How to balance past debts like student loans with investments for the future

For Canada's post-secondary graduates, the academic stress of school is often replaced by a whole new headache: years’ worth of student loans.

Deciding how and when to prioritize paying off that debt can make an already worrisome task that much more difficult, but experts say it shouldn't come at the cost of saving for the future — whether that’s retirement, a first home or even a basic emergency fund.

This was something Dennis Anthonipillai was especially attuned to when he graduated from his master’s of public policy program at Simon Fraser University in 2020. 

To get through both his undergraduate and graduate studies, Anthonipillai took out a total of $27,000 in government loans and $5,000 in credit card debt. Though he tried to pay as much off as he could by working summer jobs during his degrees, the cost of living and tuition meant he could only start thinking seriously about paying off his debt after he was out of school.