Last Updated March 2024
Forum Financial Management, LP (“Forum”) has adopted this Privacy Policy with recognition that protecting the privacy and security of the personal information we obtain about our clients is an important responsibility. We also know that you expect us to service you in an accurate and efficient manner. To do so, we must collect and maintain certain personal information about you. The following information is designed to help you understand what and how we collect, share, use, and protect your personal information.
If you are a California resident, please review our Supplemental Notice for California Consumers, which further describes the personal information we collect from California residents, how we use and share this information, and certain rights you could have under the California Consumer Privacy Act.
Information We Collect
We collect certain nonpublic information about you (“Client Information”). The essential purpose for collecting Client Information is to allow us to provide financial advisory services to you. Client Information we collect could include the following:
- Information that you provide on applications or other forms which could include personal and household information, such as income, spending habits, investment objectives, financial goals, statements of account, and other records concerning your financial condition and assets. Additional information we could gather includes information concerning employee benefits and retirement plan interests, wills, trusts, mortgages, and tax returns.
- Identifying information, such as your name, age, address, social security number, etc.
- Information about your transactions with us, or others (such as broker-dealers, clearing firms, or other investment sponsors).
- Information we receive from consumer reporting agencies (such as credit bureaus), as well as other various materials we could use to provide an appropriate recommendation or to fill a service request.
In addition to the Client Information described above, when you access or use our websites, mobile applications, and other online services (collectively, “Online Services”), we also collect certain information regarding your access to and use of such Online Services (“Usage Data”). Usage Data consists of information about how your computer or device links to and interacts with our Online Services, preferences expressed, settings chosen, and information about your device, such as your device and browser type, operating system, IP address, mobile network carrier, device and advertising identifiers, date and time of visit, site features viewed, and the third-party site your device was accessing before coming to our Online Services. We use cookies and similar technologies on our Online Services to automatically receive and track this Usage Data, to enhance the security of our Online Services, to perform analytics concerning your use of our Online Services, and to comply with and enforce applicable legal requirements, industry standards, and our policies. To learn more about these technologies and our use of them, please see the Cookies and Similar Technologies section below.
Use of Your Information
Forum uses Client Information for the following purposes:
- To provide financial services to you, such as processing and fulfilling financial transactions.
- To contact you to discuss the services you receive from us or to respond to any questions or concerns you have raised.
- To provide, support, personalize, and develop our websites and services.
- To create, maintain, customize, and secure your account with us.
- To verify your identity for fraud, crime prevention, or anti-money laundering activities, and other compliance checks and controls.
- As necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of us, our clients, or others.
- To provide you with support and to respond to your inquiries, including to investigate and address your concerns and monitor and improve our responses.
- To help maintain the safety, security, and integrity of our websites, products and services, databases and other technology assets, and business.
- To respond to valid law enforcement, legal, or regulatory requests and as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations.
- For marketing purposes.
- For testing, research, analysis, and product development, including to develop and improve our websites, products, and services.
Security of Your Information
We restrict access to your nonpublic personal information to those employees who need to know that information to service your account. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with applicable federal or state standards to protect your nonpublic personal information.
Information We Disclose
We do not disclose the nonpublic personal information we collect about our customers to anyone except: (i) in furtherance of our business relationship with certain service providers, and then only to those persons necessary to effect the transactions and provide the services that they authorize (such as broker-dealers, custodians, independent managers, third-party service providers, insurance companies, etc.); (ii) to persons assessing our compliance with industry standards (such as professional licensing authorities, etc.); (iii) our attorneys, accountants, and auditors; or (iv) as otherwise required or permitted by law.
We are permitted by law to disclose the nonpublic personal information about you to governmental agencies and other third-parties in certain circumstances (such as third-parties that perform administrative or marketing services on our behalf or for joint marketing programs). These third-parties are prohibited to use or share the information for any other purpose. If you decide at some point to either terminate our services or become an inactive customer, we will continue to adhere to our privacy policy, which could be amended from time to time.
Former Clients
If you decide to close your account(s) or become an inactive client, we will adhere to our privacy policies, which could be amended from time to time.
Disclosures to Associated Firms
Some of our financial advisors are associated with an unaffiliated broker-dealer. If you presently have a brokerage account at that firm, the broker-dealer has possession of your nonpublic information. These financial advisors could need to obtain information necessary to fulfill your requests, service your products, or offer you other products or services of interest to you.
Certain partners or financial advisors are also associated with related accounting firms. If you are a client of a related accounting firm, these partners or financial advisors could need to obtain information necessary to complete your tax return. Necessary information could include Tax Related Documents, such as Forms 1099 and Realized Gains/Loss Reports.
Forum uses third-party technology to manage and aggregate client assets that are held away. This technology is provided by OWL Technology, LLC. Forum is affiliated with OWL Technology, LLC under common control and ownership. Clients are not charged extra for these services, but a portion of the client fee paid to Forum is paid to OWL Technology, LLC for these services.
Cookies and Similar Technologies
When you visit or interact with the Online Services, we and other companies we work with could deploy and use cookies and similar technologies (such as web beacons, local shared objects, and other tracking technologies) for a variety of reasons, including to collect Usage Data in order to enhance the security of Online Services, perform analytics concerning your use of Online Services, and comply with and enforce applicable legal requirements, industry standards, and our policies.
We also use Google Analytics cookies to collect information about how visitors use Online Services. These cookies collect information in the aggregate to give us insight into how Online Services is being used. We anonymize IP addresses in Google Analytics, and the anonymized data is transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google could also transfer this information to third-parties, where required to do so by law or where such third-parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. For an overview of these Google Analytics cookies, please visit https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245. You have the option to install a Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on by going to https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
You have other means of controlling the use of cookies and similar technologies on this and other websites. You have the ability to instruct your browser or mobile device to warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or to reject all or certain kinds of cookies. Typically, you can do this by changing the privacy settings on your internet browser or device. However, if you choose to reject cookies, Online Services could be prevented from functioning properly, and some Online Service features could be diminished.
Do-Not-Track Signals and Similar Mechanisms
Certain web browsers could allow you to enable a “do not track” option that sends signals to the websites you visit, indicating that you do not want your online activities tracked. This is different from blocking cookies as browsers with the “do not track” option selected could still accept cookies. Right now, there is no industry standard for how companies should respond to “do not track” signals, although one could be adopted in the future. Accordingly, we do not respond to “do not track” signals at this time. If we do so in the future, we will modify this Privacy Policy accordingly.
Changes to Our Privacy Policy
Except as provided herein or required or permitted by law, we do not share confidential information about you with non-affiliated third-parties. In the unlikely event, there were to be a change in this fundamental policy that would permit or require additional disclosures of your confidential information, we will provide written notice to you, and you will be given an opportunity to direct us as to whether such disclosure is acceptable.
Questions
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or have a question about the privacy of your customer information, call our main number 630.873.8520 and ask to speak to the Chief Compliance Officer.
Please contact our office if you would like a current copy of Forum’s Form ADV Part 2A mailed to you.
