<prompt> Human: I am soon jumping from making 17 dollars an hour about 35k a year to a salary of over 100k a year. Long story, but basically amounts to dumb luck. Is there anything I should know about taxes or investing or saving? My wife and I are used to living paycheck to paycheck and have no idea on how to plan ahead. Just looking for simple tips.  <response>: If you got the job through what you perceive to be dumb luck just remember that it can be taken from you through the same dumb luck. Its important to make sure you are irreplaceable, and keepmaintain the skills necessary to keep that income.Theres a lot of good advice here, but assuming you arent swimming in high interest debt or in collections you need to celebrate a little bit too. I love to save as much as the next guy, but if you dont enjoy your money a little bit then whats the point?As long as you arent buying a new house or leasing a BMW, you should go do something fun after youve saved up the money. Go out to a fancy dinner one night or take a trip somewhere, buy yourself something new for your favorite hobby. Treat yoself. The other thing I would tell you is that, if youre generally responsible with money, having more of it opens up better options. If you have a car loan, you can likely refinance at a better rate. If you save some money up to increase your equity, you may be able to refinance take PMI off of your mortgage. You can get a credit card with better perksrewards. You can get higher interest rates and better perks with your bank accounts. If you avoid lifestyle creep, you can pay cash for things and often get better deals. Just some things to keep in mind. 