My first paycheck will be about $15k, putting me around $18k in total cash. It's a tough question to answer, but my real issue here is pretty straightforward: what do I do with this?
aeroplane, welcome to the forum.
Yes, tough to answer, not least because there are many unknowns about your situation. E.g., do you already have a contract on a place to live and paid the upfront money needed, or will that come later?
In short, putting the after-tax portion of the $14K signing bonus into your emergency fund (held at one of the places in
http://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/earning-interest/best-online-savings-accounts275921001 or similar) seems a good way to fulfill step 0 in the following. You could do worse than working your way through those steps and asking questions as needed. See also
www.etf.com/docs/IfYouCan.pdf. Good luck!
In the lists below, thinking "first your 457 (if you have one), then your 401k and/or 403b" wherever "401k" appears is likely correct.
Differences of a few tenths of a percent are not important when applicable for only a few years (in other words, these are guidelines not rules).
WHAT
0. Establish an emergency fund to your satisfaction
1. Contribute to 401k up to any company match
2. Pay off any debts with interest rates ~5% or more above the 10-year Treasury note yield.
3. Max HSA
4. Max Traditional IRA or Roth (or backdoor Roth) based on income level
5. Max 401k (if 401k fees are lower than available in an IRA, or if you need the 401k deduction to be eligible for a tIRA, swap #4 and #5)
6. Fund mega backdoor Roth if applicable
7. Pay off any debts with interest rates ~3% or more above the 10-year Treasury note yield.
8. Invest in a taxable account with any extra.
WHY
0. Give yourself at least enough buffer to avoid worries about bouncing checks
1. Company match rates are likely the highest percent return you can get on your money
2. When the guaranteed return is this high, take it.
3. HSA funds are totally tax free when used for medical expenses, making the HSA better than either traditional or Roth IRAs.
4. Rule of thumb: traditional if current marginal rate is 25% or higher; Roth if 10% or lower; flip a coin in between (or see
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/investor-alley/deciding-between-roth-and-traditional-ira-based-on-marginal-tax-rate/ if you want even more details on that topic.)
5. See #4 for choice of traditional or Roth for 401k
6. Applicability depends on the rules for the specific 401k
7. Again, take the risk-free return if high enough
8. Because earnings, even if taxed, are beneficial