Aimee Schalles on confronting your marriage’s hard questions early

Aimee Schalles is a lawyer in Revelstoke, B.C., and co-founder of Jointly, a legal platform designed to help Canadian couples obtain affordable, legally valid prenuptial, postnuptial, and cohabitation agreements as part of their financial planning. She’s seen friends and relatives go through challenging separations that might have been less fraught had they documented the financial understandings they had with their ex when everybody was getting along.

Before attending law school, Schalles worked as an advocate for assisting homeless people in their search for housing, and she believes this experience still informs her legal practice—she loves helping ordinary people solve everyday problems. She herself is married with two kids and enjoys spending as much time as she can outdoors.

Who are your money/finance/investing heroes?

I love Rob Carrick’s column in The Globe and Mail and The Wealthy Barber. I learned a lot from Canadian Couch Potato about managing my own investments. Mr. Money Mustache taught me a lot about managing my budget, priorities, and what I really wanted out of spending.

One of my business heroes is Arlene Dickinson. I greatly respect that she is self-made, and that she built her success as a single mother. She is a great example of someone who has not sacrificed her values to be successful. She works to support other entrepreneurs and uses her influence to speak up for what she believes in.

How do you like to spend your free time?

Most of my free time is spent with my two young kids. They’re at really fun ages, and it’s so cool to watch them discover the wonders of everyday life. I also love to backcountry ski and climb whenever I get the chance. I’m lucky to be able to do both of these things in my backyard in Revelstoke, B.C.

If money were no object, what would you be doing right now?

Honestly, probably mostly what I am doing right now. I find my work with Jointly—helping people to understand family law and empowering them to make their own prenuptial, postnuptial, and cohabitation agreements—to be incredibly fulfilling. We are also lucky to live in a beautiful and inclusive community that’s exactly the kind of place I want to raise my family. If money were no object, I’d probably hire more staff and take more vacations, but I feel incredibly fortunate to be this professionally and personally satisfied.

What was your earliest memory about money?

I grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan so my first job was helping with farm work. Along with my brother and sisters, I took care of 600 chickens and 100 turkeys on the farm each summer. It was hot and stinky, but we knew we were contributing to the family business. In order to teach us about how to manage money, our parents expected us to use what we earned to buy clothes, school supplies, and any fun purchases we wanted. Looking back, I am really grateful to have learned money skills at such an early age, and I think they set me up for entrepreneurship and financial discipline.

What’s the first thing you remember buying with your own money?

A Nintendo with Super Mario Brothers 3. My brother and I pooled our funds and bought it together. I’m not totally sure it was my idea…

What was your first job? What did you do with your first paycheque?

My first job outside of the family business was working as a camp counselor with the cadet program. It was a real job with real responsibility. I started there the summer I was 17, and by the time I was 18, I was promoted and had 25 counselors reporting to me. Together, we were responsible for over 150 preteens in the program. Having this experience at such a young age taught me the importance of taking care of people as a leader.

I don’t remember exactly what I spent my first paycheque on, but if I had to guess, I would have saved most of it (except for buying some ice cream). My early money lessons from my parents really stuck!

What was the biggest money lesson you learned as an adult?

I’ve learned a lot about money while running my law firm. One of the most important things I’ve learned is the value of hiring reliable people who can really own parts of the business so that I can focus on the technical legal work and building the business. Investing in people you can rely on is the best money you can spend. My success is dependent on everyone bringing their best to the team.

In addition, in both my business and my personal life, I think about tracking spending as a system, rather than a task to be completed after the fact. I use the You Need a Budget app and methodology. I assign every dollar that comes into my account a “job” or category. I know whether I can afford to splurge on something by looking at my YNAB balances. If there’s not enough funds assigned to the “fun” category and I can’t rearrange things, then I don’t get to splurge. It helps me to avoid making decisions based on my account balance and committing the same funds to two different things.

What’s the best money advice you’ve ever received?

Keep on top of what you’re spending and be sure it’s less than you earn! My husband and I have prioritized this and have staggered our professional training to stay out of debt. We were lucky to be able to rely on each other that way, as being out of debt early helped us to pursue career changes and entrepreneurship without stress.

What’s the worst money advice you’ve ever received?

