Steps to become mortgage free

If owning a home is most people's dream, then don’t you think that should mean owning a home free and clear of any mortgage? Yes, this is a little more work than just owning a home and takes a little longer but the sooner you get started the sooner you will be mortgage free and truly own your home and the piece of mind and security that brings.

So how is this possible when there never seems to be any extra money left each month and the lottery tickets just haven’t being paying?  

It comes down to discipline and baby steps.  If your system is whenever I have a couple hundred dollars I’ll set it aside and once a year I’ll put it down on my mortgage, then the chance of success is extremely low. Something always comes up, like snow tires or a trip to Mexico and that money never gets put towards the mortgage.

Some suggestions that may help you make mortgage freedom a reality!

If you put money into your RRSP you normally get some money back when you file your taxes. If you put this refund down on your mortgage you will be reducing the time required to payoff your mortgage. If you do this every year you will be amazed at the result.

Switch your mortgage from your standard monthly payments to bi-weekly accelerated and you can cut 3 to 4 years off the life of your mortgage with little or no financial pain.

Increase your monthly payment! Decide what amount you can comfortably afford (hopefully this is higher than you are currently paying) and get your payment set at this amount. You can then enter this information into a mortgage calculator and see how much sooner your goal of mortgage freedom can be achieved. You can also decide when you want your mortgage paid off and calculate what your payment would have to be to achieve this goal.   This may be good news and it may require some tweaking of that goals time frame!

There are also some products on the market for those who may be starting out with great intentions but who lack long term discipline or know how.   

This systems walks you through a step by step process every month taking into account your monthly bills and your mortgage payment.   

One product, that was developed in Australia and which has had huge success recently in North America is United First Financials, Money Merge Account (MMA). Basically this is a step by step system that if followed (this is a key point) will help you achieve that dream of a mortgage free home in as much as 10 to 15 years less time than your conventional mortgage payment.   

The system will also save you 10’s of thousands of dollars in interest and increase your wealth and security.  Don’t change your mortgage and incur additional fees just stick to the payment the MMA tells you each and every month and you will be shocked to see how much sooner your personal and mortgage debt will disappear.   

For more information on the Money Merge Account ask your mortgage specialist.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.