Why Only One Payment

Unless your particular mortgage mentions a pre-payment penalty (very few do) you can make as many extra principal payments as you like, any time. The item you read referred to one extra payment a year because I was answering someone who wanted to accomplish the same thing as bi-weekly half-payments, which do add up to one extra a year. As to whether it's better to pay down your mortgage or make some other investment -- that depends on your whole financial picture. Two things to do first: pay down any expensive credit card balances, and stash away three to six months' living expenses where it can be reached in an emergency, perhaps in a simple savings account. When you're trying to decide where to invest, figure that if you have a 6 percent mortgage, sending in extra money to pay it down is like making an investment that returns a guaranteed 6 percent, no risk. In any event, of course, you wouldn't want to get your last dollar tied up in your house