Our Privacy & Cookie Statement
This Website Privacy Policy (“Policy”) explains the types of personal information (as defined below) that we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, how we protect it, and your legal rights. Please read the following carefully as it explains our views and practices regarding your personal information and how it is handled. By using our Website (the “Website”), you acknowledge you have read and understood this Policy. A Privacy Notice will also be included within the investment documents for MFAM’s ETFs, but this Policy (as modified from time to time through procedures described below) applies to shareholders (or potential investors) who use the fooletfs.com website for information or transactions.
For purposes of this Policy, “Personal Information” means information that (either in isolation or in combination with other available information) enables you to be identified as an individual or recognized directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to, among other things, an identifier such as name, identification number, location data, and any online identifier. It would not include aggregate or deidentified information or various types of publicly available information. With respect to Motley Fool Asset Management (“MFAM” or the “Firm”) shareholders, personal information includes, among other things, personal financial information that is not publicly available, such as account balances, social security numbers, and net worth.
As you may know, MFAM is an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of The Motley Fool Holdings, Inc. (“Holdings”). Holdings also indirectly owns other regulated financial services companies (such as investment advisers) and financial media companies, including The Motley Fool, LLC (“TMF”) (provider of Fool.com and several investment publication services). MFAM, an affiliate of TMF, is an investment adviser registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. MFAM is a separate entity, and all investment advisory and financial planning services are provided independently by the portfolio managers and financial planners at the Firm. No TMF analysts are involved in the investment decision-making or daily operations of our Firm. With respect to our actively-managed funds, MFAM does not attempt to track any TMF services and, as such, those funds may diverge completely from TMF’s services. For the purposes of this Policy, neither TMF nor any other affiliated entities are considered third parties. Each affiliated entity maintains and makes available its own privacy policy and/or notice in accordance with applicable law.
If you are a resident of any of the following jurisdictions, you can find additional information on our privacy policies in the Appendices:
California. If you are a resident of California, you can find additional information in Appendix A.
European Union. If you are a resident of the European Union and wish to use our Website, you can find information on our data policies that pertain to you below in Appendix B.
Categories of Personal Information Collected by MFAM
|
Classification of Personal Information |
Types of Data Collected |
Reasoning for Collecting and Sharing Personal Information |
|
Personal Information Collected from Our Website |
|
|
|
Personal Information Received from Other Sources |
|
To send to our affiliates and third-parties:
|
|
Personal Information from Clients’ and Prospective Clients’ ETF Applications |
|
|
1. Information We Collect About You
We will collect and process the following personal data from you:
1.1 Personal Information We Collect About You From Using the Website:
While on the Website, we automatically log certain information about how you’re using our Website. This information may include the URL that you just came from, your IP address (or a partially anonymized IP address) and the pages you visit while on our Website.
We may place a pixel on pages on our Website, or pages of third-parties where we have advertisement. This enables us to record in our server logs that a specific user ID has visited a particular page or advertisement. This data allows us to analyze and determine our audience’s behavioral characteristics, which helps us to optimize our Website and marketing focus. We may also collect personal information from other publicly or commercially available sources.
We also obtain information about you when you voluntarily fill out certain forms on the Website. This may include your first and last name, email address, and phone number.
1.2 Personal Information We Receive From Other Sources:
We allow our affiliates and third-parties to collect certain personal information when you visit our Website. They may utilize cookies, pixels, beacons, or other technologies to collect and use information about you during your visit to this and other websites. We have also engaged third-party companies to process information about our users on our behalf, to help us improve our Website and find prospective investors. These companies will combine our data about how you visit our Website with information that they have collected from outside our Website and provide it to us (and only us) so that we can optimize your experience on www.fooletfs.com across devices and based on your interests.
To learn more about this behavioral advertising, including information on how to opt-out, please visit the Google Analytics opt-out program to learn how to opt out of having your information collected in browsers for ad serving purposes. For more information on Google’s privacy practices for Google Analytics, please visit https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245 and “How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps” located at www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners.
1.3 Personal Information We Collect from our Clients & Prospective Clients
If you choose to become an investor in one of our ETFs, we collect the following types of personal information from your application:
- Full name
- Location/residential address
- Telephone number
- Social security number
- Date of birth
- Banking information, including wire transfer instructions
We may also collect personal information about you through our ETF administrators, brokers (if you hold MFAM ETFs through a brokerage account, and shareholder communications (for proxy or ETF-related communications).
2. The Legal Basis We Rely On For Collecting Personal Data
2.1 Consent
We can collect and process your data with your consent.
For example, where you have provided us with your email address to receive information about our services, we will use this information in order to effectively deliver and communicate this information.
2.2 Contractual Obligations
We (or a third-party service provider such as a Custodian) need your personal information to comply with our contractual obligations to you as a client.
