Privacy Policy

Downshift is built so that using the tools requires giving us as little as possible. This policy explains, in plain language, what information we handle and how.

Calculator inputs stay with you

The numbers you enter into calculators — income, balances, ages — are processed in your browser and are not sent to our servers, stored by us, or shared, with two exceptions you control: if you click "Email my results," the summary you see is transmitted to our server solely to send you that email; and if you check the box to send the plan you built along with a specialist request, that plan is stored with your request and shared with the specialist we match you with (see below). Saved scenarios use your browser's local storage and never leave your device.

Information you choose to give us

When you request a guide, subscribe, ask to be connected with a specialist, or email yourself results, we collect:

• Your name and email address, and — for specialist requests — your phone number, ZIP code, and how you prefer to be contacted;
• What you requested (which guide, which calculator's results, which kind of specialist), an optional retirement timeframe, and any message you write;
• The plan you built here, only if you check the box to send it with a specialist request;
• The page you were on, basic UTM campaign parameters, and a consent timestamp when you opt into marketing email.

We use this only to deliver what you asked for, and — only if you checked the optional consent box — to send the newsletter you signed up for. Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link that works immediately.

Specialist introductions

When you ask to be connected with a specialist, we share the details you submitted — your name, phone number, email address, ZIP code, the kind of help you asked for, your message, and your plan if you attached it — with the specialist we match you with, so they can contact you. The specialist pays Downshift a referral fee for the introduction. We share this information only because you asked us to make the introduction, only with that specialist, and never with anyone else for marketing. Once shared, the specialist handles your information under their own privacy practices, so ask them how they keep it. Depending on your state's law, a paid introduction like this may be considered a "sale" of personal information; you can decline it simply by not submitting a request, and you can ask us to delete your request at any time (see below).

What we never do

• We do not sell or rent your personal information to data brokers, advertisers, list sellers, or anyone else — the only time your details leave Downshift is the specialist introduction you requested, described above.
• We do not put your email or your financial inputs into URLs or analytics events.
• We do not run advertising trackers or pixels; the only third-party measurement on the site is Google Analytics, configured as described above.

Analytics

We collect privacy-conscious, first-party usage events (for example, "a calculator was completed") with the page path only — no financial inputs, names, or email addresses.

We also use Google Analytics 4 to understand which pages people visit and how they arrive. It receives page paths and the same sanitized funnel events described above — never the numbers you type into a calculator or plan, and never your name or email. We have turned off Google's advertising features and Google Signals for this site, so it is not used for ad personalization or cross-site profiling. Google Analytics sets cookies (see the cookie policy) and processes data under Google's privacy policy.

We honor Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control signals by not sending our own events and not loading Google Analytics at all.

Service providers

To function, the site may share the minimum necessary data with providers acting on our instructions: an email-delivery service (to send guides, results, and the newsletter you opted into) and our website hosting provider. These providers may not use your data for their own purposes.

Retention and your choices

We keep lead records for as long as needed for the purpose you gave them. You can unsubscribe from marketing at any time via the link in any email, and you can ask us to delete your information by using the contact form — we'll confirm within 30 days. Depending on where you live, you may have additional legal rights (such as access, correction, and deletion); we honor reasonable requests regardless.

Security

Lead data is stored on secured infrastructure with access limited to operating the site. No system is perfectly secure, so we deliberately minimize what we collect in the first place.

Children

This site is intended for adults and is not directed at children under 16.

Changes and contact

If this policy changes materially, we'll update the date above and note the change here. Questions: use the contact form. See also our cookie policy and disclosures.