Jace Mattinson, 36, has already determined that retirement is overrated. Four years ago, he tried for eight months, then realized it felt like he was wasting a decade of hard work and poor nights’ sleep.
When he began his journey to financial independence, he thought retirement would be 30 years away. But by age 32, he had enough to never work in an office again. However, he added, the lure of retirement, whether playing golf or relaxing on a boat, quickly faded.
He wanted to re-enter the job market and find a management position, which would bring him much more fulfillment. He also wanted to be a role model for his children, who saw their father as someone driven less by money and more by true passion.
He did just that, working slightly fewer hours while maintaining a good balance between work, family and play. This is all part of his “life happiness index” which determines his financial and life decisions.
“I decided that retirement in the traditional sense was not something that was going to happen to me anytime soon,” Mattinson told Business Insider.
Mattinson is one of many in the FIRE — financial independence, retire early — community who has moved away from the “RE” part of the acronym. Some have previously told BI that after trying retirement, they felt directionless or bored, eager to return to the workforce. Some wanted to return to their old jobs, while others turned to less stressful roles like nonprofit or charity work.
Retire early, but not for long
Mattinson began his career at PwC as an associate in Dallas, earning $52,000 a year after graduating from Brigham Young University. He quickly rose through the ranks at an outsourced accounting firm earning around $150,000, where he became a partner and moved from Dallas to Austin.
One of his clients was in the wood construction equipment distribution business, and at age 27, he took over a failing wood company. At that time, he was earning around six figures, putting much of that money into various retirement and investment accounts.
After long weeks of work, he sold the business at age 32 for a seven-figure price and raised the amount he needed to retire comfortably while supporting his five children. He said he lives on just $30,000 to $40,000 a year, with most of his income going toward maxing out his retirement accounts and investing in real estate.
“I skipped five years like it was nothing, but if you ask my wife, there were some extremely difficult years,” he said. “I was gone at least a few nights a week. I had operations all over Texas and Oklahoma. And I spent a lot of time trying to grow that business.”
During this time, he acquired a real estate portfolio in Texas, taking advantage of house hacking and other strategies to obtain additional passive income.
He said he was exhausted after years of almost nonstop work and thought he would never have that kind of freedom again after selling the company. He took a “mini-retirement” that included golfing up to four times a week, skiing, basketball and boating.
A few months later, he realized that his hobbies were becoming repetitive and boring. He felt disengaged from his work and his social communities, and part of him felt like his rapid rise up the corporate ladder was being overlooked. He wasn’t worried about money, however, because he had plenty of investments and had yet to deploy much of the large cash infusion from the sale of the business.
“I didn’t think I was going to close up shop forever, but it felt like maybe I would take a lot of time off,” Mattinson said. “But after about eight months of this mini-retirement, I decided I had way too much time on my hands not to be engaged.”
He didn’t view the mini-retirement as a complete mistake, as it helped him recharge and reconsider his values. But he eventually noticed that he wasn’t “programmed” to relax for long periods of time and wanted to pursue his passions of growing his investments and real estate portfolio – or, in other words, his job .
“I’ve changed my mindset: I’m pretty young and I don’t necessarily want to be retired,” Mattinson said. “I didn’t want my kids to grow up thinking that Dad was working really hard at one point, but now he’s hanging out and going golfing all the time.”
Back to work
He decided to take on new challenges in the field of lumber distribution, which he said was much more rewarding than indulging in his daily hobbies. He is now an executive at a wood building materials company and is doing another national rollout.
He continues to invest in franchises and real estate and has had a podcast for seven years. He has a three-pronged investment strategy: investing in the market, businesses and real estate.
He has recently moved from a scarcity mindset of wanting to save everything and DIY everything to an abundance mindset of investing more in what matters and splurging on things that make life easier life. He still enjoys working in the garden but pays for cleaning or laundry.
He maintains a “life happiness index,” which he says is highest when he balances his work with his family and hobbies. It attempts to maximize this index by continuing its work in areas such as investment and distribution. He considered turning to charity or other less stressful options, although he said the best use of his talents, from an impact standpoint, was to return to the field he had left.
As a result, he has less control over his family’s budget than before, spending roughly what he thinks they should but no longer tracking every dollar. He also set aside money for community improvement projects that could benefit others in the long run.
“I’m not trying to break the bank if it doesn’t make me happy,” he said. “I don’t want to be a billionaire at all, but there are things I would like to do after I change my mind. I would love to one day create a park, for example, in my area that has all the different amenities.
He schedules one-on-one time with his kids, plays basketball twice a week, and makes time to play tennis or golf with friends, all of which take priority in his schedule.
As for his “permanent” retirement, he said he plans to work as long as he enjoys it. Although he doesn’t want to be a “full-time parent” and needs work to continue living, he increasingly tries to pick up and drop off his children from school and attend their sporting events.
“As long as I’m able to continue to take enough vacations, travel, do some of the things I’ve always loved doing locally, and enjoy some of my hobbies a few times a year, I’m in a pretty good place. location,” he said.
Are you part of the FIRE movement or do you live by some of its principles? Contact this journalist at nsheidlower@businessinsider.com.
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