Privacy Policy

www.bernicke.com and all subdomains

Our Commitment to Online Privacy

Your personal information is important to you. It’s important to us, too. That’s why we strive to protect your information, while continually providing service you can count on. While no one can guarantee absolute information security, we protect your information in many ways – from working to ensure that our buildings are secure, to proactively preparing for disasters and business interruptions, to using safe and secure computing practices. We continually review and make enhancements to how we safeguard and protect customer information.

We apply the same standards of protecting your privacy to our online presence. Please review the Website Privacy Policy (“Policy”) of Bernicke Wealth Management, Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Bernicke”, “we”, “our”, or “us”). The Policy outlines information, such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII),* collected from this site, how we use the information we collect, and how users can access or rectify the information collected.

*Personally identifiable information (PII) is information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context.

Policy Scope

This Policy pertains to our primary Website, www.bernicke.com, as well as any Content housed on other subdomains of bernicke.com, displayed in desktop and mobile browsers, or other Internet browsing devices. This Policy does not apply to other third-party online tools, websites, or applications that are used as part of a client relationship.

Why We Track Activity on Our Website

In order to enhance the quality of your visit to our Website and applications, we track Website and application use activity. The information we gather helps us:

Better understand Website and application use activity to improve our site and application offerings
Resolve issues clients may encounter in using our Website, applications, and/or completing online transactions
Monitor against fraudulent activities
Provide you with customized and relevant information and offers

Information Collected by Use of Cookies and Remarketing Tags

We allow third-party companies, including Google Analytics and others, to use cookies and remarketing tags to collect certain anonymous, non-personally identifiable information when you visit our Website. The anonymous information helps us measure the performance of our online advertising campaigns and analyze visitor activity on our Websites.

Information Collected

We understand the importance of appropriately safeguarding information you specifically and knowingly share with us in the course of business operations. It is our practice to protect the confidentiality of this information, limit access to this information to those with a business need, and not disclose this information unless required or permitted by law.

Bernicke does not collect any personal data about you (such as your name, email address or other contact information) except when you specifically and knowingly provide such information through applications, online forms, or websites, which may be captured and retained.

For visitors who provide an email address or volunteer other information, such as contact information and/or site registration, we collect this information. Visitors who provide an email address may receive periodic messages from us about new products and services or upcoming events. If you prefer not to receive periodic messages from us, please contact us or manage your email subscription preferences using the link at the bottom of any marketing email.

About Cookies

Cookies are used to store information on your computer and are a way to have your web browser “remember” specific bits of information about your previous visits to our site. Cookies do not spy on you or otherwise invade your privacy, and they cannot invade your hard drive or steal information. They allow you to access secured information, conduct secured transactions, and take advantage of promotional opportunities. They are designed to help you have a better user experience within our Website, and we use the information to improve our site content.

We primarily use two types of cookies:

Session cookies. These are temporary and expire when you leave our site or are inactive for a specified length of time.
Persistent cookies. These store your preferences for a site, are stored on your computer, and are read by your browser each time you visit the Website.

HOW TO MANAGE COOKIES

You can control your Internet browser’s settings to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, have your browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or disable (or re-enable) cookies altogether. However, because our Website uses cookies, if you do disable cookies, performance and functionality will be affected. To manage cookies in your browser, you can usually find options under Tools, Preferences, or Settings.

About Remarketing Tags

Remarketing tags analyze behavior of users who have previously clicked or viewed one of our online advertisements. At no time do remarketing tags record user name, password, email, IP home addresses, or other personally identifiable information. Remarketing activities are reported only if they are created by a user who meets the following two criteria:

Either clicks one of our ads and is redirected to our Website, or views one of our ads and accesses our Website later
Performs an activity on a page containing a remarketing tag within 30 days of clicking and/or viewing one of our ads

To learn more about this type of technology or to opt-out of ad network advertising, please visit the Network Advertising Initiative website. You may also opt-out of Google Analytics tracking by viewing the Google Analytics’ currently available opt-outs.

How We Use the Information We Collect

n an effort to ensure that you get the most out of your visits to our Website and applications, we may use your personal information in combination with other information we have about you either as a Bernicke client and/or from information provided to us by third parties to present you with customized and relevant information and offers.

