Financial Planning -> Save Money -> Pay down your debt!
Pay Down Non-Tax-Deductible Debt as Quickly as Possible
You should at least pay down your non-tax-deductible debt with an interest rate greater than 8% as quickly as possible. After that, you may want to start investing, or you could completely pay off your non-tax-deductible debt first, if it will help you sleep better at night.
Try our Loan and Mortgage Calculator, to see how much interest you can save by paying down your debt more quickly!
We will assume:
 | You have a $100,000 mortgage. |
| The interest is not tax deductible. |
| Your interest rate is 7.5%. |
Your monthly payment amount and the total interest paid will vary greatly depending on how long you take to pay off your mortgage.
The following table shows that you can save almost $80,000 by paying off a $100,000 mortgage over 10 years instead of 25 years:
| Mortgage Term (years) |
Monthly Mortgage Payment @7.5% Interest |
Total Mortgage Payments |
Total Interest Paid |
Amount Saved Using Shorter Term |
| 25 | $ 739 | $ 221,697 | $ 121,697 | $ 0 |
| 20 | $ 806 | $ 193,342 | $ 93,342 | $ 28,355 |
| 15 | $ 927 | $ 166,862 | $ 66,862 | $ 54,835 |
| 10 | $ 1,187 | $ 142,442 | $ 42,442 | $ 79,255 |
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Tax tip: Pay down all non-tax-deductible debt with over 8% interest, then see our Save and Invest page.
Revised: October 26, 2023