What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that get stored on your device when you visit websites. They're pretty common across the internet and serve various purposes—from remembering your login details to understanding which pages people visit most often.

Think of them as digital sticky notes that help websites remember information about your visit. They can store things like your language preference, items in a shopping cart, or which articles you've already read.

These files don't access other data on your computer and can't carry viruses. Most are harmless and actually make your browsing experience smoother.

How We Use Tracking Technologies

We use several types of tracking technologies on elmarothiven.org. Here's what each category does and why we use it:

Specific Cookies We Use

Here's a breakdown of the actual cookies you'll encounter on elmarothiven.org:

Session Cookies

These temporary cookies disappear when you close your browser. They help maintain your session as you navigate the site and keep track of information you've entered into forms.

Persistent Cookies

These stick around on your device for a set period (usually between 30 days and 2 years). They remember your preferences and recognize you when you return to the site.

Third-Party Cookies

Some cookies come from external services we use, like analytics platforms or embedded content providers. These help us understand site performance and deliver certain features, but they're controlled by third parties rather than directly by us.

How Cookies Improve Your Experience

Let me give you some concrete examples of how this works in practice:

• When you visit our capital allocation resources section, cookies remember which articles you've already read so you don't see duplicate recommendations
• If you're filling out a contact form and accidentally close your browser, functional cookies can save your progress
• Analytics cookies help us notice that visitors from Australia particularly engage with certain types of investment content, so we create more of what's actually useful
• When you adjust text size or contrast settings for better readability, cookies remember those preferences for next time
• Session cookies keep you logged in as you move between different sections of our resources library

Browser-Level Cookie Control

You can also manage cookies directly through your browser settings. Each browser handles this differently:

Blocking cookies at the browser level affects all websites you visit, not just elmarothiven.org. Some websites might not work properly with cookies completely disabled.

Updates to This Policy

We review and update this cookie policy periodically to reflect changes in our practices or relevant regulations. When we make significant changes, we'll update the effective date at the top of this page.

If we start using cookies in fundamentally different ways, we'll notify users through a banner on the website. We recommend checking back occasionally to stay informed about how we're using cookies.

The current version always reflects our actual cookie usage. We don't keep archived versions publicly available, but you can contact us if you need information about previous policy versions.

Your Rights and Choices

Under Australian privacy regulations and international standards, you have specific rights regarding how your data is collected and used through cookies:

• You can refuse cookie consent at any time using the button on this page
• You have the right to access information about what data we've collected through cookies
• You can request deletion of data collected through non-essential cookies
• You can withdraw consent for marketing cookies without affecting essential site functionality
• You can lodge a complaint with relevant privacy authorities if you believe we're mishandling cookie data

We respect these rights and make it straightforward to exercise them. There's no penalty for declining non-essential cookies—you'll still have full access to all our capital allocation resources and educational content.