My situation was a little different. I started a new job and wasn't eligable for retirement plan for a year. Therefore took the "extra" money and used it to pay off the mortgage, way early.

Here's my take. Eventhough you get to write off the interest of the mortgage, interest money spent is money lost. $1000 in interest, in 36% bracket, you only get to write off $360, you've lost $640.

Some of it depends on which end of the mortgage you're in. At the beginning, it's almost all interest, for me a big incentive to get rid of it. At the end, there's hardly any, so not much "lost" or "written off".

JLC