Privacy Policy

Effective date: August 17, 2026

Jacobus Company, LLC ("Company," "we," "us," or "our") built Investment Scenario Lab (the "Service") as a privacy-respecting, educational financial-modeling tool. This Privacy Policy explains what information we do and do not collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. Our guiding principle is privacy by design and data minimization: we try to collect as little as possible and to keep your modeling on your own device wherever we can.

1. Our Privacy-by-Design Posture

Data minimization. We collect only what is reasonably necessary to provide the Service.
No forced account or brokerage linking. The Service does not require you to connect a brokerage, bank, or investment account, and it does not link to or import data from such accounts. It holds no money or assets.
Local/client-side computation. In the Service as it works today, the assumptions you enter and the projections you generate are computed in your browser, on your device, and are not sent to or stored on our servers. This is a description of how the current version is built, and Section 2A sets out exactly what we would do before that could ever change.
No sale of personal data. We do not sell or rent your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

2. Information We Collect

We aim to keep this list short.

a. Financial assumptions and inputs ("Scenario Figures").

The returns, inflation rates, allocation percentages, contribution and withdrawal amounts, and similar figures you enter. In this version of the Service these stay on your device, in your browser's local storage, and the app does not send them to us. We do not receive them, and we hold no copy of them. Because they never reach us, we cannot read them, share them, lose them, or produce them in response to a legal request. We recommend you use hypothetical, non-personal numbers, which give you exactly the same insight. Section 2A explains, in advance, precisely what we would commit to doing before this could ever change.

b. Name and email, only if you choose to give them.

The free tool does not require an account and does not ask for your name or email to use it. We collect your name and email only if you (i) opt in to product updates through our optional signup form, or (ii) purchase the Pro version. We use them solely to send the updates you requested and to deliver and support your purchase. You can unsubscribe at any time.

c. Limited technical and usage data (analytics & A/B testing).

Our website host and analytics provider(s) may use cookies and similar technologies to measure how the Service is used and to run A/B tests on design and features, so we can improve it. This is standard usage measurement (such as page views and which version performed better); we do not use it to collect the figures you enter into scenarios, and we do not run advertising or cross-site ad trackers. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. We may also collect minimal technical information such as device/browser type and approximate region to operate and secure the Service.

We do not intentionally collect sensitive personal information (such as Social Security numbers, account numbers, or government IDs), and you should not enter such information into the Service.

2A. If This Ever Changes: Our Commitment to You

We want to be straightforward about the future as well as the present. The Service may grow, and one day it may offer optional features that involve sending something to us, for example an optional account, saving scenarios across your devices, or a shared workspace. None of that exists today. If we ever build it, we commit to all four of the following:

We will tell you first. We will publish the updated Policy with a new effective date before the change takes effect, and for a material change to how Scenario Figures are handled we will also give notice in the app itself, and by email to anyone who has subscribed to updates.
It will be optional and we will ask. Any collection of your Scenario Figures would be tied to a feature you choose to turn on, and we would ask for your agreement at the moment you turn it on, not buried in a policy update. Declining is always an answer.
It will not reach backwards. A change would apply only going forward. Figures already stored on your device would stay there, and turning a new feature down would not send them anywhere.
The core tool stays usable without it. The educational simulator, the part that makes this useful, is designed to run on your device. Our intention is that you can continue to use it without opting in to anything new. If a future change ever made that impossible, we would say so plainly and in advance rather than quietly.

This section is a commitment about how we would make a change, not a plan to make one.

3. How We Use Information

We use information only to:

provide, operate, and maintain the Service;
perform the calculations and illustrations you request (locally, in your browser);
send you product updates if you opted in, and deliver/support your purchase if you bought Pro;
run anonymous analytics and A/B tests to secure and improve the Service; and
prevent abuse or fraud and comply with law.

We do not use your Scenario Figures to provide advice, we do not sell your data, and we do not profile you for advertising.

