Burn Your Mortgage

The Simple, Powerful Path to Financial Freedom for Canadians

Sean Cooper made news headlines around the world when he paid off his mortgage at 30 on a house he bought just three years prior. In Burn Your Mortgage, Cooper’s extreme achievement is made accessible as the acclaimed personal finance expert shares the secret to his success: simple yet effective lifestyle changes that anyone—from new buyers to experienced homeowners—can make to pay down their mortgage sooner.

Burn Your Mortgage combines inspiring anecdotes with realistic and jargon-free financial tips and resources for achieving financial freedom no matter your financial situation. This easy-to-follow guide will help you pay off your mortgage at your own pace and show you how to live well while doing it. Tools include:

• Simple ways to pay down your mortgage sooner;
• Your very own mortgage-free action plan;
• Sample budgets and savings plans;
• Tools for tracking income and expenses;
• Home-buying blueprints;
• Worksheets for financial empowerment;
• Up-to-date information on bank accounts, mortgage contracts, investing, and loans—and how to choose the best options for you;
• Tips for overcoming bad money habits.

Inspiring, insightful and fun, Burn Your Mortgage will transform the way you think about money and debt on your path to independent home ownership.

Sean Cooper is an in-demand speaker, money coach, and personal finance journalist. His articles have been featured in publications such as the Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, Financial Post, and MoneySense.

Advance praise for Burn Your Mortgage:

“Sean’s personal journey to financial freedom is a brave and inspiring one, and I am delighted to see him share his learning with the world. Burn Your Mortgage offers practical, clear and useful insights to help people of all walks of life live healthier financial lives. I am convinced that Burn Your Mortgage is set to be a pivotal guidebook to achieving financial freedom.”
—Peter Aceto, President and CEO, Tangerine

“A home is the largest purchase most people make, yet there is little information to help them make smart choices. Most advice comes from banks, mortgage brokers, real estate agents, lawyers and home inspectors—not exactly objective. I’m glad to see Sean Cooper use his experience as home buyer, mortgage burner, landlord and freelance writer to guide others through the steps to take to come out ahead in the real estate game.”
—Ellen Roseman, Toronto Star columnist, University of Toronto continuing education instructor and Canadian MoneySaver contributor

“A clear and concise plan for millennials looking for a path to financial independence early in their career.”
—Don R. Campbell, bestselling author of Real Estate Investing in Canada, frequent guest on the Business News Network

“Chock-full of actionable tips based on real life experience, Sean Cooper’s Burn Your Mortgage is a valuable resource for anyone considering buying a home in Canada. In more than just another mortgage manual, Sean writes passionately about the pitfalls to avoid during the house-buying process and then, with equal passion, shows you how to achieve an important step toward financial freedom by paying off your mortgage as quickly as possible.”
—Robert R. Brown, author of Wealthing Like Rabbits: An Original Introduction to Personal Finance, and MoneySense columnist

“Burn Your Mortgage will push you just outside your comfort zone—which is exactly what you need to really make progress on your mortgage. Sean Cooper walks the talk. His obsession with frugal living provides a ton of great lessons on how to get ahead financially.”
—Bruce Sellery, bestselling author of Moolala, personal finance expert for Cityline and MoneySense

“Sean has written an invaluable book. He paid off his mortgage before 31, achieved financial freedom, and shares his entire journey, step by step, so you can too. The chapters on turning your home into an income source and generating ‘side hustle’ income alone are worth the price of Burn Your Mortgage. A great addition to personal finance literature and a must-read if you want to build wealth.”
—Robin R. Speziale, bestselling author of Market Masters

“Burn Your Mortgage offers solid advice, tested by personal experience, for a generation that feels rising house prices have put homeownership out of reach. Sean Cooper encourages people to focus on what’s possible, and set goals to make homeownership a reality.”
—Peter Mitham, co-author of Real Estate Investing for Canadians for Dummies and real estate columnist for Business in Vancouver

“He may be the millennial man who riled the Internet by paying off his mortgage, but Sean Cooper offers concrete suggestions for owning your concrete quickly. In Burn Your Mortgage he shares the financial priorities, choices, and trade-offs he made to be mortgage-free fast. Following even a few of his frugal ways will get you to homeowner status sooner.”
—Kerry K. Taylor, Squawkfox.com, author of 397 Ways to Save Money

“Few weekend tennis players would want to train like Serena Williams. That would involve a lot of sacrifice. But could a weekend racket warrior learn from Serena? Absolutely. I would say the same thing, for the same reasons, about Sean Cooper’s obsession to pay off his mortgage. Burn Your Mortgage describes his groundstrokes well.”
—Andrew Hallam, author of Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School, 2nd edition