Canadians Guide: Managing USD & CAD Income
For many Canadians—whether you're a snowbird spending winters in Florida, a freelancer with US clients, or a cross-border worker—managing finances in two currencies is a daily headache.
If you have income in USD but expenses in CAD (or vice versa), simple tracking apps often fail. They either force you to pick one currency or mess up your totals by treating $1 USD as $1 CAD.
The Problem with Single-Currency Apps
Most budget apps ask you to select a "Base Currency" during setup. If you spend $50 USD on a subscription, you have to manually calculate the exchange rate and enter it as (~$68 CAD).
This is tedious and inaccurate. Rates fluctuate daily, and manual conversion kills the habit of tracking.
The Solution: Multi-Currency Tracking
ExpenTrace handles this natively. You can have accounts in CAD and accounts in USD (or Euros, GBP, etc.) living side-by-side.
Real-Time Conversion: ExpenTrace fetches live exchange rates. When you view your "Total Net Worth" or "Monthly Spending," it automatically converts your USD balances to CAD using the current rate.
How to Setup for Dual Income
- Create a "Chequing (CAD)" account.
- Create a "PayPal (USD)" or "US Bank" account and set the currency to USD.
- Log expenses in the currency you paid with.
When you look at your reports, you’ll see the consolidated picture. No calculator required.