Hi all! I am not sure what to do. I started a job in May that has decent, HOOPP pension plan (rare now, I know), and I opted in. I have pretty good intentions to stay at this workplace for as long as I can, if I can.

Thing is - I’m really feeling the weight of my student loan debt. If I include lines of credit, I’ve paid off around $30,000 in the 5 years since I finished grad school… but I have $50,000 to go. I make a decent wage for my city (toronto)…not a doctor or anything. My current minimum OSAP payment is $700. It’s so much money. I can and will try to save better to pay down the loan faster (current interest rate is ~$100/m for the provincial portion), but I am wondering if I should stop paying into the pension to thro that $500 a month on the student loan to kill it???? Or at least, should I stop paying the pension until I kill the provincial portion (about $20,00)????

Will it really mess up my pensionable earnings so badly to opt out for another 2-3 years?

THANKS SO MUC!

This debt just feels endless. I keep finding myself wallowing. this 80k could have been a down payment, or about how so many of my pals with homes or kids started so far ahead of me. And just bummed that I’m 32 and can’t really afford to have a car, vacations, anything, when so much money is snatched from me every month. Part of me feels like if I could just pay it off in 2 years, my suffering will be over so much sooner than if I continue to make minimum payments. You know?? Either way it’s depressing as hell.