I doubled up on some of my payments and paid off my mortgage in 11 years, instead of the 15 I signed up for. I believe some mortgages don't allow that, they have a "pre-payment penalty" because interest is how they make their money. Can you imagine that? There's no way I would have stood for that.

My monthly payments were high, but the interest wasn't as bad as for the usual 30 year loan, and for me, I was paying mostly principal. I paid 6.5% interest for my mortgage.

It saved me a pile in interest to do that, and it allowed me to retire early. I could sense this economic bust was long overdue, and I wanted to be free and clear before it hit. I made it just in time.