Despite popular belief, one’s inclination to pay off their mortgage as fast as possible isn’t necessarily a foregone conclusion. If for nothing else, one of the best personal finance hacks I have encountered promotes the idea of maintaining your monthly mortgage obligations. I’m convinced it may not be in your best interest to pay off your mortgage as fast as possible. Of course, there are exceptions, but most people don’t have the financial means to make paying off their mortgage worth their while.

For what it’s worth, maintaining your mortgage payments may coincide with more benefits than you are aware of. And therein lies the secret to one of today’s best personal finance hacks.

PERSONAL FINANCE HACKS YOU LIKELY HAVEN’T CONSIDERED

Whether you realize it or not, continuing to pay into your monthly mortgage obligations remains one of today’s best personal finance hacks. At the very least, there are several reasons you may not want to pay off your mortgage immediately, but perhaps none are more important than the following three:

1. Missing Out On A Great Tax Deduction

The real estate industry has become ubiquitous with very attractive tax benefits, so much so that a large contingent of investors have chosen their respective path as a means to collect on said incentives. That said, tax benefits aren’t relegated solely to investors; your average homeowner can also get in on the action. Pretty much anyone with a mortgage has the potential to benefit from great tax incentives. It’s worth noting, however, that there is one tax benefit that today’s homeowners have not only grown accustomed to, but have also come to rely on: mortgage interest deduction.

Those homeowners that itemize their taxes each year are typically allowed to deduct the interest they pay on their mortgage from their income taxes. According to Bankrate, taxpayers “can deduct the interest paid on first and second mortgages up to $1,000,000 in mortgage debt (the limit is $500,000 if married and filing separately). Any interest paid on first or second mortgages over this amount is not tax deductible.”