Personalfinancialofficer Pty Ltd (ABN 26 700 292 235) (“PFO”, “we”, “us”) is an Australian, information-only money app and a set of free calculators. Privacy here is built into how the app works, not switched on as a setting. This policy explains what we collect, why, and the choices you have. It's written to sit alongside the Terms of Use.
The short version
- i.The free calculators on this website run in your browser, we don't receive the figures you type in.
- ii.If you join the waitlist, we collect your email address and the page you signed up from, nothing else.
- iii.In the app, the AI coach never learns who you are: your identity is stripped and names are replaced with anonymous tokens before anything reaches the model.
- iv.We never sell your data, and your financial information is never used to train AI models.
Information we collect
On this website
The calculators are client-side, so the numbers you enter stay on your device. If you submit the waitlist form we collect your email address and the page path you submitted from, so we can email you at launch. If we enable privacy-friendly, cookieless analytics, it records aggregate page views and referrers with no personal identifiers and no cross-site tracking.
In the PFO app
To show you your money, the app stores the financial data you add or connect, accounts, transactions, budgets, goals, holdings, super, property and receipts, under your account. You choose what to add. When we introduce bank feeds, they will be read-only and provided through an accredited data-service provider that you authorise. Any data shared under Australia's Consumer Data Right (open banking) will be handled in line with the CDR privacy safeguards, and we will publish a separate CDR policy before that feature launches.
How the AI coach protects your identity
Every question your coach answers passes through five steps first:
Your identity is stripped
Merchant, account, goal and holding names are replaced with anonymous tokens (for example, “Merchant 1 · food delivery”) before the question is assembled.
The reverse-map never leaves us
The lookup that could turn those tokens back into real names stays on our servers and is never sent to the AI provider.
Your data is stored in Australia
Your accounts, transactions and receipts sit on Australian servers (Sydney). Only the anonymous tokens above are ever sent to the AI, your identity and your real data stay here.
Enterprise AI, never used for training
The coach runs on Google's enterprise Gemini (on Google Cloud), not a consumer chatbot, and your financial data is never used to train any model, ours or the provider's. Receipts are kept out of the AI path entirely.
Grounded answers only
The coach answers from your real numbers. If a figure isn't in your accounts, it won't invent one.
We want to be straight about one thing here. We still hold your underlying financial data as personal information that can be traced back to you, so it stays protected by this policy and the Privacy Act. What the steps above change is only what reaches the AI provider, so your identity is never part of that.
How we use information
- To provide the app and calculators, and to show you your own numbers.
- To email you about early access and launch if you joined the waitlist.
- To operate, secure and improve the service, and to meet legal obligations.
We do not use your financial data for advertising, and we don't sell or rent personal information to anyone.
Storage, security and retention
Data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and receipts are encrypted at rest. We keep your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the service and meet legal requirements. You can export everything, or delete your account and all its data, at any time from the app. If a data breach ever occurred that was likely to result in serious harm, we would notify affected users and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, as required under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.
Your rights
Under the Australian Privacy Act you can request access to the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Waitlist subscribers can unsubscribe from any email or ask us to remove their address. To make a request, contact us in the app or by email at support@personalfinancialofficer.com.
Complaints
If you believe we have mishandled your personal information, please contact us at support@personalfinancialofficer.com so we can look into it. We will acknowledge your complaint and aim to respond within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can escalate the matter to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au.
Third parties
We use a small number of processors to run the service, cloud hosting, the AI provider (Google's enterprise Gemini on Google Cloud), and, if you connect a bank, a licensed feed provider. Each handles data only to deliver the service to you, under contract, and none receive data to build their own products or train models.
Overseas disclosure
Your financial data is stored on Australian servers. Some of the providers that help us run the service, including our cloud and AI providers, are global companies, so limited personal information may be accessed from or disclosed to recipients outside Australia, for example in the United States, for support, security and operational purposes. Where that happens, we take reasonable steps to ensure the information is handled consistently with this policy and the Australian Privacy Principles.
Children
PFO isn't directed at people under 18 and we don't knowingly collect their information.
Changes
We'll update this page when our practices change and revise the “last updated” date above. Material changes will be communicated in the app or by email where appropriate.
This policy is provided for transparency and is not legal advice.