Categories of Articles

Search by Keyword

Search by Author

Who's Watching Your Money?

Authored by the founder of the PaladinRegistry

Site Sponsors

Use our National Registry to find pre-screened, five star rated planners and advisors who provide financial advice and services in your community. Free Public Service.

Our blog site exposes investment scams, conflicts of interest, bad investment products, Ponzi Schemes, fraudulent claims and other deceptive sales practices.

Privacy Policy

Last Update: March 1, 2009

This privacy policy applies to all websites that are owned and operated by Paladin Internet Properties, Inc. (“Paladin”). Principal websites include: PaladinRegistry.com, FindFinancialAdvisors.com, PaladinRegistry.org, theInvestment.org, theFinancial.org, InvestorWatchdog.com, a number of micro-sites, and several landing pages.

Paladin is committed to protecting the privacy of guests, investors who are seeking information about advisors, investors who use our education and advisor search services, and financial professionals who have been admitted to the Registry or advertise their services on FindFinancialAdvisors.com. This Privacy Policy explains the type of information that is collected and how it is used by Paladin.

Paladin is a licensee of the TRUSTe Privacy Program. TRUSTe is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to build user’s trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting the use of fair information practices. This privacy policy covers Paladin websites. Because we want to demonstrate our commitment to your privacy, we have agreed to disclose our information practices and have our privacy practices reviewed for compliance by TRUSTe.

If you have questions or concerns regarding this policy, you should first contact Debbie Freeman at info@paladinregistry.com. If you do not receive acknowledgement of your inquiry or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, you should contact TRUSTe at http://www.truste.org/consumers/watchdog_complaint.php. TRUSTe will then serve as a liaison with the Paladin Registry to resolve your concerns.

1. Confidentiality

Paladin will not disclose any personally identifiable information about individual users, except as specified in this Privacy Policy. With the few exceptions that are explained here, we do not give, rent, lend, or sell individual information. We would only disclose personally identifiable information in the following instances: (i) with investors' and advisors' consent; (ii) if we are required to by applicable law, or in response to legal process to protect the rights or property of Paladin, or to protect the safety of Paladin, investors, advisors, and others; and (iii) with certain contractors of Paladin who have entered into confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements with Paladin.

2. Security

Paladin is committed to protecting the personal information of investors and advisors. We store information provided by investors and advisors on our secure servers and information provided to a third-party provider for processing the payment of advisor dues, advertising fees, and match fees is encrypted using SSL technology.

3. Password Protected

All internal sites are password protected and available to advisors who are authors, members, or advertisers.Advisors should not share their passwords with anyone. Paladin will never ask advisors for their passwords in an unsolicited phone call or email. If advisors use a computer which is accessible to others, they should remember to log out and close their browser window when leaving Paladin websites.

4. Information Collection and Use

We take the issue of safeguarding your privacy and confidentiality seriously as a guest, investor, or advisor. We exercise great care to ensure that the personally identifiable information you may provide to us for the purposes set forth below is kept confidential. Our policy is to collect the minimum amount of information we need to provide services to investors and advisors. In addition, we collect IP addresses for our sites' security and to provide us with information regarding the users of the sites to help us improve the sites' performance and services.

We collect the following types of personally identifiable information on several of our websites: Name, e-mail, phone number. We use a device known as a "cookie." A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user’s hard drive that contains information about a user. There are two types of cookies: persistent cookies and session cookies. Persistent cookies get written to a file called a "cookie jar" on the user’s hard drive and are retrieved every time a site is accessed. Session cookies are similar to persistent cookies except that the information does not get written to the hard drive and disappears when users close their browser. We do not link the information we store in cookies to any personally identifiable information that you submit while on our sites.

Our sites use session cookies. If users do not accept cookies, they may still use our sites' information and functions; however, advisors will not be able to use the internal, password protected service sections. These sections require a cookie that is set to identify a particular computer to our web servers. This cookie is called a Session ID and consists of a 32-digit sequence of random numbers and letters generated by our web servers each time one of our sites is called up. This is necessary so our computers can match logged-in users with their account information. This cookie will be deleted when users log out or close their browsers.

In addition to cookies, our sites may also use tiny electronic images (“single-pixel GIFs” or “Web beacons”), which allow us to count users who have visited specific pages or access certain cookies. We may use single-pixel GIFs in the following ways: (i) to count and recognize users; (ii) to conduct research on behalf of some partners on their websites and for auditing purposes; (iii) to determine aggregate information about users, including demographic and usage information. In general, any electronic image viewed as part of a web page, including an ad banner, can act as a web beacon. We do not link the information we store in cookies to any personally identifiable information you submit while you are on our sites.

5. Service Providers

We use third parties to provide Web Hosting and Web Development services for our sites. When you submit your data to us for processing, we will share your data, as necessary with the designated third parties so they can provide their specific services. These third parties are prohibited from using your personally identifiable information for any other purpose.

6. Use of Personal Information

Paladin collects personal information to provide investors and advisors with specialized services that contain relevant content. In addition, Paladin conducts research on investor and advisor demographics, interests, and behavior based on information that is voluntarily provided to Paladin. This information is compiled and analyzed on a generalized basis and is not investor or advisor specific. We do not share, sell, trade, or rent your personal information to third parties for unknown reasons.

