Did You Know: No Need For a Passport?

You may have heard about the recent news wherein the Province of British Columbia will be the first in Canada to offer “enhanced” driver’s licences. From the outside, these new driver’s licences will look just like their current counterparts with the notable exception of a Canadian flag in the top-left corner. However, inside the card will be an embedded wireless chip (RFID) that contains a specific identification number which can then be cross-referenced with a national database containing your name, address, birthdate, and so on.

The idea is that the enhanced driver’s licence (EDL) can replace the need for a passport when crossing the border (via land) into the United States. As you know, the easiest form of identification that you can use when driving to Seattle, for example, is your Canadian passport, but you might not always have that on your person. By contrast, you probably carry your driver’s licence with you everywhere you go. As such, it is much easier to take a spontaneous trip to the States. Have to meet up with a business contact on short notice? No problem, because you don’t need to go home to grab your passport and/or birth certificate.

Naturally, there are all sorts of privacy concerns that go into such technology, because someone with an RFID tag reader can illegally pick up your information without your knowledge. This is because the tags are completely wireless; as you approach the border, you simply wave your EDL in front of a reader and the border guard immediately has access to your information.

The pilot program will consist of about 500 volunteers and if successful, the EDL will be offered for an additional fee to the rest of BC. This program will cost taxpayers about $4 million. What do you think? Is this a good idea?

Did You Know: American Income, Canadian Income Tax

By and large, people work for a single company and get a paycheque every couple of weeks in the local currency. If you’re a Canadian citizen doing the usual 9-to-5 thing in a Canadian office, there’s a good chance that you get paid in Canadian dollars. This makes income tax season a little easier, because you don’t have to worry about any sort of currency exchange. By contrast, if you’re a freelance writer or web designer, for example, there’s a good chance that you’ll have at least a couple of customers who will pay you in funds other than the Canadian dollar. American clients are very common.

The same can be said about anyone with a monetized blog. When you sign up for networks like Adsense, ReviewMe, and Kontera, they typically send their payments out in American dollars, either via cheque or to your Paypal account. What are you supposed to do with this income? Obviously, it needs to reported, but you can’t simply plunk these numbers into your income tax forms on a 1-to-1 basis. The Canadian dollar and the American dollar are close to par, but what if you receive Euros, British Pounds, or Hong Kong Dollars? What then?

Thankfully, the Bank of Canada releases information every year on the average exchange rate over the course of the year and it’s usually pretty safe to stick with this average rate, assuming that you have been receiving payment throughout the year. Historical information based on monthly and annual average rates can be found on this page. For the 2007 tax year, I recommend that you go with the 2007 average exchange rates (PDF format).

Looking at that form, the Canadian-US exchange for 2007 averaged at 1.07478127, or about 7.4%. This is the same number that major financial institutions use when they issue T5 forms (if any of your investments were in a currency other than the Canadian dollar). So, if you earned US$1000 on your blog, you should report C$1074.78 on your income tax.

Did You Know: Pleasure-Only Vehicles Can Be Used For Business

If you are a work-at-home entrepreneur like me, then you probably don’t spend all that much time outside of your home for business purposes. This is especially true of people like freelance writers and web designers, because the bulk of our contact with our clients is via phone and email. There really isn’t much of a need to ever see these people in real life, especially if you’re dealing with folks half a world away.

One of the key advantages to working from home is that you can save on several expenses that you would normally have if you worked outside the home. For example, you don’t really need to pay for office space, because an extra bedroom can serve as a home office (and as a tax deduction). You also save on the daily commute, because getting to the office is as easy as strolling down the hall.

With this in mind, the insurance that I have on my car is listed as “pleasure only” as opposed to the “to get to work and/or school” tag that it carried previously. This saves me a fair chunk of change each year, but many work-at-home professionals are hesitant to make the switch, because they fear that they will no longer be able to use their car (and related expenses) as a tax deduction. This simply is not the case, at least not in British Columbia.

When a vehicle is insured as pleasure only, there is a stipulation that it can still be used for business in up to six days each calendar month. Six days is perfectly adequate for most freelance writers and other work-at-home entrepreneurs, because how often do we leave the house for business purposes? I’d imagine that the majority of your kilometres would still need to be non-business and/or the majority of your “trips” would need to be non-business. I can’t say for sure.

Saving money is just as important as making money. An auto insurance is one way to save.

