A couple who was ‘sick of asking permission to go on holiday’ quit their high-paying corporate jobs to flip houses – and they’re now taking their kids on a $70,000 five-month cruise around the world.
Tiffany, 38, and Mark Baker, 40, left their finance roles in January 2019, and from then on, they committed to ‘living life their way.’
They then started earning a living by flipping houses, and the couple now owns 35 different properties – from houses to commercial buildings – which they rent out.
They use the money they make from their real estate endeavors to travel the world with their daughters: Giuletta, nine; Penelope, seven; and Delia, six.
Most recently, the family are preparing to embark on the adventure of a lifetime – a cruise around the globe set to visit a whopping 21 countries.
Mark explained recently: ‘We have probably flipped 50 houses over the last five years.
‘Flipping those houses has allowed us to start renting out properties. We have around 35 properties and they bring in $20,000 a month.’
For their latest trip funded by the rental income, the parents are planning on taking the gang on a globe-spanning cruise, scheduled for stops at 50 ports in 21 countries – including in Australia, Africa, Spain and Singapore.
The pair will homeschool their children as they work remotely from the ship.
The trip will begin in December, when the family is slated to fly from their home in Terre Haute, Indiana, to Prague, Czech Republic.
There, they’ll visit Prague’s famed Christmas markets, and after that, they will fly to Marseilles, France, from where the cruise will depart.
Tiffany and Mark have put down $70,000 for two bedrooms on the cruise.
That cost covers activities on board, food, and drink.
With that, they’ve also given themselves a $10,000 spending allowance.
‘We operate on 12-month goals … we thought, “One of these days we will take our kids on a cruise,”‘ Mark said of their travel goals as a family.
‘This world cruise was one of our goals.
‘Tiffany planted the seed while we were on a drive back from our vacation in New Orleans, Louisiana, and she said, “Why don’t we do the cruise now?”
‘We looked into it and it has worked out.’
Of the decision to leave their full-time jobs in 2019, Tiffany said: ‘The reason we did that was we didn’t have a work-life balance.
‘It didn’t sit well with us that we had to ask permission for a day off.
‘When we quit our jobs it was more to design our lives and live them unapologetically.’
‘With our daughters being in school, we realized that the schools were now dictating when we could go on holiday… We had the same realization that we did when we quit our jobs,’ Tiffany continued of her daughters’ school schedules.
Of the brief stretch they’ll have in Europe before the cruise departs, Tiffany said: ‘We love Europe, we lived there for four years – there is something special about it.’
She continued of the cruise’s itinerary: ‘We have visited Bali and Indonesia before and had a special trip there so we are excited to go back there and visit friends.’
Mark added: ‘We have never been to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil – that will be a cool place.
‘Australia has always been on out list and the ships itinerary laps the continent down there.’
Tiffany and Mark said both their daughters were ‘super excited’ for the cruise, but admitted homeschooling them might be a challenge.
‘The children are so excited. They were all born in different countries – Italy, USA and Japan,’ Tiffany shared.
‘Our nine-year-old is on her fifth passport. For me I am looking forward to see if it works, to see if I can home school our daughters from anywhere on the planet.’
Mark added: ‘It is about taking the chance to see whether we can do it and make it work.
‘The worst scenario is that doesn’t work – normal school will be waiting for them.’