Paying down your mortgage early // Big savings - if you can afford it

When you make your December mortgage payment, take a look at themonthly statement and weigh the advantages of one extra payment ayear.

That one extra payment works the same way as biweekly payments,which result in 26 half-monthly payments a year. Either way, you canshave about six or seven years off a 30-year mortgage if you repeatthis step each year.

The advantage, of course, is the huge amount of interest saved.For example, according to The Banker's Secret, by early-payoffadvocate Marc Eisenson, you would save $48,117 in interest on a$120,000 30-year mortgage at 7.5 percent interest simply by switchingto biweekly payments.Your mortgage would be paid in full in …