7. Direct Mailings/Service-Related Announcements
We will send you strictly service-related announcements on rare occasions when it is necessary to do so. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance, we might send you an email. Generally, you may not opt-out of these communications, which are usually not promotional in nature. If you do not wish to receive them, you have the option to deactivate your account. To deactivate your account, you must notify us via email (info@paladinregistry.com) or by phone at 916.253.3334. Paladin may also use your email to send you free special research reports that provide current information about financial advisors and related commentary. There is an opt-out function on each of the research reports.

8. Tell a Friend, Family Member or Associate
If you choose to use our referral service to tell a friend about our site, we will ask you for your friend’s name and email address. We will automatically send your friend a one-time email inviting him or her to visit the site. The Paladin Registry stores this information for the purpose of sending this one-time email and free, informative research reports. Your friend may contact us at info@paladinregistry.com to request that we remove this information from our database or use the opt-out function on the research report.

9. Professional Profile

Financial advisors become members of the Registry or advertise on FindFinancialAdvisors.com and provide disclosures for their credentials, ethics, and business practices so investors have online access to the information. Advisors can opt out of the Registry at anytime by notifying Paladin. Advisors have advertising agreements for annual periods when they use the services on FindFinancialAdvisors.com. Paladin maintains a record of the data that was provided by advisor in the event the advisor wants to be reactivated in the Registry or to restore an advertisement.

10. Changes to Your Personal Information

If advisors want to modify or update personal information, advisors should login to the internal websites and click on the function that enables them to make these changes. Advisors are able to change User IDs (email addresses), update passwords, select optional programs, update advertisements, and update professional profiles.

11. Referral of Advisors

Paladin may provide the names, email addresses and telephone numbers of advisors who seek admittance to the Registry or want to advertise their services on FindanExpert to an affiliated company that produces referrals for financial advisors.

12. Referral of Investors
Paladin may provide the names, email addresses and telephone numbers of investors who use our web-based services to a third party that has a contractual relationship with Paladin in the event Paladin does not provide some or all of the services that investors are seeking.

13. Minor’s Privacy

Paladin sites are not intended for use by minors under the age of 18. The site is operated in compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Act and will not knowingly collect or use personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18.

14. General

This Privacy Policy applies to the sites as operated and viewed in the United States of America. Paladin uses its best efforts to protect the privacy of investors and advisors; however, Paladin cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information that you transmit over the Internet, and you do so at your own risk.

Paladin websites may incorporate links to third parties for the convenience of investors, members and advertisers. If you use these links, remember that each site has its own Privacy Policy and data collection practices. Paladin is not responsible or liable for the policies or practices of other sites, and Paladin does not review the policies or practices of other sites.

15. Legal Disputes

This Privacy Policy will be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of California, excluding that body of laws known as choice of law or conflict of laws. Subject to the provisions of this Section, all disputes, controversies or claims arising out of or relating to this Agreement will be resolved through mandatory binding arbitration conducted in Sacramento, California, before J.A.M.S./ENDISPUTE or its successor ("JAMS") pursuant to the United States Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. Section 1, et seq. (the "Act"); and (iii) this Agreement. The arbitration will be conducted in accordance with the provisions of J.A.M.S.'s Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures in effect at the time of filing of the demand for arbitration (the "JAMS Rules"), subject to the provisions of this Section. The terms set forth in this Agreement will control in the event of any inconsistency between such terms and the JAMS Rules. The parties will cooperate with JAMS and with each other in promptly selecting a single arbitrator from JAMS's panel of neutrals. If the parties fail to so select an arbitrator within thirty (30) days following the date of either party's notice of demand to conduct arbitration, then JAMS will appoint an arbitrator in accordance with the JAMS Rules. The award of the arbitrator will be in writing and will set forth findings of fact and conclusions of law. Judgment on the arbitrator's award will be final and binding upon the parties and may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. If for any reason JAMS or its successor no longer is in business, then the arbitration shall be conducted in accordance with the commercial arbitration rules of the American Arbitration Association. The arbitrator's fees will be shared equally by the parties and each party will initially bear its own costs and attorneys' fees, but the prevailing party shall be reimbursed by the other party for all attorney’s fees, witness fees, and arbitration costs. All papers, documents, or evidence, whether written or oral, filed with or presented in connection with the arbitration proceeding will be deemed by the parties and by the arbitrator to be confidential information of both parties. The arbitrator chosen in accordance with these provisions will not have the power to alter, amend or otherwise affect the terms of these arbitration provisions or the provisions of this Agreement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing in this Section shall prevent either party from applying for and obtaining from a court a temporary restraining order and/or other injunctive relief.

16. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy at any time, so please review it frequently. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here, by email, or by means of a notice on our home page.

To contact Paladin about website privacy issues, to report a violation of our Privacy Policy, or to discuss any other issue, please contact us at info@paladinregistry.com, call 916.253.3334 or mail us at:

Paladin Internet Properties, Inc.

395 S. Highway 65

Suite A-275

Lincoln, CA 95648