Privacy Policy

Who this applies to

This Privacy Policy is issued by Lighthouse Companies, LLC (“Beacon,” “we,” “us”) and describes how we collect, use, disclose and protect information when you use Beacon. It applies to visitors and account holders alike; sections below note where something is specific to having an account.

What we collect

Account information. Your email address, the name you choose to give, your display name, avatar, timezone and country, the goals and experience level you pick when you start, and your settings, such as language, daily goal and which notifications you want. Timezone matters because it decides when your day rolls over for streaks. We also keep a record that you accepted our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy: the time, which version of each, and the network address and browser you used when you agreed, so that we can show what was agreed.

How you sign in. Beacon does not use passwords. You sign in with a link we email you, which works once and expires after 15 minutes, or with Google. If you choose Continue with Google, Google tells us your Google account ID, your name and your email address; we never receive your Google password or access to anything else in your Google account. Accounts created before sign-in links launched in late September 2026 may still hold the password set then, stored only as a scrypt hash (see Security); it can no longer be used to sign in.

Learning data. Which lessons you start and complete, the answers you give, your XP, level, achievements, streak, category mastery and Financial Knowledge Score, the questions scheduled for your review, your bookmarks, and where you left off. This is the product: without it Beacon cannot tell you how you are progressing.

Manually entered figures. If you use the net worth tracker or a simulator, the numbers you type in (balances, debts, income) — never pulled from a real bank, and never required to use the rest of Beacon. A simulator sends those numbers to our servers to work out the result; they are stored against your account only if you save the run, and net worth entries are stored when you submit them. The section below sets out exactly what that means.

Billing data. When you start a checkout, Stripe receives your email address and display name to set you up as its customer. If you subscribe, we store the Stripe customer reference, your plan, its status and period dates, and invoice details such as amounts and dates. Stripe collects your card and, where needed, your billing address; we never see or store your card details.

Product analytics. Which parts of Beacon you use and when — that an account was created, a lesson was completed, a simulator was opened, an upgrade screen or the pricing page was viewed, a checkout was started or canceled. Events record the name of the thing you used, never the figures you typed into it. This is how we decide what to build. You can switch it off in Settings → Privacy. These events are recorded only for signed-in accounts.

Page views. When anyone opens a page on Beacon, with or without an account, we record which page it was, where it came in that visit, how long it was on screen, and whether the device is a phone, tablet or computer. For the first page of a visit we also record the name of the website that linked to it (such as google.com, never the full address) or the campaign tags on the link you followed. A visit is held together by a random number your browser keeps in session storage until you close the tab or leave it unused for 30 minutes. It is not a cookie, it is never reused, and it cannot recognize you when you come back. Page views are stored without your IP address or browser details. If you sign in or create an account during a visit, that visit’s pages are linked to your account like the rest of your product analytics, and switching analytics off in Settings → Privacy stops them too. This is how we see which pages help and where people give up.

Technical data. Your IP address and browser user-agent, used for rate limiting, security and showing you your own signed-in devices. Sign-ins, failed sign-in attempts and changes to your account are also written to a security log with the IP address they came from; see Retention for how long that lasts.

Push notification tokens. If you turn on push notifications, your browser issues a subscription token we store so we can deliver the reminders you asked for. Turning push off in Settings, or signing out on that device, deletes it.

Messages you send us. If you email us, we keep the conversation so we can help you and look back at it later.

Simulator and net worth inputs

The numbers you type into a simulator or the net worth tracker — salary, balances, debts — are the most sensitive data in the product, and they are treated that way. Here is exactly what happens to them.

• Simulators send your inputs to our servers to calculate the result. The calculation runs there, not in your browser, and it runs every time you change a figure, including the example run that appears when a simulator first opens. Those inputs are used for that calculation and nothing else: they are not written to logs, not sent to analytics, and not kept after the response.
• A saved run is stored against your account. When you press Save, the inputs and the result are stored so you can reopen and compare them. They stay until you delete the run from Saved, or delete your account.
• Net worth entries are stored against your account. Each snapshot you submit — assets, debts and the date — is kept so the tracker can show your trend.

