Terms of Use

1. About Start the Chain

Start the Chain ("we," "us," or "our") is a free, nonprofit financial literacy tool available at startthechain.org. It is designed to provide general financial education to young African-Americans and anyone else who finds it useful. Start the Chain is not a registered investment advisor, broker-dealer, or financial planning firm.

2. Educational purpose only

All content on this site — including calculators, definitions, comparisons, projections, and any other material — is provided for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing on this site constitutes investment advice, financial advice, legal advice, tax advice, or any other professional advice.

The calculators on this site use historical data and simplified projections to illustrate concepts. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Actual investment returns will vary. The figures shown are for illustration purposes only and should not be used as the basis for any financial decision.

Before making any investment decision, you should consult a qualified financial advisor, tax professional, or other appropriate professional who can consider your individual circumstances.

3. No warranties

Start the Chain provides this site and all its content "as is" without any warranties, express or implied. We do not warrant that the site will be error-free, uninterrupted, or free of inaccuracies. Financial information — including broker fees, account minimums, fund expense ratios, and tax rules — changes over time. While we make reasonable efforts to keep information current, we cannot guarantee that every detail on this site reflects the current state of the world.

Always verify specific financial details — such as account minimums, commissions, and expense ratios — directly with the relevant institution before making any decision.

4. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Start the Chain and its creator shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or other damages arising from your use of this site or your reliance on any information provided here. This includes, without limitation, any financial losses you may incur as a result of investment decisions made after visiting this site.

Your use of this site is entirely at your own risk.

5. Third-party links

This site contains links to third-party websites, including the websites of Fidelity, Charles Schwab, and Vanguard. These links are provided for your convenience and do not constitute an endorsement of those sites or their services beyond what is stated on this site. Start the Chain has no affiliation with any brokerage firm and receives no compensation — financial or otherwise — for directing visitors to any third-party site.

We are not responsible for the content, accuracy, or practices of any third-party website. Your use of third-party sites is governed by their own terms and policies.

6. Intellectual property

The content on this site — including the text, design, calculators, and original written material — is the property of Start the Chain. You are welcome to share links to this site and reference its content for personal, educational, or nonprofit purposes, with attribution. You may not reproduce, republish, or distribute the content of this site for commercial purposes without written permission.

7. Acceptable use

By using this site you agree not to:

• Use the site for any unlawful purpose
• Attempt to interfere with the site's operation or security
• Scrape, copy, or reproduce the site's content for commercial use without permission
• Misrepresent the site's content or use it in a misleading way

8. Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms of Use from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Your continued use of the site after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated terms.

9. Contact

If you have questions about these terms, you can reach us through the About page at startthechain.org/about.html.