_PrinceCharming tells you what to do with a new high paying job

My income went up by over $50k, and I have no clue what the hell I'm doing. Help!

First of all, congratulations on the new job!

It's important to "pay yourself first" before you let your lifestyle adjust to your new paychecks. You are used to living off much less, so it won't kill you to keep your expenses low. Try to put off any large purchases for as long as you can. At this moment, you have the opportunity to become one of those people you have been reading about in this community and elsewhere - "I'm 30 years old with $bazillion in retirement and a sweet emergency fund, oh yeah, and no debt!". All you have to do is pretend that you are still making $38k per year for a little while.

Step 0: (calling this step 0 because hopefully you don't have to do it at all....) If you have any high interest consumer debt such as credit cards, go ahead and knock that out ASAP, and never fall for that trap again.

Step 1: Go to your HR Department, and tell them you want to max out your 401k the moment you are eligible ($17,500 per year, or $673 pre tax per paycheck). This is especially important if you are getting any kind of employer match.

Step 2: Open a Roth IRA and plan on maxing it out for 2013 ($5500). Set up automatic withdrawls from your bank account for $211 per paycheck).

Step 3: If you have a Health Savings account, max that out, if you don't know what I'm talking about, skip to step 4.

Step 4: Continue living exactly the way you have been living and bank whatever is left over into a savings account set aside for emergencies. Grow your emergency fund until you have 6 months worth of living expenses set aside. It will take several months or a year to get to this point.

Step 5: Once your emergency fund is established, take all the money you were contributing to it, and knock out your student loans ASAP. $270 a month means you probably only have about $30k in loans, so this will take about a year and a half to pay off.

Step 6: Skip a month. Take the money you otherwise would have put in your emergency fund or towards your student loans ($2.5k or so after steps 1 and 2) and blow it however you want to. Take a vacation, give it to charity or buy something totally unecessary that you have always wanted. The point is that you have earned it and you gotta have some fun every now and then.

Step 7: Back to reality. Set your long term savings goals. House, car, family, etc. But it's important to keep your savings rates up and continue to live within your means. Set a budget and stick to it.