Ask yourself the following question: "Do I want to pay off debt or do I want to build wealth?"

I know, I know...there's A LOT of fluff out there in the world today about paying off your debt to become wealthy.  We've covered several ideas in the "Top 10 reason's to use your mortgage to create wealth" series, but there are still two more.  Some of the leading, self proclaimed, financial guru's will tell you that paying off all of your debt is the only way to be truly happy. 

Understand one important point: Being debt free does not necessarily mean you are wealthy.  There are a lot of debt-free people out there in the world who are dead broke.  I even personally know a couple of them due to recent job loss.

So, in order to achieve financial freedom, being debt free isn't the best answer.  If your real goal is to create wealth, you do that by adding as much money as you can to your savings (at least 12 months) and investments (highly diversified...not just stocks).  In order to add as much money as you can to savings and investments, you need to pay as little as possible (meaning minimize your expenses). 

That's why the longer term loans are better than shorter term loans (they cost less per month). That means a 30 year mortgage before a 15 year mortgage, and even a 40 year mortgage before a 30 year mortgage. In general, the longer the term, the lower the monthly payment.  And the lower the monthly payment, the more money to invest.

Jeff is the founder of Mortgage Wealth, a real estate blog dedicated to helping homeowners create real long term wealth through proper mortgage planning.