2.3 Legal Compliance
If the law requires us to, we may need to collect and process your personal information. For example, we can pass on details of people involved in fraud or other criminal activity affecting us to applicable law enforcement.
2.4 Legitimate interest
We may require your personal information to pursue our legitimate interests in a way which might reasonably be expected as part of running our business and which does not materially impact your rights, freedom or interests.
For example, it is in our legitimate interests to ensure that content from the Website is presented in the most effective manner for you and your computer and that we provide you with the information, products and services that you request from us.
3. How We Use Your Information
We will use this information in our legitimate interests, where we have considered these are not overridden by your rights. For example, we may use this information to:
- To administer the Website and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
- To keep the Website safe and secure;
- For measuring or understanding the effectiveness of advertising we serve to you and others, and to deliver relevant advertising to you;
- As described further below under “Our Promotional Updates and Communications,” to keep you informed about our products and services;
- To improve our Website to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer; and
- Internal research: Cookies (which are discussed further below) and the other information we automatically track are used to help us better understand how our audience uses our site as well as for internal research on users’ demographics and interests.
4. Information We Share
4.1 Who We Share With
We do not sell or otherwise disclose Personal Information we collect about you, except as described herein or as you explicitly consent. However, we may share your Personal Information with:
- Our affiliates for purposes of providing you with, and informing you about, their products and services which may be of interest to you;
- We may employ the services of third-parties to aid us in certain aspects of our operations (such as the distribution of our email). Depending on the services performed, some of these providers may be provided with user Personal Information limited to only the information that is reasonably necessary to perform tasks on our behalf. These service providers would be subject to confidentiality agreements which limit their use and disclosure of all Personal Information they obtain through their relationship with MFAM to us and our affiliates only, consistent with this Notice; and
- The fund administrators managing your MFAM ETFs.
4.2 Legal Requests
We may disclose your Personal Information to protect the rights and property of MFAM, as well as to comply with any applicable law or valid legal process. This includes, but is not limited to:
- We will disclose any Personal Information we have in our possession to law enforcement or government officials in response to any inquiry or investigation or if in our sole discretion, we believe it is necessary or appropriate in connection with any investigation or activity that is or may be illegal or may expose us or you to legal liability. This includes when we believe that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the rights and safety of you, us, or others.
- Disclosures we are legally required or entitled to make under any enactment, rule of law or by the order of a court.
4.3 Transfer of Information to Other Countries
We may transfer the Personal Information we obtain about you to recipients in countries other than the country in which the information originally was collected. Those countries may not have the same data protection laws as the country in which you initially provided the Personal Information. To the extent required by applicable law, when we transfer your Personal Information to recipients in other countries, we will protect that information as described in this Notice and our Privacy Policy.
5. Our Promotional Updates and Communications
Where permitted, we will use your Personal Information for marketing analysis and to provide you with promotional update communications by email about our products/services and those of our affiliates.
You can object to further marketing at any time by: (i) selecting the “unsubscribe” link at the end of all our marketing and promotional update communications to you; or (ii) sending us an email to dpo@mfamfunds.com; or (iii) visiting our Do Not Sell My Personal Information page.
6. How Long We Keep Your Information
To the extent permitted by applicable law, we retain Personal Information we obtain about you as long as: (1) it is needed for the purposes for which we obtained it, in accordance with the provisions of this Notice or (2) we have another lawful basis for retaining the data beyond the period for which it is necessary to serve the original purpose for collecting the data. We may also retain aggregate information beyond this time for research purposes and to help us develop and improve our services. You cannot be identified from aggregate information retained or used for these purposes.
7. Cookies and Other Technologies
Cookies contain bits of data that websites such as ours place on your computer’s hard drive for record-keeping purposes. Cookies can make the web more useful by collecting and storing information about your preferences on a particular site and help websites operate more efficiently. Cookies and similar technologies enable you to be remembered when using that computer or device to interact with websites and online services and can be used to manage a range of features and content as well as storing searches and presenting personalized content.
You have the option of not accepting the cookies we set. However, if you reject our cookies, you will not be able to take advantage of some features on our site.
7.1 Use of Cookies
Cookies are small text files that are stored in your computer's memory and hard drive when you visit certain web pages. They are used to enable websites to function or to provide information to the owners of a website. We use cookies for multiple purposes on the Website, including to optimize the Website, improve user experience and to advertise our products and services (and enable our affiliated to do the same).
7.2 Cookies Set by Third Parties
In addition to the cookies set directly by MFAM or our affiliates, there are also cookies set by third parties to help deliver and monitor their ads. These providers include Google Analytics and HubSpot. Third party cookies are cookies set by a website other than the website you are currently visiting. These cookies are generally used for advertising and assist advertisers with sharing advertisements that are relevant to you.
