Paying off your mortgage before you stop working could help provide you with something every retiree seeks: peace of mind. But there may be better uses for your money, at least in the short term. If you have credit card or other high-interest debt, pay it off first. And don't neglect your retirement savings. Finally, you should have an emergency fund so you're not forced to tap retirement accounts to cover unexpected expenses.

If, however, you can swing it, retiring mortgage-free means you won't have to sell stocks and funds at a loss to make the monthly payments if a bear market clobbers your investment portfolio. Nor will you have to worry about taking taxable withdrawals from your retirement accounts to pay the mortgage.

One way to wind down your mortgage before retirement is to refinance to a 15-year loan. Your monthly payments will probably be higher than those for a 30-year mortgage, but the increase will be mitigated by a lower interest rate and, over the life of the loan, you will save thousands of dollars in interest.

Make sure the difference in interest rates is sufficient to offset the costs of refinancing.

Paying more than the monthly amount due on your current mortgage gives you more flexibility than refinancing, and you won't have to worry about closing costs. You could pay the equivalent of 13 monthly payments instead of 12, either by making an extra payment at year-end or by dividing your payment by 12 and adding that amount to your monthly bill. On a 30-year mortgage, making 13 monthly payments each year would reduce the term of your loan by about four years.

Or you can make biweekly payments of half your usual monthly payment (or the usual monthly payment every four weeks). Because there are 52 weeks in the year, you'll make the equivalent of 13 monthly payments by year-end.

Want to pay down your mortgage faster? Calculate how much you'll need to add to your payment every month to pay it off by the time you retire.

Whatever method you choose, tell your mortgage servicer to apply the extra payments to your principal. And check your monthly billing statement or closing documents to be sure you won't be hit with prepayment penalties.

(Sandra Block is a senior associate editor at Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine. Send your questions and comments to moneypower@kiplinger.com. And for more on this and similar money topics, visit Kiplinger.com.)