Last updated 23 October 2026.
This policy explains what personal information Retirees Abroad collects, why we collect it, who we share it with and how you can see, correct or delete it. In short: you can read our website without telling us who you are, we collect only what we need to run our workshops, calls and products and to keep in touch with you, we never sell your information, some of our service providers store it overseas, and you can unsubscribe or ask us questions at any time.
1. Who we are
Retirees Abroad is operated by The Trustee for Online Edge Trust (ABN 42 375 407 954), trading as Retirees Abroad Group, of 3/135 Cardigan Street, Carlton VIC 3053. In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” mean that business. We handle personal information in line with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.
If you have a question about privacy, contact us at hello@retireesabroad.com.au or write to us at the address above.
2. The information we collect
When you read our website: nothing that tells us your name. Our guides, place pages, situation pages and stories are free to read without registering. Google Analytics records how our website is used, without your name or contact details. See section 9 for the cookies on our website.
When you register for a live or recorded workshop:
- your name, email address and mobile number (required),
- your age range, a rough band of your retirement savings not counting your home, and when you are thinking of going (all optional),
- your answers to any other questions on the form, such as which state you live in or what appeals to you about retiring overseas, and any question you send for the Q&A (optional),
- a record of when you gave us your details and the form you used.
You do not have to answer the optional questions. If you do, it helps us make the workshop more useful. We ask for a savings band, not an exact figure, and we never ask for account numbers or balances.
When you ask for a free planning session:
- how long you would like to spend overseas, what appeals to you, when you would like to go, the places you are interested in and who would be going (including whether you are a man or a woman, if you are going on your own),
- your age or, if the person going with you is older, their age,
- a rough band of your super, savings and investments, not counting your home,
- your name, email address and mobile number,
- where you came from: the advertisement or website that brought you to us, which button you clicked and which part of our website it was on (for example “guides” or “places/bali”, never the full page address).
We use these answers to prepare for your call and to recommend what suits you. We ask your age because insurance and visa rules change with age. We do not ask about your health. A person reads your answers. Where you are not sure, you can choose “Not sure yet” or “Help me choose”. When you click Next on the last question, you are asking us to contact you about your planning session (section 7).
When you book or have a call: your name, contact details, the times that suit you and the notes we make about the questions you ask. If you choose to tell us about your health, family or finances, we will record only what we need to help you, and only with your agreement.
When you buy a product: your name, email, phone number, billing address, what you bought and when. If you buy a planning service, we also keep what we prepare for you and the information you gave us for it. Your card details are handled by our payment processor. We do not see or store your full card number.
When you attend a workshop on Zoom: your name as shown on screen, attendance, chat and Q&A messages and, if you speak, your image and voice in any recording.
When you use our website or open our emails: technical information that our website host records to protect the site, such as your IP address, device and browser type and the pages requested, the advertisement that brought you to us, and whether you opened an email or clicked a link in it.
When you send us a story, review or testimonial: your name, your words, any photo you send, and a record of what you agreed we could publish and when.
When you contact us: anything you choose to tell us by email, phone, SMS or social media.
Workshops and paid products need contact details so we can deliver them.
3. How we collect it
We collect personal information:
- directly from you, through our forms, emails, SMS replies, calls and workshops,
- automatically, through our website host’s security records, the cookies explained in section 9 and the open and click tracking in our emails,
- from our service providers, for example Zoom attendance reports and payment confirmations,
- from published news reports, for the stories on our website (see section 12), and
- from travel partners or other businesses you have asked to pass your details to us.
If we receive information about you that we did not ask for and do not need, we will destroy or de-identify it where it is lawful and reasonable to do so.
4. Why we use it
We use your personal information to:
- register you for live and recorded workshops and send reminders, replays and joining links by email and SMS,
- answer your questions and run your free or paid calls,
- deliver any paid products or services you buy, and process payments and refunds,
- send you news about our workshops, trips and planning services by email, SMS and WhatsApp, as explained in section 7,
- understand which topics are most useful and improve our workshops, website and products,
- see which of our advertisements bring people to us, from the tag in the link you clicked,
- keep records, handle complaints and meet our legal obligations.
We use your age range, savings band and timing to tailor workshop content and follow-up emails to the stage you are at. We do not use them to decide whether you can attend.
5. Our CRM, automation and automated decisions
We keep your details in our customer relationship management (CRM) system, GoHighLevel, which also runs our forms and sends our emails and SMS. It uses rules we set to do routine tasks automatically. For example, it:
- sends your joining link and reminders,
- adds labels (tags) based on what you tell us, such as your age range, savings band, timing and the countries you are interested in, and on what you do, such as attending a workshop, opening an email or clicking a link,
- chooses which follow-up emails and SMS you receive, based on those tags, and
- shows our team who has asked for a call.
Automated decisions. We do not use computer programs to make, or substantially help make, decisions that could significantly affect your rights or interests, such as refusing you a service, offering you a different price or deciding whether you can attend. Everyone who registers can attend our free workshops. A person makes all decisions about refunds, complaints and anything you buy.
