Legal sheet: inform, do not advise

Translated from the Spanish original. Where they differ, the Spanish one holds.

For: every Horalis app · Reviewed: 3 October 2026

This is not legal advice. It is Horalis's working criterion, written from the public texts of European regulation. Before launching, a professional should review it (a lawyer specialised in the regulation of financial services in the EU and in each country where it is published), and review it again when the regulation or what the apps do changes.

The question

Where is the line between giving general information (what Horalis does) and advising on investments, a service reserved in the EU for authorised firms?

The line, according to MiFID II

Investment advice is "the provision of personal recommendations to a client, either upon its request or at the initiative of the investment firm, in respect of one or more transactions relating to financial instruments" (Directive 2014/65/EU, MiFID II, Article 4(1)(4)). It is an investment service (Annex I, Section A, point 5) and requires authorisation.
A recommendation is personal when it is made to someone in their capacity as an investor, is presented as suitable for that person or is based on their circumstances, and recommends a transaction in a particular financial instrument: to buy, sell, subscribe for, exchange, redeem, hold or underwrite it, or to exercise or not a right of that instrument (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565, Article 9). It is not personal if it is issued exclusively to the public.
Being spread over the internet is not enough to make it "to the public": a recommendation addressed to a person through an online channel can be personal (recitals of Delegated Regulation 2017/565, around 14 and 15; the exact number still to be verified).
Generic information about types of instruments ("shares move more than bonds") is not investment advice. "General recommendations" about transactions in instruments can be an ancillary service (Annex I, Section B, point 5) when an investment firm provides them.
Another rule to bear in mind: the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 (Articles 3(1)(35) and 20) and its Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/958 regulate "investment recommendations": information that recommends or suggests, explicitly or implicitly, an investment strategy about particular instruments or issuers, intended for the public. Whoever publishes them must present them objectively and disclose their conflicts of interest.
Guidance: CESR, Understanding the definition of advice under MiFID (CESR/10-293, 2010), with examples of tools on websites; ESMA, Guidelines on certain aspects of the MiFID II suitability requirements (ESMA35-43-3172, 2023).

Where Horalis Growth stands

What it does (information): with the figures the person writes, it calculates the consequences of a plan (how much they could have, how it moved, how long a withdrawal lasted) from public data and with public methods (the sheets of research/). It does not ask about the person's situation beyond those figures, does not assess their suitability and never recommends a transaction in a particular instrument. It says it is not advice (the About page, the terms, the footer).

What to watch (from more to less risk):

Fund names beside an index (resolved in phase A2, 9 October 2026). The selector showed "e.g. VUAA" beside the S&P 500, "VWCE" beside the World: a particular instrument beside a result calculated with the person's figures. There is no longer any product, fund or ticker in the app: only asset types ("US shares", "German bonds", "gold").
Withdrawal zones ("prudent", "risky"). They are labels of the data, not of the person, but they sound like a judgement. They always go with their figure ("lasted in 79 of every 100"); see the withdrawal rate.
Mix templates (100 %, 80/20, 60/40). They are the same for everyone and are called textbook examples: generic information. They must never say "for you".
"Check your plan". The observations describe a fact of the plan with its figure in euros; they never say what to buy, what to sell or which weights to set, and the section starts by saying that what to do is up to the person. The reference for savings is "US shares", an asset type, never a fund, and it goes with its bad case and its worst fall. See the check of your plan; a test checks its wording. To review with the professional: whether comparing savings with shares, with the person's figures, can be read as a suggestion.

Writing rules for every app

Checkable (seed-kit's plain language test fails if they appear, in any text of any app, the explanations too):

Never "you should", "you must", "you have to", "we recommend", "we advise", "we suggest", "recommended", "best for you"; in Spanish, "deberías", "debes", "tienes que", "te recomendamos", "te aconsejamos", "te sugerimos", "recomendado", "lo mejor para ti" (ADVICE in packages/seed-kit/src/plain-language.ts).

Of judgement (checked by whoever writes and whoever reviews):

Never "buy", "sell", "hold", "switch to" or "invest in" followed by an instrument, a company, a fund or an asset.
Never rank products for the person or choose "the best".
Always consequences and data: "With €1,100 and €100 a month, in 20 years you would have about €43,500; in 1 in 10 possible futures, less than €23,500." (The starting plan, calculated with the sheets' methods.) Each percentage with its equivalent in euros of the person's money.
Always with its source and its period; the past is called the past ("it is not a promise").
The same options and examples for everyone; the choice is always that of whoever uses the app.
A fund or a company is named to identify it (what the person already has, or what an index tracks), never as a suggestion; several rather than one.
Never "guaranteed", "safe" or "risk-free" for a return.
In each app, visible: "It is not financial advice" (footer and terms) and a link to how it is calculated.

Sources

Directive 2014/65/EU (MiFID II), Article 4(1)(4) and Annex I.
Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565, Article 9 and recitals.
Regulation (EU) 596/2014 (market abuse), Articles 3(1)(35) and 20; Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/958.
CESR/10-293 (2010); ESMA35-43-3172 (2023).
Texts consulted in their public version (EUR-Lex and ESMA), October
1. The professional must check each citation.

Validation

packages/seed-kit/test/plain-language.test.ts: the test of the words of advice (EN and ES), which also lets the disclaimers through ("it does not tell you what to buy or sell").
Each app passes its whole text through that test: Horalis Growth (src/components/plain-language.test.ts), the hub (test/build.test.ts), Horalis Cost of Living and Horalis Inflation (test/site.test.ts).
When it was applied, the only text that broke it was Horalis Growth's title "What you should know": now "Good to know" ("Para tener en cuenta").
The check of your plan also has its own wording test (projects/wealth-lens/src/lib/plan-check.test.ts): no words of buying, selling or weights ("buy", "sell", "hold", "switch", "reduce", "increase" and their Spanish equivalents), each percentage with its euros.

History

2026-10-03: first sheet; rule 1 becomes a seed-kit test.
2026-10-07: the check of your plan, done and with its wording test; one more point for the professional (comparing savings with world shares).
2026-10-09 (phase A2): fund names are removed (point 1 resolved), My portfolio and single shares; the reference for savings moves to US shares.
2026-10-14 (phase C1): the brief's disclaimer, the same in every tool and in the hub, at the foot of each page: "General information based on historical data. It is not personalised financial advice, nor a recommendation to buy." (seed-kit, institutional.ts; a test in each tool checks it). The terms of use, the legal notice and the privacy statement move to the hub (/terms/, /legal/, /privacy/), to be reviewed by a professional before launch (docs/launch-checklist.md).