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Originally Posted by redguard57
It's interesting - among people I talk to in my daily life, this mortgage prepayment issue is one of the most.... I don't want to say "divisive" but definitely something that people have strong opinions on one way or another.
There's the Dave Ramsey type people who live by the "debt-free" mantra. They say it should be top priority now that I've paid all my debts off to focus on eliminating the mortgage ASAP - although it will take me between 9 and 13 years to do it. I tend to lean a little in this direction.
Then there are the people - generally my family members and friends that are bankers, real estate agents or sales people - that see debt as a tool and don't really fear it. Actually they think I should take out more debt now that my credit rating went sky-high and before interest rates increase and invest in rental properties or something. In general they see me "wasting" my savings by not being aggressive with it (I put it in CDs, bonds and the most conservative investment vehicles I can find - I have one index fund that a % of the savings goes to). They think "debt-free" is really "lost opportunity" and generally not worth it.
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OP I think prepaying your mortgage, especially when first taken out, is the smart thing to do.
I am fairly debt adverse. I too initially paid more on our mortgage after getting it initially. Now that I refi'd several years ago for around 3% I don't worry about it as much. We paid a big chunk down and are around 60% LTV now, and at the same time got a 15 year note. We could pay it off right now, which we just may do, I'm not sure. All the investors say "no" that it's stupid, but you can't live in an investment account. There is huge piece of mind to owning your property, especially in our area where taxes are low. Once the mortgage is paid off, our monthly housing cost is around $200 between taxes and insurance.
Alternatively the more risker play is to take that money, invest in property REITs and other large dividend paying companies (like AT&T, around 5%) and pay the note off with the dividends from that. At the end you're left with no mortgage and still a large investment account balance.
Typically the stock market has out performed RE over the long term but there is price of mind to owning your house. Also when purchasing another, there is a massive amount of "fees" that are saved by paying cash.
In general, as long as you are "smart" about it, using other people's money (OPM) to leverage your position will give the greatest financial return. Donald Trump went bankrupt multiple times, but used OPM to build his empire back up again.
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I miss it too - used to have that when I lived in Texas. 