None of these figures are ever used for advertising, shared with anyone outside the processors listed below, or used for anything other than showing you your own data. Saved simulator runs are included in your data export, and deleting your account erases every saved run and net worth entry along with the rest of your data.

How we use it

• To run the service and keep your progress across devices;
• to personalize what Beacon recommends next;
• to process payments and manage subscriptions, through Stripe;
• to send account and billing email — sign-in links, verification, payment and cancellation notices — which cannot be switched off;
• to send the optional reminders you have not switched off: daily and streak reminders, weekly summaries and achievement emails are on until you turn them off in Settings, and push notifications only reach you after you turn them on;
• to write to you personally now and then — for example to help you get started, to check in, or to ask for feedback. Reply and ask us to stop, and we will;
• to write a new explanation of a question when you ask for one with AI (a Pro feature);
• to protect the service against abuse and enforce our Terms of Service;
• to understand which pages and features are worth building, in aggregate.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

Legal basis for processing

Where a legal basis is required (for example, under the GDPR), we rely on: performance of the contract we have with you (running your account and the product you signed up for, and account and billing email); our legitimate interests, balanced against your rights (product analytics and page views, the optional emails you can switch off, personal check-ins, and security and abuse prevention); consent, which you can withdraw at any time (push notifications); and legal obligation (keeping billing records). You can object to analytics and page views at any time by switching them off in Settings → Privacy.

Who we share it with

Only the service providers Beacon needs, each using your data only to provide its service to us:

• Stripe — payment processing and subscription management;
• our email provider — delivering account, billing and notification email;
• your browser’s push service (run by, for example, Apple, Google or Mozilla) — carrying the push notifications you turn on. Their content is encrypted, so the push service cannot read it;
• Anthropic, our AI provider — when you ask for an AI explanation, the question and explanation you are reading are sent to it to write a new one. Nothing that identifies you is sent with them;
• our hosting and database providers — running the application.

The companies themselves, what each does and what data it handles are listed on our Subprocessors page, which we update before a new one starts. We use no third-party advertising, analytics or session-recording services.

Each processes data on our instructions, for our purposes only. We may also disclose data where the law requires it, to enforce our Terms, or to protect the rights, safety or property of Beacon or others — and, as described in Section 13 of the Terms, if Lighthouse Companies, LLC is acquired or its assets sold, in which case any successor would receive data subject to this same Policy.

If you choose Continue with Google, Google confirms who you are under its own privacy policy and lists Beacon among the apps connected to your Google account. Beacon sends Google nothing about you; it only asks Google to sign you in.

International users and transfers

Beacon is operated from, and its content is written for, the United States. If you access Beacon from outside the US, your information will be processed in the US, which may not have data protection laws equivalent to those in your own country. By using Beacon, you consent to this transfer and processing.

Your controls

• Export. Download your account details, preferences, progress, answers, achievements, bookmarks, saved simulator runs and net worth entries as JSON, from Settings → Your data. If you want anything held about you that is not in the export, ask us and we will send it.
• Correct. Change your profile and preferences in Settings at any time; to change your email address, contact us.
• Opt out of analytics and page views. Settings → Privacy.
• Control notifications. Every optional email and push notification has its own toggle in Settings. Account and billing notices cannot be switched off, because they are account-critical rather than marketing.
• Delete. Delete your account from Settings → Your data. It is immediate and permanent.

California privacy rights (CCPA/CPRA)

If you are a California resident, you have the right to know what personal information we collect (see “What we collect” above — this maps to the categories identifiers, commercial information, internet or other electronic network activity, inferences such as your Knowledge Score and mastery, and the financial figures you choose to enter in the net worth tracker or save from a simulator), to request deletion, to request correction, and to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information. We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined by California law, so there is nothing to opt out of. You may exercise any of these rights by emailing support@lighthousecompanies.pro or using the in-product controls above; we will not discriminate against you for exercising them.

