Privacy policy
What we collect, why we collect it, and who we share it with. Written in plain English because legalese in privacy policies is usually a signal something is being hidden.
Who we are
Smart Investor is an independent directory of investment advisors, research guides, and investor tools. "We" / "our" / "us" in this policy refers to the operators of https://smart-investor-financial-tools.com.
What we collect
Automatically, when you visit
Like most websites, we log standard request data: IP address, browser + OS, pages visited, time on page, referring URL. This is used to understand what people read and to debug issues.
When you submit a form
Three forms on this site collect information you provide directly:
- Newsletter subscription — email address only, sent to our email service provider (Mailchimp). Used to send one summary email per month. Unsubscribe anytime via the link in any email.
- Contact form — your name, email, topic, and message. Routed through Netlify Forms and viewed only by us. Not shared.
- Advisor removal / correction requests (submitted via the contact form) — we retain the request long enough to make the requested change and confirm it back to you.
Advisor listings
The firms and professionals listed in the advisor directory are public businesses, and the information shown is sourced from public regulatory records — SEC IAPD, FINRA BrokerCheck, state securities regulator registries — plus the firms' own websites and Form ADV Part 2A disclosures. We do not collect private information about advisors; we aggregate what is already public. If you represent a listed firm and want the entry corrected or removed, contact us and we'll act within one business day.
Cookies and tracking
We use three categories of cookies:
- Essential — remember your theme preference (light/dark), keep your advisor-compare list across pages, and keep the session working. Not used for tracking.
- Analytics — Google Analytics, for anonymized traffic and behavior data. Helps us prioritize what to build next.
- Advertising — Google AdSense may set cookies to serve relevant ads on some pages. You can opt out of personalized advertising at Google Ads Settings without affecting your ability to read the content.
Third-party services we use
- Netlify — hosts the site and processes contact-form submissions.
- Airtable — stores the advisor, tool, and blog post data that the site renders from. Does not store visitor or subscriber data.
- Mailchimp — delivers the newsletter. Receives email addresses from the subscription form; subject to Mailchimp's privacy policy.
- Google Analytics — usage analytics; subject to Google's privacy policy.
- Google AdSense — ad serving.
- FINRA BrokerCheck and SEC IAPD — we link out to these for verification; no user data is sent to them.
How long we keep data
Analytics data is retained on a rolling 14-month window (Google Analytics default). Newsletter subscriptions persist until you unsubscribe. Contact-form submissions stay in Netlify's records indefinitely unless you request deletion.
Your rights
You can request access to, correction of, or deletion of any personal data we hold about you by emailing us via the contact form with the subject line "Data request." This applies regardless of jurisdiction — we don't treat it as a GDPR-specific right, just the right thing to do.
Children
The site is not directed to children under 13 and we don't knowingly collect information from them.
Security
The site runs over HTTPS, and the third-party providers listed above maintain their own security programs. No system is perfectly secure. If you suspect a breach or vulnerability affecting this site, please let us know.
Changes to this policy
If we change something material, we update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of the site after an update means you accept the revised policy. For any question not answered here, contact us.