Privacy

Your email address, but only if you subscribe to the newsletter. We use it to send the newsletter and nothing else. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link at the bottom of every email, or by emailing hello@folionorth.ca.

Server logs, kept by our hosting provider (Vercel) for standard operational reasons: debugging, abuse prevention. These logs include your IP address, browser user-agent, and the pages you requested. They are retained for 30 days and then automatically deleted.

Anonymous page-view analytics, via Vercel Web Analytics. We see which pages get visited, where the visitor came from (the referring site), the country, and the device type. We do not see who you are. There are no cookies, no fingerprinting, and your IP address is anonymized before it reaches us. We use this only to know which calculators are useful and where the site is reaching people.

Anonymous performance metrics, via Vercel Speed Insights. We collect aggregate page-performance data (Core Web Vitals such as load and responsiveness times) along with the page visited and device type, so we can find and fix slow pages. This is anonymous, uses no cookies and no fingerprinting, and never identifies who you are.

Google Analytics (GA4), cookies only if you agree. We also use Google Analytics to measure traffic: which pages are visited, how visitors arrive (the referring site or search), approximate location (country and region), and device and browser type. We also record which calculators are used and which outbound links (brokerage, offer, and credit-card links) are clicked, so we can see which tools and offers are useful. These measurements never include your name or any of the portfolio figures you enter. We send only the page origin and path: query strings and fragments are removed before analytics events are transmitted. The unsubscribe page does not load Google Analytics, Vercel Analytics, Speed Insights, or ads at all. On other pages, until you accept the cookie banner it runs in a cookieless mode. It sets no cookies and sends only anonymous, aggregated measurements to Google (this is Google's "Consent Mode"). Only after you click "Accept" does it set cookies in your browser, named _ga and _ga_*, to tell returning visitors apart and keep a single visit together as one session. These cookies do not contain your name or any of your portfolio data. Google processes this information on our behalf and may use it subject to its own policies. Google states that it does not log or store full IP addresses in GA4. Your IP is used briefly to estimate location and is then discarded. You can opt out of Google Analytics on every site you visit using Google's browser opt-out add-on.

Affiliate link tracking. Some pages, currently our Qtrade Direct Investing™ review, brokerage guides and comparisons that display a Qtrade offer, and the Qtrade offer on our Transfer Offers page, our Qtrade promotion page, plus the Qtrade comparison shown on our Broker Comparison page, carry an affiliate link and a small invisible impression pixel from our affiliate network, Fintel Connect. On the Qtrade review, the pixel loads once with the page. On the guides, the comparison article, Transfer Offers, the Qtrade promotion page, and Broker Comparison, it loads once when the relevant Qtrade call to action or offer comes into view. The link is followed when you click it. In each case your browser sends a request to Fintel Connect with technical data such as your IP address and browser user-agent, plus which of our pages it came from, so the partner can count the placement and credit referrals. It never includes your name or any of the portfolio figures you enter. See our Affiliate Disclosure for how affiliate links work.

Google AdSense, non-personalized. The ads on this site are served by Google. On the pages that carry ads, loading them means your browser contacts Google's ad servers, which sends technical data such as your IP address, browser user-agent, and the address of the page you are on. Unlike our analytics, which we strip down to the origin and path ourselves, the ad tag reads the page address directly, so anything in the address bar can reach Google. The calculators carry ads too, so here is what we can and cannot promise about them. Nothing you type is transmitted anywhere: not to us, not to Google. That covers our own code. It does not cover Google's, which is third-party script running in the page with the access any script on a page has. We do not control it and cannot audit it. Google documents the tag as reading the page address and surrounding content to choose an ad, rather than the contents of input fields, and we have seen nothing to suggest otherwise, but that is our judgement rather than a guarantee we are in a position to make. The address bar is the part we can act on, since the tag reads it directly. Every address that carries your figures therefore loads no ad code at all: any page opened from a Copy link snapshot, or as a Save as PDF or Card view export. The unsubscribe page and the newsletter confirmation page also carry no ads, because their addresses hold a token mailed to you. Neither do the pages carrying an affiliate link to Qtrade (the transfer-offer page, the Qtrade review, and the guides that recommend them), so our ad partner and our affiliate partner are never on the same page. If you would rather no third-party ad code ran next to a calculator at all, a content blocker handles it, and nothing on the site breaks without the ads. We explicitly request non-personalized ads and keep Google's advertising consent signals denied. Ads are chosen from the page's content and your rough location, not from a profile built from your past activity. Non-personalized does not mean anonymous or cookieless. Depending on your browser, location, consent choices, and Google's ad-serving settings, Google and its ad partners may use cookies or local storage for delivery, frequency capping, aggregated reporting, billing, and fraud prevention.

