Hi! I am a teacher in a state with no state income tax and I will make $51,484 this year. I had been planning to put $14,400 into my 403b and my HSA to bring me down into the 15% tax bracket. I have calculated that this would give me about $2300 per month to live on, which should be plenty. My concern is that I'm apparently going to be forced to tutor my students, which comes with extra (irregular) pay (of probably not more than $100/month, when and if it happens). This would indicate that I should put even more into pre-tax savings vehicles so I can stay in the 15% bracket; the problem is that I really don't want to take home much less than $2300/month (I have calculated that with that amount I should be able to save a few hundred dollars per month to build up my post-tax savings, so I would have a bit of a safety cushion, but a large part of me is worried about unexpected expenses. I do have a cash reserve of about $10,000 now and I guess I could always change my allocations... what can I say, I'm a bit of a worrier, but I also hate to leave money on the table). I guess my question has two parts: 1. Is this even something I can figure out myself, or do you really need a professional to advise you on this sort of thing? 2. If it is something I can figure out myself, would you recommend it?