U.S. Privacy Policy
Burt Associates, Inc. (d.b.a. “Burt Wealth Advisors," "we," "our," or "us"), an independent financial planning and money management firm, is committed to safeguarding the confidential information of its clients. In November of 1999, Congress enacted the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). The GLBA requires certain financial institutions, such as investment advisor firms, to protect the privacy of customer information. Federal law gives clients the right to limit some but not all sharing of your personal information. We hold all personal information provided to our firm in the strictest confidence. These records include all personal information that we collect from you in connection with any of the services provided by Burt Wealth Advisors. Burt Wealth Advisors does disclose certain personal information with nonaffiliated third parties for purposes other than permitted or required by law, e.g., financial, estate, retirement, and tax planning software, etc. You have the right to learn more about these types of disclosures and to opt out or prevent such disclosures by contacting us. As you know, we use health and financial information that you provide to us to help you meet your personal financial goals while guarding against any real or perceived infringements of your rights of privacy. Our policy with respect to personal information about you is listed below.
Commitment to Your Private Information. We maintain a secure office and computer environment to ensure that your information is not placed at unreasonable risk. The categories of nonpublic personal information that we collect from a client depend upon the scope of the client engagement. It will include information about your personal finances, information about your health to the extent that it is needed for the planning process and information about transactions between you and third parties. For nonaffiliated third parties that require access to your personal information, including financial service companies, consultants, software vendors, and auditors, we also require strict confidentiality in our agreements with them and expect them to keep this information private. Federal and state regulators also may review firm records as permitted under law. We do not provide your personally identifiable information to mailing list vendors or solicitors for any purpose.
Why We Collect and How We Use Information. To conduct regular business, Burt Wealth Advisors, Inc. may collect personal information from sources such as:
Information reported by the client on applications or other forms the client provides to us
Information about the client’s transactions implemented by the firm or others
Information developed as part of financial plans, analyses or investment advisory services
To administer, manage, service, and provide related services for client accounts, it is necessary for Burt Wealth Advisors to provide access to customer information within the firm and to nonaffiliated companies, with whom the firm has entered into agreements with. To provide the utmost service, we may disclose the information below regarding clients and former clients, as necessary, to companies to perform certain services on our behalf.
Information Burt Wealth Advisors receives from the client on applications (name, social security number, address, assets, employment information, investment objective and experience, etc.)
Information about the client’s transactions with the firm or others (account information, account transactions, payment history, parties to transactions, etc.)
Information concerning investment advisory account transactions
Information about a client’s financial products and services transaction with Burt Wealth Advisors
Personally identifiable information about you will be maintained during the time you are a client, and for the required time thereafter that such records are required to be maintained by federal and state securities laws, and consistent with the CFP® Board Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility. After this required period of record retention, all such information will be destroyed.
Sharing Information with Other Companies Permitted Under Law. Since Burt Wealth Advisors shares nonpublic information solely to service client accounts, the firmdoes not disclose any nonpublic personal information about the firm’s clients or former clients to anyone, except as permitted by law. However, the firmmay also provide customer information outside of the firm as required by law, such as to government entities, consumer reporting agencies or other third parties in response to subpoenas. Additionally, Burt Wealth Advisors does not jointly market with affiliated or nonaffiliated companies. In the event that Burt Wealth Advisors has a change to its Privacy Policy that would allow it to disclose nonpublic information not covered under applicable law, we will allow clients the opportunity to opt out of such disclosure.
Federal Regulations permit Burt Wealth Advisors to share limited nonpublic information with certain entities including nonaffiliated custodians/brokerage firms in order to execute securities transactions on your behalf or with your accountant or lawyer in order to discuss your financial situation. We may also share your nonpublic information with parties acting at your request and on your account or to carry out certain aspects of financial planning. If you wish to opt-out of disclosure of your personal information to any nonaffiliated third parties, for purposes other than permitted or required by law, you may opt-out by contacting us. See “Contact Us” below.
Internally, we limit employee access to nonpublic information only to those who have a business or professional reason for knowing.
How We Protect Your Information. Burt Wealth Advisors and its affiliates maintain a comprehensive information security program designed to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer information, protect against threats or hazards to the security of such information and prevent unauthorized access. This program includes:
Procedures and specifications for administrative, technical, electronic and physical safeguards.
Security procedures related to the processing, storage, retention and disposal of confidential information.
Programs to detect, prevent and, when necessary, respond to attacks, intrusions or unauthorized access to confidential information.
Restricting access of customer information to employees who need to know that information to provide products and services to you, and appointing specific employees to oversee our information security program
We will not retain your personal information longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of personal information.
Children’s Privacy Online: Our website is not directed or intended for individuals under the age of thirteen (13), and we request that these individuals do not provide Personal Information through our Site. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13 without parental consent. Visit the Federal Trade Commission website for more information about the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
To the extent we have unintentionally collected any nonpublic information on our Site from a person under the age of 13 years old, you may request and obtain removal of this nonpublic information. To make such a request, please send an email with a detailed description of the specific content or information to the e-mail address below.
Please be aware that such a request does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information you have posted and that there may be circumstances in which the law does not require or allow removal even if requested.
Former Clients. Even if we cease to provide you with financial products or services, our Privacy Policy will continue to apply to you and we will continue to treat your nonpublic information with strict confidentiality.
European Union Residents or Clients Covered Under GDPR. Residents of the EU can find Burt Wealth Advisor’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Privacy Policy Notice by clicking on the GDPR Privacy Policy link on our website at http://burtwealth.com/.
Changes to this Policy . Burt Wealth Advisors will provide each client with initial notice of the current Privacy Policy when the client relationship is established. Additionally, Burt Wealth Advisors may occasionally amend this Privacy Policy at any time. If we decide to use personal information in a manner that is materially different from that stated at the time it was collected, we will notify you of such changes prior to implementing them by posting a revised Privacy Policy with a new “Last Updated” date. Burt Wealth Advisors shall also provide each client with the current Privacy Policies at least annually.
We encourage you to check our website frequently to see when this Privacy Policy was last revised and to be informed of how we are committed to protecting your information.
Contact Us. If there are any questions, regarding this US Privacy Policy Notice, please contact us at 301-770-9880. You may also contact us by e-mail at fcornelius@burtwealth.com.
Last Updated July 2, 2021