<prompt> Human: Im nearing the end of 9 years of school and going to start my first job in July 2018. Ill go from making 20k in PhD stipend to making a 220k salary, and Im a little overwhelmed by how to save money and deal with taxes. I currently dont have any savings, and I read through the side bar and know my first steps are: emergency fund, startmax 401k once its available to me, and startmax IRA. However, I have no idea what I should do to handles taxes and saving. For example, should I open a roth or traditional IRA for 2017 before I make over the limit? Should I use a roth or traditional 401k when its available to me? Since Ill be starting my job half way through 2018, how does that affect things? What other things should I do to save and plan for taxes?Thank you for any advice, and Im sorry if these questions are dumb. Im just starting to learn about personal finance and its all a bit new to me.  <response>: What is your PhD in?! 