We may disclose personal information collected on our website or applications when such disclosure is required or permitted by law. For example, we may be required to disclose personal information to cooperate with law enforcement and regulatory authorities, as part of the sale, assignment, or other transfer of our business, bankruptcy proceedings, or to perform authentication procedures to prevent fraud. Bernicke may use the information for the following reasons:

Internal record keeping.
To improve products and services.
To follow up, either by email, phone or mail, with people who have requested information and/or materials.
To periodically send promotional email or mail about services, recent developments or other information which users may find interesting using the email address or mailing address which users have provided when requesting information and/or materials.
To access certain special features or areas of this Website.
To evaluate prospective employees for positions, and to employ its personnel.
To analyze the financial situation of prospective clients and to provide investment advisory and management services to clients.
As otherwise permitted by law.
Pursuant to your request.

Bernicke may disclose information externally as permitted or required by law (such as to affiliates, service providers, and regulatory agencies), or where users have provided permission. We will not sell or lease users’ personal information to third parties so they can market to users.

How We Use Your Email Address

If you provide us with your email address, we may use it to contact you about the following types of messages:

Service notifications related to your account(s)
Regularly scheduled email newsletters related to Bernicke Wealth Management, Ltd.
Products or services you are enrolled in
Feedback on products, services, or experiences related to Bernicke Wealth Management, Ltd.
Requests for names and contact information of individuals you think could benefit from our products or services
Optional email communications which you have signed up for (e.g., newsletters on a selected financial topic)
Occasional updates about our products and services as well as Bernicke marketing offers

Also, once you have requested information from us, we may communicate with you via email regarding your request to provide additional information related to your information request. For example, we may send you materials to help you prepare for an upcoming meeting with a Bernicke adviser. However, you should not send personal information such as account or Social Security numbers by non-secure email.

To make our email offers more relevant to you, we may use information you provided in your initial transaction with us, in surveys, from information we have about you as a Bernicke client, and information available from external sources such as Census Bureau data.

You can opt out of receiving marketing email from us at any time.

Keep in mind that you may continue to receive email communications pertaining to our products and services that you are enrolled in automatically when you register for those products or services. In those cases, you must reply to and decline the communications individually.

Email communications sent to you by us or our service providers may contain web beacons. The web beacons allow us to know which emails are opened and acted upon so we can provide more relevant content or offers in the future. We do not share your email address with non-affiliated companies for them to market their products or services directly to you. You may receive email offers from other companies if:

you registered to receive offers on their website, or
if you receive ongoing email newsletters from the other companies that include third-party ads which may feature Bernicke products or services.

If you have recently opted out of receiving email offers from us, we will process and honor your request as soon as administratively possible. In certain circumstances, you may receive email offers from other companies during the time period when we are processing your opt-out request.

To opt-out of receiving offers or email newsletters from other companies, follow the instructions provided by those companies.

How to Access and Rectify Information

You may contact us at any time to request access to information we maintain about you, to rectify any inaccuracies in such information, or to say you no longer want to be contacted by us for direct marketing or other purposes. We can be contacted by mail, email or telephone as follows:

Bernicke Wealth Management, Ltd.
1565 Bluestem Blvd.
Altoona, WI 54720
(715) 832-1173
questions@bernicke.com

In each case, please ensure that full name and address are provided in exactly the form in which it was originally provided to us to avoid any possible confusion with a different user.

To unsubscribe from our email communications, send an email to questions@bernicke.com. Please put “UNSUBSCRIBE” in the subject field and include the email address where you received the content, along with any additional email addresses you would like suppressed. You may also use the ‘unsubscribe’ or ‘manage preferences’ links at the bottom of any marketing email to be removed from our email marketing lists. We will do our best to prevent you from receiving our email content in the future.

Security

Bernicke is committed to keeping user information secure. In order to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure information. Nevertheless, due to the nature of the Internet and Internet technologies, security and privacy risks cannot be eliminated and we cannot guarantee that users’ personal information will not be disclosed in ways not otherwise described in this Policy.

Other Websites

Our Website may contain links to enable users to visit other websites of interest easily. However, once users have used these links to leave this site, users should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, Bernicke cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which users provide while visiting such sites, and such sites are not governed by this Policy. Users should exercise caution and look at the policy applicable to the website in question.

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