That I should stay at my Big Law job because that was the path to wealth and professional prestige. I left that job three years into my legal career to run my own small firm. Many of the partners at the firm raised their eyebrows when they heard I was leaving to pursue that path. I’m glad I didn’t listen. Running my own business and firm was the true path to a life in law that fit me and my values and put me on the path to starting Jointly. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Would you rather receive a large sum of money all at once or a smaller amount of money every week/month for life?

I’d take either, but I’d prefer the lump sum because I think it instantly frees you up to chart your own path. If I had a lump sum, we would scale Jointly on warp speed to reach and help even more Canadians chart their own paths for their relationships.

What do you think is the most underrated financial advice, tip or strategy?

Planning, planning, planning. It doesn’t seem exciting, but it’s the only way to be prepared for what the future might hold. You need to think about a relationship agreement (prenup, postnup, cohabitation, depending on your situation), estate planning, budgeting, life insurance, financial planning, and so on. Having all of these documents and plans working together really puts you in the driver’s seat for managing your future.

What is the biggest misconception people have about growing money

That it’s hard to get started. It’s easier to get started than you think! You can learn about budgeting and financial management. You can manage your own investments. You can run your own business. There’s a ton of great blogs, podcasts, books, and social media accounts. Dive in there, start learning, and get going! I’m running two businesses and my own investments and am totally self-taught.

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Can you share a money regret?

I regret buying a couple of new vehicles. It’s nice to have the warranty, but I have a hard time stomaching the instant depreciation in an asset like that.

What does the word “value” mean to you?

I don’t mind spending money on a bi-weekly cleaner (and I’m really lucky to be able to do so!). Cleaning the house is something I never have time for, don’t enjoy, am not particularly great at, and a source of stress. It’s worth it for me to pay someone else to help out so that I can enjoy more time with my kids.

Notwithstanding my earlier comment on starting out on your own, I also don’t mind spending money on professionals and coaches to help me out. A coach helped me to streamline my law firm to be lean, efficient, and more profitable, and I’m learning with Jointly that having specific expertise where you need it can catalyze growth.

What purchase took the most amount of time for you to decide to buy?

The most consequential purchase I’ve made as an adult was buying my law firm in Revelstoke. I knew I wanted to leave Big Law, and my husband and I had been considering moving to Revelstoke for a long time. An opportunity to buy a firm from a lawyer who was retiring came up, and I decided to take the plunge. Going from an associate at a national law firm in downtown Vancouver to owning my own law firm was a huge change, but I’ve never looked back.

What’s your take on debt?

Debt is useful if it helps you earn more elsewhere. If you’re paying lower interest on your mortgage than you’d earn in investing, there’s nothing wrong with paying the minimum monthly payments. If you’re trying to scale a business, taking on debt can help you grow faster to profitability.

What was your most recent splurge?

A trip to Mexico City with two friends. We’ve all been pretty pinned down for the last five years between the pandemic, young families and work demands. It was so nice to get away for a week to eat, drink and explore somewhere fabulous. As a parent and entrepreneur, it felt like an investment in myself, and I came back refreshed and motivated.

What is the last money-related book you read?

It’s been a while, but I loved The Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam. It was practical and demonstrated that investing doesn’t need to be complicated or flashy. It made a topic that often feels intimidating really approachable, which is something that I value as an entrepreneur as well.

What is something you always have in your wallet?

I rarely carry my wallet these days, as I’m a big fan of the security and convenience of Apple Pay. My favourite financial apps in my “digital wallet” are You Need a Budget, Questrade, and Passiv.

What is your favourite possession?

My electric cargo bike. In two years of ownership, we have put almost 4,000 kilometres on it. It’s saved us putting those miles on our car, and it’s been a way more enjoyable way to get around town with our kids. Highly recommended!

What’s your next money goal?

My next big money goals are all focused on Jointly. We’re working hard on rolling out across Canada and we have ambitious goals for revenue and partnerships in the coming years.

My MoneySense quick questions

Rent or own?

That depends. I see a lot of people stretch themselves too thin to buy. You (and your partner, if you’re in a relationship) should crunch the numbers with a financial planner before you buy a home to make sure that it makes true financial sense for you when you consider the true costs of home ownership (including long term maintenance). In today’s housing market, I think renting makes sense for more people than ever before.

Buy or lease?

Buy.

Save or invest?

In my mind, these are the same thing. Of course, you need to look at your overall savings and allocate them appropriately. Your emergency fund should be saved in a high interest savings account, but the remainder of your savings should be invested in index funds.

Budget or not?

Heck yes, budget!

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