Also the option I am looking at is more like a HELOC so there's still flexibility for taking additional money out if needed but the main mortgage portion would be locked into a fixed mortgage rate.
This is what we did. 25y mortgage with TD and a HELOC. As we paid down the mortgage our HELOC & room to borrow grew. (MMM calls this springy debt.) For the first 5 years we were lucky to never borrow against the HELOC. We actually kept enough of a + balance in our HELOC that it worked like a checking account and all house taxes and bills were paid from it. We closed our checking account that either had fees or a $2000 balance. Also if it does slip slightly below zero it is just pennies in interest compared to overdraft on a checking account. So it kind of works like the Manualife ONE account except it doesn't make + interest but also doesn't cost $16.
We paid it all off in 6 years before I heard about the math of the "do not pay off your mortgage club". At the 5 year mark it was nice to not "renew" our mortgage as it just went into the floating HELOC part seamlessly. Knowing our time horizon was near the end, I was not worried about the variable rate & grateful to not negotiate a new mortgage. (I feel your current pain.)
One mistake was we were so set on paying the mortgage we weren't even maxing our RRSP.
So my advice.
1) Get a blended HELOC mortgage.
2) Get it the fixed portion for 25 years. (you can always pay it faster in step 5)
3) Close you checking account and use your HELOC (Not critical, but a CPA friend gave me this advice about 15 years ago)
4) Max your tax advantage investment accounts or at least upto 15%.
5) Pay what you want extra towards your mortgage.
6) Invest in taxable accounts
Your call if you focus on 5 or 6. But don't do 5 at the expense of 4. I kind of like the strategy to build up 6 until you can do 5 in one lump sum.
**** I would only recommend the HELOC to someone who is otherwise debt free & great with credit cards. The temptation of the HELOC is like a Siren to a Sailor.
We have since used it to "pay-off" the mortgage on a rental property when the other bank literally told us we would need to leave and come back as a new client to get the advertised rate. We left and never came back.
We also helped bridge a deal on a property that needed to be acted on quickly before the loan could be obtained on that property.
Recently, we had to use it as an emergency fund for about $12,000 and the interest was only $55 before we were able to dig ourselves out.
