I personally recommend as much RAM as you can get. It acts as a cache, so if you loaded a big file, second time the computer goes to get it, it is in RAM, and doesn't have to go hit the relatively slow I/O of a SSD.
I do a lot of desktop virtualization, and that tends to be RAM hungry. However, if something attacks and compromises the VM, the rest of my stuff is still safe.
After RAM, get a SSD. Trust me. It makes life a lot more pleasant, especially with a laptop. Last year, I bought a laptop that has a M.2 SSD in it, and it works extremely well for day to day use, as my normal desktop PC died (with its UPS) due to a storm a few months ago.
Of course, don't forget backups. Buy an external drive and a backup program.