Please note we neither control nor have access to those cookies, and these advertisers’ uses of cookies are subject to their own privacy policies and not that of MFAM. If you follow links from the Website to third parties, you should also be aware that these other sites have their own privacy and data processing practices. We have no responsibility or liability for these independent policies. For more information regarding a third party site and its privacy policies including its use of cookies, check that particular site.
7.3. Cookie Removal and More Information
You can always modify your browser so as not to accept cookies or to notify you when cookies are sent to it. For more information about cookies including removing any or all of your cookies, please visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org.
Also, if you would like to remove Google Analytics, please go to http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. You should be aware that this will affect your Google cookies on all sites, and not just ours.
8. Security
We are committed to protecting your Personal Information. All Personal Information that we collect or that you provide to us is stored on our secure servers. While we do our best to protect your Personal Information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Once we have received your Personal Information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorized access.
Our Website may, from time to time, contain links to external sites (including our social media pages). We are not responsible for the privacy policies or the content of such sites.
9. Users Aged 13 or Under
Protecting the safety of children when they use the internet is important to us.
The Website is intended for use only by persons who are at least 13 years of age. By using the Website, you confirm to us that you meet this requirement. If you are aged 13 or under, please get your parent/guardian’s permission beforehand whenever you provide Personal Information to our Website. Users without this consent are not allowed to provide us with Personal Information.
If you are under the age of 13, your parent or guardian must consent on your behalf where we ask for consent in relation to the use of your Personal Information.
10. Right to Lodge Complaints
We are transparent about the ways in which we collect and use Personal Information and welcome your questions and concerns. If you have any concern or complaint about the way we handle your Personal Information, please contact us as described below. To the extent you believe we have not addressed your concerns or otherwise choose to do so, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority in the country where you reside and/or the United States. You may contact the US Federal Trade Commission regarding your concerns. For more information, please see https://www.ftc.gov/faq/consumer-protection/submit-consumer-complaint-ftc.
11. Changes to This Notice
We may amend this Notice from time to time. If we make any substantive changes to this Notice, we’ll announce it on our Website and notify clients by email.
12. Opt-Out Notice
If you wish us to stop sharing your information in certain circumstances, such as with third party entities for marketing and advertising purposes, please e-mail us at dpo@mfamfunds.com or visit our Do Not Sell My Personal Information page to opt out. You may also opt out of our marketing emails by clicking the “unsubscribe” link found at the bottom of these emails. Please note we reserve the right to share your information as described herein for business and operational purposes. This includes sharing information with your custodian or other third parties we contract to assist in the management of your accounts. Please review the chart below for a general overview of why we share your information and whether you may request we limit our sharing.
|
Reasons we share your personal information |
Does MFAM Share? |
Can you limit this sharing? |
|
For our everyday business purposes |
Yes |
No |
|
For our marketing purposes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
For joint marketing with other financial companies |
No |
We don’t share |
|
For our affiliates’ everyday business purposes |
Yes |
No |
|
For our affiliates’ everyday business purposes |
No |
We don’t share |
|
For our affiliates to market to you |
Yes |
Yes |
|
For non-affiliates to market to you |
No |
We don’t share |
If you have any questions about this Notice, please email us at dpo@mfamfunds.com.
Updated: July 2024
APPENDIX A
Additional Information for California Residents
This section supplements the information contained in the other sections of the Privacy Notice and applies solely to clients, visitors, users, and others who reside in the state of California (“consumers” or “you”) and for whom we have data that are subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 as may be amended or supplemented from time to time (“CCPA”). This Privacy Notice, including this additional information, is provided to comply with the CCPA and other California privacy laws. Any terms defined in the CCPA have the same meaning when used in this section.
It is important to note, however, that the CCPA does not apply to all entities, nor does it apply to Personal Information maintained by financial services firms that are covered under certain exemptions described in the CCPA, and as such, the CCPA may not apply to Personal Information we maintain about you.
For the 12-month period prior to the date of this Privacy Notice, we have not “sold” (as that term is defined under the CCPA) any of your information.
Depending upon how you interact with us, you may have various rights in connection with our processing of your Personal Information, each of which is explained below.
- Access. You may have the right to confirm with us whether your Personal Information is processed and, if it is, to request access to that Personal Information, including the categories of Personal Information processed, the purpose of the processing, and the recipients or categories of recipients. We do have to consider the interests of others though, so this is not an absolute right and there are additional exceptions under the CCPA. Also, we are not obligated to respond to more than two access requests for the same individual’s Personal Information within any 12-month period.
- Deletion. You may have the right to ask us to erase Personal Information concerning you, except we are not obligated to do so if we need to retain such data in order to comply with a legal obligation or to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims or under other exceptions under the CCPA.