Nothing else. The calculators on this site run entirely in your browser. Your portfolio numbers, ETF picks, account types: all of that stays on your device. Nothing in our code sends any of it to us or to a third party, and our analytics events are stripped to the origin and path before they are transmitted.

Local browser storage. Calculator inputs are also saved to your browser's local storage so you don't have to re-enter them when you return. This data stays on your device and is never sent to FolioNorth's servers. You can clear it via your browser's storage settings or the "Clear saved data" link in the site footer.

Sharing calculator results. Editing a calculator does not put your inputs in the page address. A share snapshot is created only when you choose Copy link, Save as PDF, or Card view. The snapshot is stored after the #in the link, which browsers do not send with the HTTP request. Anyone you give that link to can read the values in it, so treat a shared calculator link like any other document containing your figures.

Google Analytics may set first-party cookies named _ga and _ga_*, but only if you accept them on the analytics banner shown on your first visit. They let us count visitors and see which calculators get used, by telling one visitor apart from another and keeping a single visit together as one session. They do not contain your name or any portfolio data, and by default they expire two years after your last visit. We do not sell your data.

Google AdSense ads are requested as non-personalized, but they can still use cookies or local storage for functions such as frequency capping, aggregated reporting, and invalid-traffic detection. The analytics banner does not grant or withdraw consent for advertising. Google may show a separate regional consent message based on your location and our AdSense settings.

If you decline, no analytics cookies are set. Google Analytics stays in its cookieless mode, sending only anonymous, aggregated pings. Our other analytics tool, Vercel Web Analytics, is also cookieless and runs regardless of your choice. You can change your mind at any time using the "Cookie preferences" link in the site footer; if you withdraw consent, the Google Analytics cookies are deleted from your browser and GA returns to its cookieless mode right away, and it stops setting cookies and identifying your device, though it continues sending the same anonymous, aggregated pings. To stop those too, use Google's browser opt-out add-on below.

You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings, opt out of Google Analytics with Google's browser opt-out add-on, or use a privacy-focused browser or extension. The calculators will still work with cookies disabled.

Service providers, used only to operate the site:

• Vercel hosts the site, processes server logs as described above, and provides the cookieless Web Analytics that records anonymous page views. Vercel's privacy policy.
• Google provides Google Analytics, which records the page-view, location, and device data described above and sets the analytics cookies, and Google AdSense, which serves the non-personalized ads and receives the technical data described above when an ad loads. Google's privacy policy.
• Sender sends our emails. They process your email address and delivery metadata. Sender's privacy policy.
• Fintel Connect is our affiliate network. When a page with an affiliate placement is shown to you or you click an affiliate link, it receives the technical data described above so partners can count the placement and credit referrals. It may store and process this data in Canada and in other countries where it or its service providers operate. Fintel Connect's privacy policy.

We do not share your information with anyone else. We do not sell it. If we are ever legally required to disclose information (a court order, for example), we will comply and, where permitted, notify you first.

Vercel's hosting infrastructure is global; your requests are typically served from a Canadian or US edge location. Google Analytics and AdSense data is processed on Google's servers, primarily in the United States. Sender stores email data on servers in the United States. By using this site or subscribing to the newsletter, you consent to the transfer of this limited data outside Canada.

Under Canadian privacy law (PIPEDA, and Quebec's Law 25 if you live in Quebec), you have the right to:

• Know what personal information we hold about you
• Get a copy of it
• Have it corrected if it's wrong
• Have it deleted
• Withdraw consent for the newsletter at any time

To exercise any of these rights, email hello@folionorth.ca. We respond within 30 days, usually faster.

FolioNorth is intended for adults making investment decisions. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has subscribed, email us and we will delete the record.

If we make material changes (for example, adding a new third-party service or changing what we collect) we will update this page and change the "Last updated" date at the top. For changes that affect newsletter subscribers, we'll also send a heads-up email.

Questions or requests? Email hello@folionorth.ca.

The person responsible for personal information at FolioNorth is the site's operator, reachable at hello@folionorth.ca. You can also file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or, if you live in Quebec, the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec.