Privacy Policy

Personal Finance Bytes ("PFBytes," "we," "us") publishes free personal finance articles, calculators, and a personalized action-plan dashboard at pfbytes.com. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. We try to collect as little as possible — most of the site works with no data collection at all.

1. Information We Collect

Articles and calculators

Our articles and financial calculators (budgeting, debt payoff, savings, etc.) run entirely in your browser. The numbers you enter into a calculator are used only to compute your results on your device and are not sent to our servers — unless you click “Save these numbers to my plan” and sign in, in which case that calculator’s inputs and results are stored with your dashboard data (see below). You can remove a saved result from the dashboard at any time.

Dashboard ("Get Your Next Steps") — only if you sign in

The dashboard lets you optionally sign in with Google to save your progress. If you choose to sign in:

• Account information — we receive your name, email address, and profile photo from your Google account via Firebase Authentication, so we can identify your account and display it back to you.
• Progress data — the milestones you've checked off, your quiz answers, and any calculator results you choose to save are stored in our database (Cloud Firestore), tied to your account, so your plan is there the next time you visit. Security rules restrict this data so only you can read or write it.
• Local cache — a copy of your progress is cached in your browser's local storage for faster loading. This stays on your device.

If you don't sign in, you can still take the quiz and use the dashboard. Your plan is then kept only in your browser’s local storage on this device — it isn’t sent to us. If you later sign in, that plan is copied into your account.

Standard hosting logs

Like virtually all websites, our hosting provider (Firebase Hosting, a Google service) automatically logs standard technical information for security and reliability purposes, such as IP address, browser type, and pages requested. We don't use this data for tracking or advertising, and we don't currently run any analytics or advertising scripts on the site.

2. How We Use Information

• To operate the dashboard and save your progress across visits.
• To identify and secure your account.
• To maintain, secure, and troubleshoot the site.

We do not sell your information, and we do not use it for advertising.

3. Cookies and Local Storage

We don't set our own tracking or advertising cookies. Signing in with Google may involve cookies set by Google to manage your authentication session. The dashboard also uses your browser's local storage to cache your progress, as described above. If we add analytics or advertising in the future, we will update this policy first.

4. Third-Party Services

We use Google Firebase (Authentication, Firestore, and Hosting) to run the site. When you sign in with Google, that sign-in is handled directly by Google, and use of your Google account is also subject to Google's Privacy Policy. We don't share your information with any other third parties.

5. Data Retention and Deletion

We keep your account and progress data for as long as your account exists. You can stop syncing at any time by signing out. To request deletion of your account data, email us at the address below and we'll remove it.

6. Children's Privacy

PFBytes is intended for general audiences and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

7. Security

We use Firebase's built-in security rules so that your dashboard progress data can only be read or written by your own authenticated account. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your information.

8. Your Choices

• You can use articles and calculators without providing any information or creating an account.
• You can sign out of the dashboard at any time, or decline to sign in altogether.
• You can request access to, or deletion of, your account data by contacting us.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time as the site changes. We'll update the "Last updated" date above when we do. Continued use of the site after changes means you accept the updated policy.

10. Contact Us