If your request is for data relating to you that is de-identified or aggregated so that it is no longer Personal Information, we are not required to re-identify the data to respond to your request. You have a right to receive nondiscriminatory treatment for the exercise of the privacy rights conferred by the CCPA.
Making your own privacy rights request: To exercise one or more of these rights, please contact us as explained below. Please note that we may need to verify your identity before we can fulfill your request. Verification can involve matching up to three pieces of your personal data (as provided on your request) with our internal records. You can submit your request via email at dpo@mfamfunds.com or follow instruction provided on our Do Not Sell My Personal Information page.
Authorized agent requests: An access and/or deletion request also may be made by someone else you authorize specifically to make such a request under the CCPA or by someone you have named as your agent under a power of attorney that is valid under the California Probate Code.
Handling requests we receive: If we need additional information to verify your identity, we will let you know. We will endeavor to respond to a verified request within 45 days, unless there are grounds for extending our response timeframe by up to an additional 45 days. In the event of an extension, we will explain to you why the extension is necessary. In some cases, your ability to access or delete your Personal Information will be limited, as required or permitted by applicable law, even when the CCPA applies to the Personal Information we have for you. If we cannot fulfill your request because we cannot verify your identity or due to exceptions under the CCPA (or when the CCPA does not apply to the Personal Information), we'll let you know in our response.
Reviewed: July 2024
APPENDIX B
European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation
For the purposes of European Union General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (“GDPR”), the data controller is: Motley Fool Asset Management, LLC, 2000 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA (dpo@mfamfunds.com).
1. Use of Cookies
Below you’ll find the types of cookies that we set when you visit fooletfs.com and their purpose. To help you better understand why we’re setting them, we’ve used the categories and definitions set by the International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”):
Strictly Necessary: cookies that enable the services that you have specifically asked or paid for;
Performance: cookies that collect information on how visitors use our Website, including the pages visited and most frequented as well as the sources of our traffic. They are used to help us improve how the Website works;
Functionality: cookies that help us remember the choices you have made so we can provide you with a more personalized experience; and
Advertising: cookies used to deliver more relevant ads, and to make sure you don’t see the same adverts over and over again.
If you have any questions about the cookies we set, please contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@mfamfunds.com.
2. Data Storage
The Personal Information that we collect from you is transferred to, and is stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”) that is not subject to an equivalent data protection law. For our purposes, the information we collect is processed and stored in the U.S.
We may transfer your Personal Information outside the EEA:
- In order to store it;
- In order to enable us to provide goods or services to you and, if applicable, fulfil our contract with you. This includes the provision of support services;
- Where we are legally required to do so; and
- In order to facilitate the operation of our and affiliated businesses, where it is in our legitimate interests and we have concluded these are not overridden by your rights.
Where your information is transferred outside the EEA, we will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is subject to appropriate safeguards, such as relying on a recognized legal adequacy mechanism, and that it is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.
3. Rights of European Website Users
Under certain circumstances, European users have the following rights:
- to be provided with a copy of your Personal Information held by us;
- to request the rectification or erasure of your Personal Information held by us;
- to request that we restrict the processing of your Personal Information (for example, while we verify or investigate your concerns with this information);
- to object to the further processing of your Personal Information, including the right to object to marketing (as mentioned in Our Promotional Updates and Communications section above); and
- to request that your provided Personal Information be moved to a third party.
Where the processing of your Personal Information by us is based on consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent without detriment at any time by contacting us at dpo@mfamfunds.com. You can also change your marketing preferences at any time as described in Our Promotional Updates and Communications section.
You can also exercise the rights listed above at any time by contacting us at dpo@mfamfunds.com.
4. Links to Third-Party Websites, Apps and Other Features
Our Website may provide links to other websites, apps and features for your convenience and information. The providers of the websites, apps and features may use automated means to collect information regarding your use of our Website and your interactions with the other websites, apps and features. These websites, apps and features may operate independently from us and may have their own privacy notices or policies, which we strongly suggest you review. To the extent that any website, app or feature is not owned or controlled by us, we are not responsible for the content, any use of the website, app or feature, or the privacy practices (including cookie practices) of the website, app or feature.
5. Compliance and Accountability
If you have any questions or comments regarding this Privacy Statement, our privacy practices, or if you would like us to update information or preferences you provided to us, please contact us at:
Data Protection Officer
Motley Fool Asset Management, LLC
2000 Duke Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
dpo@mfamfunds.com
We will address your concerns and attempt to resolve any privacy issues in a timely manner, and may contact individuals at our service providers to assist in completing your requested task.
If your request or concern is not satisfactorily resolved by us, you may approach your local data protection authority.
(see https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/about-edpb/members_en#member-ie)
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