4. Cookies and Analytics

We use local storage that is necessary for the Service to function (for example, to remember your saved scenario and that you accepted the Terms). Our host and analytics provider(s) may set cookies and similar technologies to measure usage and support A/B testing of design and features; we do not use advertising or cross-site ad trackers. You can block or delete cookies in your browser at any time. Depending on your jurisdiction and the providers we use, a cookie-consent notice may be required, confirm the requirements for your situation.

5. How We Share Information

We do not sell your personal information. We share information only:

with service providers / processors acting on our behalf under confidentiality obligations and only as needed, namely our website host, our analytics provider(s), our email/newsletter provider, and our payment & licensing provider (which processes Pro purchases and issues license keys);
to comply with law, valid legal process, or to protect rights, safety, and the integrity of the Service; or
in connection with a business transfer (merger, acquisition, or asset sale), subject to this Policy.

6. Data Retention

Because your scenario activity is client-side, it stays in your browser and persists until you clear it. For the limited data we do hold: we keep newsletter/contact details until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete them, and purchase and license records for as long as needed to provide the license and to meet tax, accounting, and legal obligations, after which we delete or anonymize them.

7. Security

Our main safeguard is how little we hold. The strongest protection we can offer is not a promise about our defenses, it is the design of the Service:

Scenario Figures: not received by us at all. They stay in your browser.
Email address: held by our email provider, only if you asked for updates.
Purchase and license records: held by our payment and licensing provider.
Analytics: aggregate usage measurement held by our analytics provider.

We serve the site over HTTPS, keep the personal data we hold to a minimum, and rely on established third-party providers that maintain industry-standard safeguards for the limited data described above.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and no one can guarantee absolute security, so we do not. If we become aware of a security incident affecting personal information we hold or control, we will notify affected individuals and the relevant authorities as and to the extent required by applicable law. Please keep in mind that files you export, print, or share, and the device and browser you use, are outside our control and remain your responsibility.

8. Your Choices and Rights

Local data control. You can review or delete locally stored inputs at any time by clearing them in the Service or your browser.
Access, correction, and deletion. Where we hold personal data, you may request access, correction, or deletion by contacting us (Section 11).
Opt-out. You may decline optional features (such as saved accounts) and still use the core educational tool.
Regional rights. Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights (for example, under GDPR, UK GDPR, or the CCPA/CPRA), including the right to access, delete, correct, port, or restrict processing, and the right not to be discriminated against for exercising them. To exercise any of these rights, contact us using Section 11.
No sale or sharing. We do not sell your personal information and do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising as those terms are defined under the CCPA/CPRA, so no "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" opt-out is required. Where we rely on a legal basis under the GDPR/UK GDPR, it is performance of a contract (providing the Service and Pro purchases), consent (optional email updates), or our legitimate interest in securing and improving the Service.

9. Children's Privacy

The Service is not directed to children under 18, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.

10. International Users

The Company and its providers operate in the United States. If you access the Service from elsewhere, you understand that the limited personal data described in Section 2 may be processed in the United States and in other countries where our providers operate, using the transfer safeguards those providers put in place. Your Scenario Figures are not transferred anywhere, because they are not collected.

10A. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Policy as the Service develops. When we do:

we will post the revised version with a new effective date, and keep the previous version available on request;
changes apply going forward only, never retroactively to information already collected under an earlier version; and
for a material change, meaning one that would meaningfully expand what we collect or how we use it, we will give notice before it takes effect, in the app and by email to anyone subscribed to updates, and we will follow the four commitments in Section 2A.

Routine edits that do not change what we collect or how we use it, such as clarifying wording or updating a provider's name, take effect when posted.

11. Contact

For privacy questions or to exercise your rights, contact:

Jacobus Company, LLC

scenario-labs@julieclarkson.com

This Privacy Policy should be read together with the Investment Scenario Lab Terms of Service and Disclaimer.

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