<prompt> Human: Im finally in a position where I have the freedom to attack debt or save additional income for retirement. From everything Ive read, on this sub and elsewhere, conventional wisdom says that once youve met employer match, pay off debt above 4 before investing further in a retirement account.Im just about ready to move forward with this, but the idea of leaving that sweet compounding interest on the table is bugging me. Personal situation: 28 years old 65,000 annual salary, very low cost of living area 2,000year employer match on 401k 65,00 in student debt, weighted average 6.5 interest rateI feel like by grinding it out and paying off these loans over the next several years Ill be further behind the ball when I finally start to save beyond employer match, and may regret not starting earlier and starting to snowball compounding interest. Clearly Im the one misunderstanding, but itd be helpful to have it laid out to me why this line of thinking is incorrect.  <response>: The 4 figure is a ball-park number, and a case could be made for funding retirement before paying down a loan at say, 4.2. But at 6.5, youre almost certainly better off paying down the loan aggressively. Realize that avoiding 6.5 in annual interest is identical to earning 6.5 interest in an investment. 6-7 is about what you can reasonably expect from your retirement account over the long run. 