Your privacy rights in other states and countries

Residents of Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas, Oregon and the other US states with a comprehensive privacy law, and people in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland (to the extent those countries’ laws apply to us), have rights over their personal data. Whichever applies to you, you may:

• ask whether we process your data, and get a copy of it, in a portable format;
• have inaccurate data corrected;
• have your data deleted;
• object to, or ask us to limit, particular uses of it, and withdraw any consent you gave (push notifications are the only thing we ask consent for);
• opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, targeted advertising, and profiling that leads to decisions with legal or similarly significant effects. We do none of these, so there is nothing to opt out of. Beacon’s personalization only chooses which lesson to suggest next;
• complain to your data protection authority or state attorney general.

How to ask. Export and deletion are self-serve in Settings → Your data. For anything else, email support@lighthousecompanies.pro. We may confirm it is you by sending a sign-in link to the address on the account. An agent you authorize in writing may ask for you. There is no charge, though we may decline a request that is manifestly excessive or repeated. We answer within 45 days (within one month for requests under the GDPR), and tell you if we need longer.

If we say no, you can appeal. Reply to our answer, or email us with the subject “Appeal,” and we will review the decision again and answer in writing within 45 days, with our reasons. If you are still not satisfied, you may contact your state attorney general or your data protection authority.

Beacon is not directed to people outside the United States and has not appointed a representative in the European Union or the United Kingdom. We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing, and we do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16.

Retention

We keep your data while your account is active. When you delete your account, your personal data and learning history are erased immediately, along with the log of emails we have sent you. What remains is limited to:

• product analytics and page views, with your account reference removed;
• the security log, with IP and email addresses removed: a record that the account existed and was deleted, with your reason if you gave one;
• billing records: invoices and payment records held by Stripe, which tax and accounting law requires us to keep, and the payment notices Stripe sends us, which we keep for 90 days once processed.

Some data has a shorter life whether or not you delete your account: product analytics, page views and the log of emails we send are deleted after 90 days, and IP and email addresses in the security log after a year. Requests for a sign-in link, which hold the address it was sent to, are deleted a day after the link expires. Routine backups of our database can hold deleted data until they are replaced on their normal cycle.

Security

Beacon does not use passwords. Sign-in links work once and expire after 15 minutes, and only the browser that asked for a link can be signed in by it. Sign-in links and session tokens are stored as keyed hashes, so a database leak alone does not yield a working link or session. Passwords kept from older accounts are hashed with scrypt, are never recoverable and no longer sign anyone in. All traffic is encrypted in transit. Access to production data is limited to the people who need it to operate the service.

No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If a breach affects your data, we will notify you as required by applicable law.

Cookies, browser storage and do-not-track

Beacon sets only its own cookies. Two are strictly necessary and only exist while you are signed in: one holds your session, and one holds a CSRF token that stops other sites from acting as you. Short-lived sign-in cookies, also strictly necessary, exist only while you sign in: for up to 30 minutes after you ask for a sign-in link, so that only the browser that asked can be signed in by it, and for up to 10 minutes while Continue with Google finishes. One more remembers the language you have chosen, for a year, and is only set once a language has been chosen. There are no advertising or third-party tracking cookies, so there is no cross-site tracking for a “Do Not Track” browser signal to opt you out of. When you pay, you are on Stripe’s own checkout page, which uses Stripe’s cookies under Stripe’s privacy policy.

Beacon also keeps a few settings in your browser’s own storage so the site looks the way you left it: theme, language, reduced motion, sound, and which screens you have already seen. Page views use the visit number described under “What we collect”, which your browser keeps in session storage rather than a cookie and deletes when you close the tab. None of this is shared with another site.

If your browser sends the Global Privacy Control signal, Beacon does not count your page views at all, whether or not you have an account.

Everything Beacon stores in your browser, in one place:

Children’s privacy (COPPA)

Beacon is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them, consistent with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account or given us information, contact us at support@lighthousecompanies.pro and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Policy. Material changes will be notified by email or in the app before they take effect, the same way changes to the Terms of Service are handled.

Contact

Privacy questions or requests: Lighthouse Companies, LLC, at support@lighthousecompanies.pro. See also our Terms of Service.