For many homeowners, pre-paying a home loan feels like the safest financial decision. After all, being debt-free sounds comforting. But what if pre-payment is not the smartest wealth-building move? Instead of rushing to close your home loan early, consider building a Home Loan Offset Corpus — a strategy that improves liquidity, enhances returns, and strengthens financial control. Let’s break this down. 1. The Wealth Gap: Borrow Low, Earn High A home loan is one of the cheapest long-term loans available. Suppose your loan costs 7.5% per year. If you prepay, the maximum “return” you earn is 7.5% — because that’s the interest you saved. Your upside is capped. But if you invest the same amount in a diversified portfolio — such as equity or aggressive hybrid mutual funds — earning a long-term average of around 12%, you create what we can call the Wealth Gap : Wealth Gap is the difference between the wealth created by paying off the loan which you borrowed at a low rat...