browser local storage and is not sent to analytics.

Analytics records are kept for up to 24 months. Backups and deletion are reviewed rather than performed by an unattended cleanup job.

A contact click does not tell us who you are. If you submit the contact form, the private lead service receives your email address, an optional one-sentence question, and permission to reply. The database keeps contact questions separate from quiz-report requests. Resend sends the question to the author. The form does not add you to a newsletter.

Do not send account numbers, passwords, Social Security numbers, tax records, medical information, or financial documents through the form.

Questions

Reply to your money comparison email or use the contact form with a privacy question.