Did You Know: Talent vs. Genius

I have a daily quote widget in my iGoogle personalized homepage, and while I don’t pay attention to it every day, it’s good to know that it’s there whenever I’m looking for a little insight, a little inspiration, or perhaps a good chuckle. One of the quotes that I read today is particularly profound, so I thought I’d share it with you guys today.

“Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.

This was said by German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who lived from 1788 to 1860. Schopenhauer spent most of his academic career critiquing the views and works of Immanuel Kant, another well-known German philosopher. Reading through his biography on Wikipedia, I learned that Schopenhauer is partly (wholly?) responsible for the concept of will or “will to live”. The human species is fueled by desire and this drives our human experience.

Anyways, getting back to the quote, I think it clearly illustrates the critical difference between simple talent and genius. We could say that Roberto Luongo is talented, because of his exceptional skill on the ice. We could say that many top athletes and high-ranking corporate executives are talented, because they have managed to achieve so much in their careers, but they are all vying for the same goals, the same targets as many of us are. They’re just better at hitting that target.

By contrast, you can look at who we consider to be geniuses. Revolutionary figures like Albert Einstein and even Steve Jobs can be considered geniuses, because they were approaching targets that many of us did not even know existed. Charles Darwin is perhaps another example, because no one else even considered the possibility of evolution. These are innovators and people who see what the rest of us do not see.

There’s nothing wrong with being “just” talented. But it’s better to be a genius.

Did You Know: Don’t Take Anything At Face Value

You may have heard the recent news about how Vancouver-based Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) pulled all Nalgene bottles from their shelves late last week. They stopped selling the polycarbonate plastic water bottles over “worries about the chemical bisphenol A, which has been linked to cancer and reproductive problems in animals.” This chemical may leach from the plastic into the drinking water and MEC didn’t want to run the risk.

Well, this isn’t exactly new news, despite what many reporters may lead you to believe. Poking around on the Internet, I found this post written way back in April 2005. I’m sure that with a little more investigation, older articles will also pop up, all of which point toward the potential hazardous effects of bisphenol A.

Speaking for myself, I used my Nalgene water bottle religiously for the entirety of my university career at UBC. As far as I can tell, I haven’t suffered from any (major) brain damage and I don’t appear to showing any symptoms of cancer. Nearly every university student that I know used Nalgene bottles at some point in their academic career, as do the countless outdoor enthusiasts in and around the Vancouver area.

While it may be true that bisphenol A leaches from the polycarbonate containers, it appears that the amount is so small that it has minimal effect on the human body. An investigation is currently underway, but it goes to show you that you should never take anything at face value. I’m not saying that the Nalgene bottles are necessarily safe, but it’s just because MEC decided to pull the products from its shelves that this issue has risen to the surface. I didn’t know about the bisphenol A risk until the story broke out last week.

Did You Know: Fun Millionaire Facts

Many of us aspire to be millionaires, whether it be through an Internet venture or some lucrative real estate investment. There are many ways that you can go about making money, but I just thought that I’d spend a few moments today to discuss a few interesting facts that I found about millionaires in general. Some just may surprise you.

The average age of Forbes’s 400 wealthiest individuals is 63.

What this means is that if you want to rake in the mega bucks, there’s a good chance that it will take you several years to do it. This doesn’t mean that you can’t become a millionaire before the age of 63 — Bill Gates can easily attest to that fact — but it does speak to the demographics of the world’s richest. Whether the increased wealth is due to having more wisdom or simply because they had more years to amass the fortune, well, that’s up for discussion.

There are more than 7 million millionaires in the world.

Guess what? The millionaire’s club isn’t nearly as exclusive as it used to be. Realistically, a million dollars doesn’t go all far anymore. For instance, the average price of a single detached home in Vancouver is over $700,000. Throw in some furniture and a fund to cover some basic expenses and you’re easily into the seven figure mark. If there are more than seven million millionaires in the world, it means that there is about one millionaire for 1000 people. Doesn’t sound that exclusive, does it?

80% of millionaires drive second-hand cars.

Think used cars are only for people who can’t afford new cars? Think again. Millionaires got to where they are today partly because they know where they can save a dollar without having to sacrifice anything. Granted, the second-hand cars of millionaires might cost more than your home, but saving money is saving money. There’s nothing wrong with driving a second-hand car.

If you stack one million US$1 bills, it would be 110m (361 ft) high and weigh exactly 1 ton.

Just thought that was a rather quirky fact. In case you’re wondering, the source of all this information is didyouknow.cd. Now go out there and become a millionaire.