Privacy Policy
Last updated: May 1, 2026
Introduction
PenaltyFreeRetire.com is operated by Alphashift (Pty) Ltd, a company registered in South Africa. The site provides free online retirement calculators and educational blog content. No account is required to use the calculators.
What we collect
Calculator inputs
When you use our calculators, the numbers you enter — age, income, retirement balance, and other inputs — stay in your browser's memory. We do not store these values on our servers unless you click "Save scenario." If you do save a scenario, we store it in Supabase so you can return to it later. You can delete saved scenarios at any time.
Contact form
If you use the contact form, we collect:
- Your name (optional)
- Your email address
- Your subject and message
- A hash of your IP address
The IP hash is used to rate-limit submissions to one per minute. We cannot reverse the hash to identify your actual IP address.
Cookies and tracking
We use cookies in two categories, both gated behind a consent banner:
- Analytics cookies — Google Analytics 4 helps us understand which calculators get used and where visitors come from. Data is aggregated and anonymized where possible.
- Advertising cookies — Google AdSense may place cookies to serve relevant ads. These only load after you consent.
You can change your cookie preferences at any time via the consent banner.
How we use your information
- To run the calculators and display results
- To respond to messages sent through the contact form
- To understand site usage through analytics
- To serve ads if you have consented to advertising cookies
- To prevent abuse of the contact form through rate limiting
We do not sell your information for monetary consideration. We do not share it for marketing purposes. Some third-party services we use (such as Google Analytics and Google AdSense) may process data for targeted advertising; see the "State privacy rights" section below for opt-out options.
Third-party services
We rely on the following services:
- Google Analytics — usage analytics
- Google AdSense — display advertising
- Sanity — blog content management
- Supabase — database for contact submissions and saved scenarios
- Vercel — site hosting
Each of these services has their own privacy policy. We have chosen providers with strong security track records, but we are not responsible for their practices.
Data security
Data in transit is encrypted via HTTPS. Our database is hosted by Supabase, which encrypts data at rest. We do not collect or store financial account numbers, Social Security numbers, or other sensitive identifiers. Calculator inputs that you do not explicitly save are never written to disk.
How long we keep data
- Contact form submissions: kept until you ask us to delete them
- Saved calculator scenarios: kept until you delete them
- Analytics data: governed by Google's retention policy
- Advertising data: governed by Google's retention policy
Your rights
You have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, correct inaccuracies, and request deletion. Because we do not maintain user accounts, we will need you to provide the email address you used in any contact form submission so we can locate your record.
To exercise these rights, use the contact form or email us directly.
Children's privacy
This site is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised.
State privacy rights
Residents of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Virginia have specific rights under state privacy laws. These rights depend on where you live and may include the ability to know what personal information we collect about you, to request deletion of that information, and to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information for targeted advertising.
Do Not Sell or Share
We do not sell your personal information for monetary consideration. However, Google Analytics and Google AdSense may collect and share data for targeted advertising purposes, which some state laws classify as a "sale" or "sharing" of information. You can opt out of personalized advertising by Google through the Google Ads Settings page, or through the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out tool. You can also adjust your cookie preferences at any time using the consent banner on this site.
Contact us
If you have questions about this privacy policy, use the contact form on this site or reach out directly.