Should I collect CPP before age 65 and use the funds to pay down my mortgage?

A 61-year-old still earning a solid salary, but carrying a mortgage and only modest savings, wonders whether to start CPP early and put those payments toward the debt. It is an understandable instinct, since clearing a mortgage feels like progress, but taking CPP before 65 means locking in a permanently smaller benefit for the rest of a potentially long life. The piece weighs that trade-off against the person's wider retirement picture: the income, the outstanding mortgage, and the savings that have to stretch across the years ahead. Starting a pension early to retire debt can make sense in some situations and quietly cost a lot in others, and the answer depends on how the whole plan fits together. It is a useful read for anyone approaching retirement with a mortgage still on the books and a pension decision looming.