Top Ways To Pay Off A Mortgage Faster

Want to get relieve yourself of mortgage stress? Check out our tips for paying off your mortgage faster and saving more money. By Krystal Yee Purchasing a home is a major accomplishment, but paying off your mortgage as early as possible will be the best investment you can make.

For many Canadian homeowners, paying off their mortgage as quickly as possible is a top priority. Paying down extra principal in the years by whatever means possible can shorten the life of your mortgage and dramatically lower the interest you'll pay over the long haul.

If you own a home, it's likely that you're still dragging the old ball-and-chain. No not that one - we're talking about your mortgage. For many homeowners, 10, 20 or even 30 years down the road seems like an impossibly long commitment, which often means we slog along, and forget all about what it would be like to be mortgage-free.

Financial planner and FP columnist Jason Heath helps readers shed light on everyday financial decisions. Send your questions to personalfinance@nationalpost.com. Chris asks: I have a large mortgage ($327,000) and I have been thinking a lot lately about a plan to pay it off by age 50.

If you intend to pay off your home mortgage as quickly as possible, then you're in the majority; a survey released in 2008 by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation claims that more than 75 per cent of survey respondents who bought a home in the previous year said being mortgage-free sooner was their goal.

While I've been busy sinking money into mortgage payments, daycare costs, RESPs, RRSPs, utilities, groceries, vehicle maintenance and the occasional vacation, I've somehow failed to notice that many Canadians seem to be doing all this - and stepping up their mortgage repayments, too.