Making work work for you.

What with social media, smartphones, clients, friends and family all pulling us in so many directions, what do we do for sanity? Oh yeah, try to enjoy the summer time!

Wouldn’t it be cool if over the summer we were able to build some balance in our lives, use technology to our advantage, and use our business to do it cost and tax effectively? Maybe we can. For example:

I have to plan a trip to PEI for business but my wife has suggested we are not spending enough time together. “You are working too hard. We don’t see you enough.” Being in financial services as well as personal coaching, my time can be booked for weeks in advance. I decide to combine the request from my wife for more together time with business commitments that I have on the Island. It makes sense to find a long weekend to book a cottage at the shore. This will give us the opportunity to be able to relax for 3 days before I start my meetings. After that my daughter and her family can join us and my wife can spend time with them while I am away conducting business. We will have some quality family time in the evenings.

I notify the people that I am normally in contact with that I may be a little slower getting back to them due to that family time, and focus on e-mail and communications during the working day only. Networking has become an around-the-clock way of life and it is hard to break the daily habits.

So we book the trip and we’re ready to go. Now to plan out the budget to see what the expenses of the trip will look like. The costs of driving to the Island are deductible expenses. I make sure to check the rates of accommodation for one occupant for the days that I am doing business. There are road tolls both for the Cobequid pass as well as the Confederation Bridge, then the cost of food for the BBQ’s and eat-out meals. When you begin to add up these costs, they can be considerable.

Everyone is excited about a trip to the Island. My wife is happy to spend time with me, my daughter and her family are pleased to come along, and I am able to meet face to face with my clients.
The travel costs breakdown as follows:

• 3 tanks of gas- $65 x 3 = $195
• Wear and tear on the car  @ .15 per km. (I use my car log to keep track of kilometers.) Total kms- 1200- includes back and forth trips between the cottage and Charlottetown (.15 x 1200) = $180.
• The rental of the cottage is $125 per night. We stay a week – 7 x $125 = $875.
• Then there’s the road tolls as well as the bridge- $4 to come and go on the pass and $43.25 for the bridge.
• Meals for the week -$600.

Total costs-  $1901.25

Let’s see what the deductible costs are:

• Whether I drive with my wife or by myself the costs are the same but I make some deductions as CRA may assess some personal use.  I write off 2 tanks- $65×2 +$130.
• On the km front- 900 kms x .15 =$135.
• The cost of the cottage is the same price for 2 as for 1 so I base it on work days. Four days x $125 = $500.Four days x $125 = $500.
• The food costs for myself and clients- $250.
• Toll costs- $4 x 2=$8, plus the bridge- $43.25.
• Total business expenses $1066.25.

That is quite a savings over the $1901.25 of a straight family vacation; out of pocket is $835.

Before you go on vacation see if there is an opportunity to mix a little business with pleasure. It’s one of the best ways to make work work for you- and the family.

Submitted by James R Hanifen RHU CFP Partner at Life Quest Financial. You can reach him at jrhanifen@gmail.com