The Biggest Killer Of My Online Income

Having just been in the US, I think there is one positive to this for us Canadians, John -- better spending power when we visit our southern neighbours. ;)

You've been around for the whole dot com thing longer than I have, but even in the short time I have been involved (about a year), I've seen quite a change. I get paid via PayPal in US dollars, so I already suffer a pretty bad exchange rate (typically 2-3% lower than the mid-market rate posted on xe.com). When I started, the exchange was around 14-15% (so I'd get 11-12%), but I remember a few months ago, I was "cashing out" at a measly 8%. I'm starting to see an upswing again (mid-market today is 14.485%) though.

Hm interesting,

not only will the US dollar fall, its going to almost disapate. Our damn money is taken of the US gold standard, so our money is just paper.

Watch Freedom to Fascism on Google Video, we have no backing on our money and its dropping value like a friggin boat anchor diving into the bottom of the sea.

Interesting though to see, that you guys would be affected because your in a different country wow.

I live in South Korea. As you can see, we have been hit pretty good, too, on the exchange rates.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=USDKRW=X&t=5y&...

My particular contract was negotiated around the 1200 won timeframe. We have had some adjustments but they came much later -- after no sight of rebound.

To combat it... why don't you just hold your US dollar payments until the next time the US dollar goes down :P

We all know the US dollar fluctuations follow an economic cycle of booms and busts...

Besides that, you can't much about it.

I don't think the problem here is the rising Canadian dollar, but it is the decreasing value of the U.S. dollar. It is being predicted that the U.S. dollar will continue to fall quite significantly as our trade deficit with China and the Middle East continues to soar.

So in order to combat this you should begin hedging against the dollar by investing in foreign equities or an international Mutual Fund. But as long as you earn your living on U.S. dollars and live on Canadian dollars then there isn't much you can do because the exchange rate will always be there to haunt you.

The CDN gov't has to step in! This is ridiculous! Not only are we suffering, but so are cabbies and pizza delivery boys!

Heh,

Yeah it sucks. But it could be worse like others have stated.

I find it somewhat odd or almost sadistic when I hear people mention how the CDN dollar is going way up, and I'm like "damn"... weird how that works eh?

I too remember when the exchange rate was roughly 1.5x.. now it's like 1.1x...

If I was smart, I'd just move somewhere where the exchange rate is awesome and it's cheap to live and safe and beautiful, etc. But I really do like Canada.

Hi John, I regularly read your blog. :)

I get paid in US$, but have to convert it into Philippine Pesos (because I live in the Philippines), and everytime the peso rises a bit, I get frustrated. (I normally get around Php 5,500 per 1 USD, but last month I've been getting only approx. Php 4,800) Well, it's great for the peso and all, but bad for me :p

I live in the Netherlands;

1$ = €0.79

Does this makes you feel a bit better? ;)

Yeah, Pity...

Aussies are hurting too with a stronger dollar against the US.

Although on the flip side, nows a good time to go overseas on a holiday.

I'm with Christoph... I trade currencies to buffer myself against this effect... as well as to make quick short term profits :P

You're lucky that you always get something more. I live in Europe with EURO! 1.26$ for 1 euro. So I wouldn't complain that much for the exchange rate of CAD to USD

Ya but you still get paid in US dollars first. Then it's converted into CDN then HK.

The good news for me is, I win big time when I buy Hong Kong Dollars now, since they are pegged to the US Dollar :D

When I first came here in 2003, it was $1 CAD = $5 HKD. Now $1 CAD = $6.80 HKD

You should look into the market for currency futures/options. You can protect yourself against further rise/fall of a currency that way. It's like insurance ....

Christoph

Tell me about it. I live in New Zealand. A few years ago, we getting $0.45 USD to $1.00 NZD. Now it is $0.64 USD. Not so long ago it was about $0.72 USD.