well, after taking a substantial pay cut over the past few years(about 40k per year), having two children and recently getting divorced, I got an opportunity to go overseas and make a substantial annual salary where the majority of my income will be tax exempt, I was wondering if any of you financial gurus can give me any insight on to where I should invest my income.  

my current debt
3500 car
7000 credit card
50000 student loans

outside of my previously determined child support of 1600 a month, I will have zero living expenses.

The car and the credit card will be taken care of in the first month, the student loan over the course of the year. my initial thoughts are to max out a Roth IRA, I plan on doing this job for the next 3 years or so while the kids are still young,(currently 2.5YO and 7MO)

thanks for any thoughts you guys can give,  it feels incredible to be able to get out that financial mess, I really want to use this to set up things for the future,  

I should return to a 70-90 per year job if that helps

Vanguard IRA:

34% S&P 500 Fund (VFINX) or the ETF version (VOO)
33% Total Bond Fund (VBMFX) or the ETF version (BND)
33% Total International Stock Fund (VTSMX) or the ETF version (VTI)

If you're young and want to be more aggressive, consider increasing the two stock funds up to a total of 80% and decreasing the bond fund to 20%. 

Then go to the Bogleheads forum and read. Read a lot. Read the articles about asset allocation, expense ratios and the importance of staying the course.

Of course, I'm not an investment professional. I'm just some guy on the internet. 

ETA: Why is your income tax exempt? Overseas military or US Gov civilian work? Just curious. 

Unless you reside outside the US for ..? (I think 18 months continuously) and or meet other criteria IRS uses as the "test". You will owe US income Tax @ US Income tax rates. You could have substantial write offs either way.
Tax Attorney time.

DoD contractor.

not my first rodeo, but definitely this trip is more future oriented vs 12 years ago.

its 335/365 out of the country exempts the first 111k, the remaining portion is taxed normally.

In this scenario, a Roth IRA would be a no go correct as the income is largely untaxed (aside from SSI/Medicaid) correct?

Your mixing up different "types" of $.  OP can do whatever he wants with his net income, some of which (first $102,100 for 2017) may not be taxed (but will be included in his AGI to determine his tax rate) but there are a lot of hoops to jump through to qualify for it.  Must be out of the U.S. for 330/365 days, can't be an employee of the USG nor receive government housing, etc.

Bottomline on a Roth is at OP's income level he won't qualify for a full Roth, if at all.

thanks for the info. this will give me a basis to start researching and come up with a path forward.

now with debt paid, and no living expenses,  would anybody take a gamble on any of the cryptocurrenies?

335/365 just qualifies for the exemption.  To get the full amount, you have to be out of the country 365/365 or else the exemption amount is pro-rated.

I'd get a nice balance built up first before I started playing with those. Unless you can go back to 2010. If so, load up on Bitcoin.

But it's been bouncing around like crazy for the last little while. A very severe correction could be coming. Or it could reach new heights.

I'd limit my gambling to 5% of my total portfolio. And that's after building up decent pile of money first. 

The proration option is questionable.  Technically, it's only applicable in your first and last years of overseas employment when you don't work a full year overseas (unless you managed to start and stop your employment on 01 JAN and 31 DEC).  Some tax preparers will on a year-to-year basis, some won't and according to the IRS it isn't.

Just like the bona fide resident option:  the IRS has no problem letting you claim bona fide resident...but somewhere down the road, when they finally get around to auditing you, they decide you weren't a resident...you're screwed.

And it's 330/365 per the IRS, not including travel days:

In reality, the IRS interprets that as 330 days in the foreign country; time spent traveling (over foreign waters) counts against you.

Additionally, the IRS defines a "day" as 24 consecutive hours, so partial days in a foreign country or out of the U.S. also count against you.

Hey, it's the IRS...did you think it was going to be easy, clearly defined, make sense, fair, etc.?