If this changes, we will update this section before it happens, to describe the kinds of personal information used and the kinds of decisions made.
6. AI tools
We use some artificial intelligence (AI) tools to run our business: an AI assistant (Claude, by Anthropic, and ChatGPT, by OpenAI) that helps us draft emails and content, and AI features built into our CRM if we switch them on. We also use AI tools to make every picture on our website. Most are illustrations, and some include a photo-style picture inside an instant-photo frame. None of them shows a real person or a real document.
- We tell you at the start of a call if recording or an AI note-taker is on, and you can ask us to turn it off.
- We choose AI tools, or settings, that do not let the provider use your information to train its models.
- We do not put your health information, financial details or identity documents into general AI chat tools.
- A person checks AI summaries before we rely on them.
- AI tools do not make decisions about you (see section 5).
7. Phone calls, SMS, email, WhatsApp and marketing
When you ask for a free planning session. When you click Next on the last question of the form, you are asking us to contact you by phone, SMS, email and WhatsApp about your planning session: to book it, remind you about it and follow up on your plans. You can tell us to stop at any time, in any of the ways below, and it will not affect a call you have already booked.
Phone calls. We call people who have asked us to, or who have agreed to hear from us. We do not make cold calls, and we respect the Do Not Call Register. We call between 9am and 8pm on weekdays and 9am and 5pm on Saturdays, your time, and not on Sundays or national public holidays.
WhatsApp. WhatsApp is run by Meta. Messages to and from us pass through WhatsApp’s systems, outside Australia, under WhatsApp’s own privacy policy. Please do not send us health details, identity documents or bank details by WhatsApp. Reply STOP, or tell us, and we will not message you there again.
Marketing. When you give us your details on our website, we may also send you news about our workshops, trips and planning services by email, SMS and WhatsApp. Every marketing message identifies us and has an easy way to stop, and you can ask us to stop at any time.
Stopping marketing. Every marketing message identifies us and includes an easy way to unsubscribe. Reply STOP to any SMS, or click “unsubscribe” in any email. We also stop if you reply with words that clearly ask us to, such as “unsubscribe” or “no more”. Our SMS come from an Australian number or a sender name that identifies us. We action unsubscribe requests within five working days, and we never charge you or ask you to log in to unsubscribe. We keep a record that you unsubscribed, so we do not contact you again by mistake.
You can also ask us at any time to stop using your information for marketing by emailing hello@retireesabroad.com.au. You can ask us where we got your information, and we will tell you unless it is impracticable or unreasonable to do so.
If you unsubscribe from marketing, we may still send you messages you need about something you have bought or booked.
8. Who we share it with
We do not sell your personal information. We share it only with:
- GoHighLevel, our CRM, which holds contact records and call notes, runs our forms and bookings, and sends our emails and SMS,
- SMS carriers and phone providers, which deliver our text messages and calls,
- WhatsApp (Meta), when we message you on WhatsApp, as explained in section 7,
- Google (Google Workspace), which runs our email and documents,
- Zoom, to run our online workshops, recorded workshops and some calls,
- Cloudflare, which hosts and protects our website,
- Google (Google Analytics), which measures how our website is used, without your name or contact details,
- AI tool providers (Anthropic and OpenAI), which help us draft emails and content, as explained in section 6,
- Payment processor, to take payments and refunds once we sell anything (we will name it in this policy before we take our first payment),
- Other service providers who help us run the business, such as our bookkeeper, accountant and IT support,
- Travel partners, but only with your consent, for example if you ask about or book a trip,
- Professional advisers you ask us to introduce you to, only with your consent,
- Government agencies or courts, where the law requires or allows it.
Our service providers may use your information only to provide services to us, or in line with their own privacy policies where they act on their own account, as WhatsApp does.
9. Cookies, analytics and advertising tracking
Cookies are small files saved by your browser. Our website uses very few. Cloudflare, which hosts our website, may set a security cookie to protect the site, and the booking calendar on our planning form, run by GoHighLevel, may set its own cookies when it loads. Our Cookie policy explains each one.
Google Analytics. We use Google Analytics to understand how our website is used: how many people visit, which pages they read, where they came from and when someone completes our planning or workshop form. It uses cookies and receives information about your device, browser, approximate location and the pages you visit. It does not receive your name, email address or phone number, and we do not use it for advertising. Google processes this information in the United States and other countries. You can opt out with Google’s opt-out browser add-on.
No advertising tracking. We do not use the Meta pixel, Meta’s Conversions API or any other advertising tracking on our website, and we do not upload our contact lists to Meta. If we start, we will update this policy first and ask your permission on our website before any advertising tool runs.
Where you came from. A link in one of our advertisements, or on another website, may carry a short tag that names the advertisement or website. Our planning form keeps that tag with your answers, with the button you clicked and the part of our website it was on (section 2). This tells us which advertisements bring people to us. It does not follow you to other websites.
Your choices. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, though the booking calendar may not work as well.
