There isn’t an online calculator for this that I am aware of, and probably for good reason.

Many mortgage brokers as of late have been touting the advantages of breaking ones mortgage in order to save interest. What they are failing to tell clients however, is that even though you may save thousands in interest on paper, in many cases you end up owing more principal at the end of your term. In most cases, the broker gets paid a hefty commission, and the client is none the wiser. I don’t think that brokers are doing this on purpose, I just think that there are to many new and uneducated brokers out there who don’t know any better. As you know however, the banks are also faced with this problem given the high staff turnovers and marginally better training.
I do personally have a calculator for just this purpose, and would be happy to help you see the real numbers for yourself.

Great question. I have a couple of thoughts on this, one or two particularly that may not coincide with mainstream thinking.

The first is Make More Money. The cool thing for guys like you and I who can earn money outside of our day jobs is that our income is directly proportional to our hustle. In other words having a product like a book, a music cd, or being able to speak or sing in public is a license to print money. This means that if you want to continue your lifestyle, while paying off your debt, just book more gigs or sell more cds. I absolutely encourage everyone to have at least one product or means of generating income outside of their day job that is completely scalable based on how much time and work they want to put in. More importantly it should be something they are passionate about.

The second thing I encourage before you even start paying down a cent of your debt, is to make sure you have at least six months after tax income set aside in a bank account that is separate from your normal chequing account. This money is there to be used in case you can’t work or lose your job. It gives you time to regroup if something goes wrong, and prevents your debt from taking over your life completely. Think rainy day fund.

The third thing I recommend, is to figure out how you will be most successful in paying off your debt. Some people prefer to pay off high interest rate debt first, some need to feel the gratification of paying off the smallest debts first and working up to the big ones. I can tell you which is the most effective from an interest savings and time frame perspective, but it doesn’t matter if that method is not something that you can follow through with. You ultimately have to find the way that works best for you and then execute.

The forth piece of advice I have, is find someone to hold you accountable. A friend, a coach, or a mentor. Part of my business is financial coaching. The people who are most successful when it comes to obtaining their financial goals are the ones that I am on the phone with once a month, making sure they are keeping in check.

Hope that helps.

Nolan

See the Financial Post article attached here.

My understanding is that the higher the dollar goes, the slower inflation will take hold. That seems to imply that interest rates will stay lower longer. The unfortunate part of trying to predict where interest rates go is that you cannot look at any factor independently, and there are far to many to choose from. I would watch the Bank of Canada’s Inflation Control Target. If inflation starts to reach 2%, expect interest rates to rise.

PS. There are two types of economists. Micro economists who tend to be wrong about specific things, and Macro economists who are wrong about things in general.