What would you do if you could erase years of loan payments and potentially save tens of thousands of dollars in interest on your mortgage, student or car loan, credit-card debt or any other consumer debt? What would you do if you could build wealth by putting your money to work for you?

Unless you are counting on a promotion or fresh sources of income anytime soon, don’t put your financial freedom in jeopardy by overdoing your mortgage. Ideally a mortgage should not be more than 20 per cent of your total monthly income. In fact if you’re paying rent, your mortgage shouldn’t be higher than 150 per cent of the rent that you’re paying right now. If you buy an expensive mortgage, you’ll be free of loan only after a long time.

The key to being free of loan is to understand how debt works. When you buy a mortgage, initially most of the amount that you pay is paid towards the interest and only very little is paid towards principle. The principle component goes on slightly increasing over the period of time, and the interest component goes on decreasing. That’s the lender’s way to ensure that they get the maximum profit out of the loan even if it is repaid early. Your financial freedom depends on understanding the system.

The key to beating the bank is getting in the repayment game really early. If you feel you can pay off a higher monthly amount than the mortgage, then don’t waste that money. Instead start making extra payments apart from your monthly installment. You’ll earn financial freedom much faster because every dollar that you pay apart from your monthly installment will go towards the principle. This will affect your interest bill too. You’ll also be free of loan earlier because the loan will earn before its term.

Remember, your home is your most important asset, and the faster you wholly own it, the better. When you’re free of loan from your home, you can afford to take bigger risks and do bigger things because you know that you’ll always have a shelter. A fully owned home is a very important part of financial freedom.