Effective from 1 September, 2026.
This privacy policy outlines how Forest Wealth Holdings (ABN 88 697 620 858, AFSL 700376) (‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’) manages your personal information. It sets out what personal information we hold, why we collect it, how we use, disclose and store it, and how you can access, correct it, or make a complaint.
We are required to comply with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), which regulate the collection, storage, use and disclosure of personal and sensitive information, and give you the right to access and correct information we hold about you.
Who we are
Forest Wealth Holdings is the holder of Australian Financial Services Licence 700376. Financial advice is provided to you through Forest Wealth Pty Ltd (CAR 1285537), a Corporate Authorised Representative of Forest Wealth Holdings, trading as Forest Wealth.
Suite 1203, 67 Albert Ave, Chatswood NSW 2067
Collecting your personal information
We only collect personal information that is required to provide you with financial services and to satisfy our own legal obligations as an AFSL holder. This includes information collected for:
- providing the advisory services you have requested;
- managing our relationship with you, including administration tasks, responding to your requests, and any required legal action;
- completing documentation and forms, including identifying you or verifying your authority to act on behalf of a customer;
- protecting our business and clients from fraudulent or unlawful activity;
- complying with relevant laws, regulations and other legal obligations;
- improving the products and services we offer, including contacting you about products or services that may interest you; and
- any purpose you have separately consented to.
You can opt out of direct marketing at any time. All electronic marketing messages include a functional unsubscribe facility, or you can contact us at support@forestwealth.com.au or 1800 31 41 51. Opt-out requests are actioned within five working days.
What we collect
We typically collect information directly from you – in meetings, over the phone, via questionnaires, in writing, or via our website. We may receive information from third parties, such as your accountant or other professionals, only where you have authorised this in writing.
The information we collect includes:
- demographic details – full name, address, date of birth, nationality, marital status, gender and dependant details;
- identity verification documents (e.g. driver’s licence, passport) to comply with AML/CTF laws;
- financial information – superannuation, investments, liabilities, savings, income and expenditure, insurance cover, and your investment preferences and risk tolerance;
- family circumstances and social security eligibility;
- information from publicly available sources and product issuers; and
- any other information we consider necessary to develop appropriate strategies and research suitable products for you.
Tax file numbers. We do not use standard government identifiers (Tax File, Medicare or Centrelink numbers) generally, but we will collect your TFN where relevant to superannuation advice – this requires your separate, explicit authorisation.
Sensitive information. This may include health and medical information (for example, to assess eligibility for personal risk insurance) and memberships of professional or trade associations. We only collect sensitive information with your explicit, affirmative consent, recorded via a written consent declaration before or at the time of collection.
Accuracy. It’s important you give us complete and accurate information, as we rely on it to develop your strategy and research suitable products. We take reasonable steps to verify what you provide, but we are not responsible for advice that is defective because of incomplete or inaccurate information you have given us. If you provide incomplete or inaccurate information, you should factor this into your own assessment of our recommendations. If you don’t provide requested information, we may not be able to provide services to you.
Meeting recordings and AI tools. We may record client meetings and use AI tools to produce a transcript, file note, or internal follow-up instructions. These recordings, transcripts and notes are handled with the same secure storage and data security measures as the rest of your information. We will always tell you before we intend to record a meeting and seek your explicit consent first – you’re welcome to decline if you’re not comfortable with a meeting being recorded.
We destroy any unsolicited personal information we receive, unless it’s relevant to the purposes described above.
How your personal information is held
We store personal information electronically, either in facilities we own or in secure cloud-based storage – we do not retain hard-copy files. Any original documents you give us are returned to you once scanned.
We maintain data security measures to reduce the risk of unauthorised access, including secure offices, access controls on our systems, and secure storage. If a data breach occurs that may compromise your information, we will contact you, and where required, report the breach to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. We assess suspected breaches within 30 days.
Retention. We are required to retain most financial advice records for a minimum of seven years. Once this statutory period expires – and provided the information is no longer needed for the purpose it was collected, or any other authorised purpose – we take reasonable steps to securely destroy or permanently de-identify it, using verified physical destruction, cryptographic erasure, or secure digital overwriting.
Using and disclosing your personal information
We only use and disclose your personal information to provide you with financial services, to run our business compliantly, and to seek legal advice about our affairs. You may make initial, anonymous enquiries with us, but we cannot provide services to someone who won’t give us their real name.
We may disclose your information to:
- other financial advisers and organisations involved in providing the advice you’ve requested (including ongoing service), such as fund managers and paraplanners;
- insurance providers, superannuation trustees and product issuers, in connection with advice you’ve requested;
- a superannuation trustee or product provider you’ve authorised to deduct advice fees, or who needs to review your Statement of Advice to meet their own legal obligations;
- outsourced service providers who help operate our business, such as paraplanning, administration, accounting, insurance, research, legal, auditing, quality assurance or IT services;
- your own representatives or service providers – accountant, solicitor, tax agent, stockbroker or bank;
- organisations involved in a business restructure, sale or transfer of our business, or the due diligence for one;
- government authorities and other organisations where required by law; and
- anyone else you’ve consented to.
Where we accept your instruction to acquire a financial product, we disclose relevant personal information to the product issuer. We may also use your information for billing.
From time to time, we use secure AI software for administrative efficiencies – for example, reporting on pending client administration tasks, or drafting correspondence following a recorded meeting (with your consent, as above).
Business changes. If we merge with or are acquired by another business, your details may transfer to the new entity, who will take on servicing rights for your ongoing management and reviews. If this happens, we will always write to you first and give you the opportunity to opt out.
Our website. Our website uses cookies, analytics, tracking pixels and session recording tools.
Sending information overseas
We do not currently share data with offshore service providers generally and are unlikely to disclose your personal information overseas. We may, from time to time, use a paraplanning service based in the Philippines.
Overseas recipients may not be subject to Australian privacy laws, and we can’t guarantee they will comply with the APPs. Where your information is shared with an overseas third party, we take reasonable steps to satisfy ourselves that the recipient has arrangements in place to comply with the Australian Privacy Principles, or that you have consented to the disclosure.
Accessing and correcting your personal information
You can request access to the personal information we hold about you. This is subject to some exceptions allowed by law – for example, where giving access would unreasonably impact someone else’s privacy. If we deny a request, we’ll explain why.
We take reasonable steps to keep the personal information we collect, use or disclose accurate, complete and up to date. If you believe any information we hold is incorrect, or your circumstances have changed, contact us and we’ll correct or update it. If we disagree with a requested correction, we’ll provide a written explanation.
We aim to respond to access or correction requests within 30 days, and we don’t charge a fee for either.
To request access or a correction, contact our General Manager: Phil Broadbent, Phone: 1800 31 41 51 Email: support@forestwealth.com.au
How to complain about our handling of your information
If you have a complaint about how we’ve collected, used, or stored your personal information, contact our Complaints Manager, Phil Broadbent, at support@forestwealth.com.au or 1800 31 41 51. We aim to respond within 30 days.
If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can escalate to:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner oaic.gov.au/privacy Phone: 1300 363 992 Privacy Complaints, GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001 Fax: 02 6123 5145
Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) afca.org.au Phone: 1800 931 678 (free call) Email: info@afca.org.au In writing to: Australian Financial Complaints Authority, GPO Box 3, Melbourne VIC 3001
AFCA provides fair, independent financial services complaint resolution, free to consumers. Time limits may apply to lodging a complaint with AFCA, so act promptl. Check the AFCA website for the time limit relevant to your circumstances.