When Ben Franklin first coined the phrase “A penny saved is a penny earned,” he wanted to make the point that saving money yields the same benefit as having earned it. He believed that earning a dollar, and saving it for the future, was equal to having earned two dollars. However, we know today that money saved is actually worth much more than money earned because Uncle Sam doesn’t take a chunk as income tax. So, if you need money, (and who among us couldn’t use a little more than we already have?), then looking for new ways to save money may be far better than looking for new ways to earn it.

For those who own a home, or are thinking about buying one, I can suggest a remarkable investment plan that will save you tens of thousands of dollars and shorten the life of your mortgage at the same time. If you have one or more mortgage payments sitting in a saving or checking account earning less than 1% a year, you are loosing money. If you scour the country searching for certificates of deposit that pay 1.75 or 2% a year, you are wasting your time. The plan I recommend will earn more than 5 times today’s savings rates with no additional risk.

All you need to do is simply pay half of your regular mortgage payment every two weeks instead of one full payment each month. Paying a full mortgage payment every four weeks will also work but two payments every four weeks produce a better result. Either way, you will be making 13 payments every year rather then 12. Your investment is only one extra payment a year, but the interest saved over the life of the mortgage is substantial. The following example demonstrates just how much money can be saved.

Let’s suppose you start this routine at the beginning of a 30-year, $298,050 mortgage with an annual interest rate of 5%. Just to keep the numbers realistic, let’s also include an escrow payment of $800/month to cover real estate taxes and insurance. The mortgage calculator at Bankrate.com indicates that the monthly mortgage payment is $2400. The one extra payment during the first year reduces the total interest over the life of the mortgage by $3600, which is 150% pure profit. Each year, as the principle is reduced, the interest saved is a tad less. If the mortgage payment remains constant at $2400, the total interest saved is close to 28 times the payment. This amounts to $67,977 saved over the life of the mortgage and, as Dr. Franklin would remind us, this is $67,977 of tax-free earnings. Not only is this a huge saving but the “30-year” mortgage is paid off in 23.6 years. If you had to pay $1600 for principle and interest every month for another 6.4 years, you would need $122,880.

Now think about the new toys that $122,880 would buy.