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While some families are struggling to pay their mortgages, others are in the enviable position of considering whether to make an extra payment this year.

Experts say that while such a move can reduce interest payments over the life of the loan — and speed up the date of a mortgage-burning party — it may not be the best use of consumers' money.

"My concern is that you may accomplish paying off your mortgage early, but if you're not doing any other saving you'll enter retirement broke," said Ric Edelman, financial adviser and author of "The Truth About Money." "I think it's more important for people to create wealth than to eliminate debt."

There are benefits, of course, to speeding up the payment of a mortgage by adding extra money to each month's payment check, shifting to biweekly payments or making a 13th "monthly" payment before year's end.

Take the case of a family that takes out a $200,000 home loan with a fixed rate of 6 percent for 30 years. If that family makes an extra payment each year earmarked to reduce principal, it will save more than $47,000 in interest over the life of the loan and pay it off in less than 25 years, according to Bankrate. com, an online financial-information service.

Still, speeding up the payment of a mortgage may not be as beneficial as dealing with other debt, said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst with Bankrate.com. He noted that debts such as credit cards often carry considerably higher interest rates than mortgages, and interest payments on such consumer loans are not tax-deductible, as mortgage interest is.

McBride also argued that a homeowner should never consider diverting more money to a mortgage until all other savings accounts are funded.

"Tying up more money in an illiquid asset such as a home is ill-advised if the homeowner doesn't have an adequate emergency savings cushion," McBride said. He added: "A much better use of the money would be to contribute to a 401(k) retirement account to maximize the employer match, or fund a Roth IRA that permits tax-free withdrawals in retirement."

Bob Walters, chief economist of Quicken Loans, an online mortgage lender based in Livonia, Mich., said homeowners need to ask themselves what the very best use of a spare dollar could be.

Look at your mortgage interest rate, say 6 percent, he said, then at your possible tax deduction. If you're in a 28 percent bracket, your after-tax cost of borrowing is about 4.5 percent.

"The question is, from a purely financial standpoint, 'Can I do better than 4.5 percent after-tax somewhere else?' " he said. "The answer is generally 'yes.' "

However, McBride said, "prepaying a mortgage can be a very good decision for someone with a low mortgage balance and approaching retirement."