Privacy Policy
This policy explains exactly what CompoundCalc collects, what it does not collect, which third parties can set cookies while you are here, and how to change or withdraw your choices at any time.
CompoundCalc has no user accounts, no logins and no newsletter. Nothing you type into a calculator is ever sent to us — every calculation runs inside your own browser. The only third party that can set cookies here is Google, through the advertising that keeps the site free, and in the EEA, UK and Switzerland that only happens after you consent.
1. Who is responsible for your data
CompoundCalc is an independently operated educational website published at compoundcalc.com. For the purposes of the UK GDPR and EU GDPR, the site operator is the data controller for the limited processing described below. You can reach the operator at contact@compoundcalc.com for any privacy question, request or complaint.
2. What the calculators do with your numbers
Every calculator on this site — the compound interest calculator, the savings goal calculator, the FIRE tools and all scenario pages — is written in JavaScript that runs entirely in your browser.
- The starting balance, rate, timeline and contribution amounts you enter are never transmitted to a server.
- They are not stored in a database, a cookie or local storage.
- They disappear the moment you close or reload the page.
This is a deliberate design choice. A compound interest calculator has no legitimate reason to know how much money you have, so it was built so that it cannot find out.
3. Information collected automatically
Like every website, CompoundCalc is served by a web host that keeps standard server logs. These logs may contain your IP address, the page requested, the date and time, the referring page, and your browser and operating system string. They are generated by the hosting infrastructure for security, abuse prevention and troubleshooting, are not linked to any identity, and are not used to build a profile of you.
4. Advertising and Google AdSense
CompoundCalc is free to use and is funded by advertising. The site participates in Google AdSense, an advertising service operated by Google LLC and, for users in the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland, by Google Ireland Limited.
- Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to this website or other websites.
- Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to this site and/or other sites on the internet.
- You may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings.
- You can opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalised advertising at aboutads.info/choices, optout.networkadvertising.org or, in Europe, youronlinechoices.eu.
- Google's own handling of data is described in How Google uses information from sites that use its services.
Where ad slots are managed through other advertising networks, those partners are disclosed in the Cookie Policy and are subject to the same consent gate described in section 5.
5. Consent, and how advertising behaves before you give it
If you visit from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, CompoundCalc applies Google Consent Mode v2 with every consent signal set to denied before you make a choice. In practice that means advertising and measurement cookies are blocked on first load, and ads can only be served in a non-personalised form until you actively accept.
- Accept grants consent for advertising storage, ad personalisation, ad user data and analytics storage.
- Reject keeps every one of those signals denied. The site and all calculators continue to work exactly the same; you will simply see non-personalised advertising.
- Your choice is stored in your browser's local storage under the key
cc_consent_v1for twelve months, so you are not asked on every page.
You can change your mind at any time using the Cookie settings link, which appears in the footer of every page.
6. Analytics
At the time of writing, CompoundCalc runs no third-party analytics script — no Google Analytics, no Plausible, no Matomo, no session recording and no heatmaps. Aggregate performance is reviewed through Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, which report on searches that led to the site rather than on individual visitors. If an analytics tool is added later, this section and the Cookie Policy will be updated before it is switched on, and it will be placed behind the same consent gate as advertising.
7. If you email us
When you write to contact@compoundcalc.com we receive your email address, your message and anything you choose to include in it. That information is used only to answer you and is kept no longer than needed to deal with the matter and any reasonable follow-up. It is never added to a marketing list, because there is no marketing list.
8. Legal bases for processing (UK and EU GDPR)
| Purpose | Data | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Serving and securing the website | Server log data | Legitimate interests — running a website safely |
| Personalised advertising and ad measurement | Advertising cookies and identifiers | Consent |
| Non-personalised advertising | Limited, non-identifying ad request data | Legitimate interests — funding a free service |
| Replying to your email | Your address and message | Legitimate interests — responding to an enquiry |
9. Your rights
If you are in the UK, EU or EEA you have the right to access your personal data, to have it corrected or erased, to restrict or object to processing, to data portability, and to withdraw consent at any time without affecting processing already carried out. Because CompoundCalc holds no accounts and stores nothing you type, in most cases there is very little data to act on — but requests are still answered. Write to contact@compoundcalc.com.
You also have the right to complain to your local supervisory authority. In the UK that is the Information Commissioner's Office; in the EU it is the data protection authority for your country.
10. California and other US state privacy rights
CompoundCalc does not sell personal information for money. Under the CCPA and CPRA, however, sharing data with advertising partners for cross-context behavioural advertising can count as a “sale” or “share”. California residents may opt out of personalised advertising using the Cookie settings link or the Google opt-out links in section 4, and may request disclosure or deletion of personal information by emailing contact@compoundcalc.com. You will not be discriminated against for exercising these rights.
11. Children
This site is aimed at a general adult audience interested in personal finance mathematics. It is not directed at children under 13 (or under 16 where local law sets that threshold), and no personal information is knowingly collected from them. If you believe a child has provided personal information, contact us and it will be removed.
12. International transfers
The advertising partner described in section 4 is a global provider and may process data outside your country, including in the United States. Those transfers rely on the safeguards that provider publishes, such as the EU–US Data Privacy Framework and Standard Contractual Clauses.
13. External links
Pages on this site link to outside sources such as regulators, index providers and reference material. Once you follow one of those links you are on someone else's website, under someone else's privacy policy. CompoundCalc has no control over what they collect.
14. Changes to this policy
This policy is reviewed whenever the site's technology changes and at least once a year. The “last updated” date at the top of the page always reflects the current version. Material changes to advertising or tracking will be reflected here before they take effect.