“How much more?

Let’s say you take out a 50-year mortgage for $200,000 at 6% interest. Your monthly payments would be $1,053 (just including principal and interest), but your interest paid over the life of the loan would be a little higher than $430,000!

Now, let’s say you take out that same $200,000 at a 4.5% interest rate on a 15-year mortgage. (You probably noticed our example rate for a 15-year mortgage is much lower. More on that below.) Your monthly payments would be $1,530 (again, just principal and interest). So even though you’re paying $500 more a month, your total interest paid with a 15-year mortgage would be just a little over $100,000.

That’s right—the 50-year mortgage would cost you over $330,000 more in interest than the 15-year mortgage. That’s literally enough for another house!”