10. Storing information overseas
Some of our service providers store or process your information outside Australia. The main ones are:
| Provider | What we use it for | Where your information may be held |
|---|---|---|
| HighLevel Inc. (GoHighLevel) | CRM, forms, bookings, email and SMS | United States |
| Zoom | Workshops, recorded workshops, calls and recordings | United States and other countries where Zoom operates |
| Cloudflare | Website hosting and security | Cloudflare’s global network, including Australia and the United States |
| Google (Google Workspace) | Email and documents | United States and other countries where Google operates |
| Google (Google Analytics) | Measuring how our website is used | United States and other countries where Google operates |
| WhatsApp (Meta) | Messages with you on WhatsApp | United States and other countries where Meta operates |
| Anthropic and OpenAI | Drafting content and making website pictures | United States |
We will add our payment processor to this table before we take our first payment. If you book or ask about a trip, we will tell you which travel partner receives your details, and where it holds them, before we pass them on.
Before we use an overseas provider, we take reasonable steps to make sure it handles your information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles. These include checking its privacy and security terms and its data processing agreement, using settings that limit what it can do with your information, and sharing only what it needs.
Some providers, such as WhatsApp, also use information for their own purposes under their own privacy policies.
11. Keeping it safe and how long we keep it
We store information in secure online systems with password protection and two-factor sign-in where available. Only people who need your information to do their work can see it. We train those people to handle it carefully.
We keep personal information only for as long as we need it:
| Information | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Planning session answers from people who do not book a call | 2 years after our last contact with you, or 12 months after you unsubscribe if that is sooner. |
| Contact details and call notes | 3 years after our last contact with you. If you buy from us, 7 years after your last purchase. |
| Registration and marketing records | While you are subscribed, then 2 years after you unsubscribe or last engage with us. |
| Records of your permission to contact you | 6 years after our last marketing message to you. |
| Workshop chat and Q&A messages | 90 days. We may keep questions without names to improve our content. |
| Live workshop recordings | Shared with attendees until the replay closes, usually the Sunday night after the workshop. We keep the original for 12 months. Edited recordings with attendees removed may be kept as recorded workshops. |
| Call recordings and AI transcripts | 90 days, or longer if needed to handle a complaint. |
| Purchase, tax and financial records | 7 years after the end of the financial year. |
| Unsubscribe records | Permanently, keeping only your contact detail, the date and the channel, so we never message you again by mistake. |
| Website security logs | 90 days. |
| Complaints | 7 years after the complaint is closed. |
| Permissions for testimonials and stories you send us | While the testimonial or story is published, plus 2 years. |
Our providers’ backup systems may keep copies for a short time after we delete something, usually up to 90 days. After these periods, we delete or de-identify the information.
If a data breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we will tell you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) as required by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.
12. People named in our stories
Our stories summarise published news reports about Australians who have retired overseas. To write them, we use only information the news outlet already published, such as a person’s first name, age range, home town and the country they moved to. We use first names only, link to the original report and label each story “not affiliated with Retirees Abroad”. We do not contact the people, look for more information about them or combine information from other sources. We leave out health details and other sensitive information unless the person has agreed. We never use photos of them. The picture on a story is our own illustration, made with AI.
If you are mentioned in one of our stories and would like it changed, made anonymous or removed, email hello@retireesabroad.com.au. We will act on reasonable requests within 5 business days, and you do not need to give a reason. Our page How we write stories says more.
13. Seeing, correcting and deleting your information
You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you, or ask us to correct it, by emailing hello@retireesabroad.com.au. We will need to confirm who you are. We will respond within 30 days, usually much sooner, and will not charge you for making a request. If we refuse, we will tell you why in writing and how to complain.
You can also ask us to delete your information. We will do so unless we need to keep it for legal or tax reasons.
You can choose not to give us your real name, for example when browsing or asking a general question, but we cannot register you for workshops or deliver products without contact details.
14. If you live outside Australia
We are an Australian business and handle personal information under Australian privacy law. If you live in another country, its privacy laws may also give you rights, such as the right to access, correct or erase your information or to object to marketing. We will respond to requests made under those laws where they apply to us.
15. Complaints
If you are worried about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first at hello@retireesabroad.com.au. We will acknowledge your complaint within 2 business days and give you a full response within 30 days.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:
- website: www.oaic.gov.au
- phone: 1300 363 992
- post: GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001
16. Children
Our services are for adults, and you must be 18 or over to register, book or buy. We do not design our website, workshops or ads for children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. Please do not share details about your children or grandchildren in workshop chats or forms. If you think a child has given us their details, contact us and we will delete them.
17. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when our services, our providers or the law change. The date at the top shows when it was last updated. If we make a significant change to how we use your information, we will tell you by email before it takes effect.
18. Contact us
- The Trustee for Online Edge Trust, trading as Retirees Abroad Group
- ABN 42 375 407 954
- 3/135 Cardigan Street, Carlton VIC 3053
- Email: hello@retireesabroad.com.au
If you’d rather talk, email us and we’ll call you back.