Entering the working world among an MBA class of ambitious post-grads can be like the Hunger Games. I’ve been there: Desperate former students scramble to not just score their dream job, but figure out how to pay for their—let’s not beat around the bush—very expensive education. Going to Columbia Business School was definitely a worthwhile investment, giving me a big-picture view of how companies work that would help me pursue my future goals in marketing. But, after two years of $60K tuition, I was over $100K in debt—which was pretty overwhelming, to say the least.

Of course, money can be a significant source of stress in long-term relationships. It just comes with the territory of important, but less enjoyable, aspects of combining two lives over time—like meeting the in laws and figuring out how to share a space. As you grow your life together, you also grow your finances together, and inevitably conflict can arise when you’re having heavy talks about things like savings goals and spending habits.

For borrowers who are eligible, the decision to refinance student loans is typically a no-brainer. Not only does refinancing allow you to choose between lower monthly payments and a shorter payment term, but it also lets you consolidate your monthly bill and – most importantly – save a significant amount of money over the life of the loan.

But even if you’re excited about the idea of sticking it to your student loans, you may be concerned about how much work will be involved in the refinancing process. Which is understandable, given that most important financial transactions involve a mountain of paperwork and multiple calls to an unhelpful customer service center.

Being self-employed is great: You have more freedom and flexibility, and working for yourself can be financially rewarding. As a self-employed person, you have another big opportunity: setting up a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRA. With this move, you can potentially save even more for retirement than you could with a 401(k), and get started saving towards your biggest financial goal—financial independence.

A SEP IRA is ideal if you’re a successful professional with no employees who wants to shelter your income from taxes and invest for retirement. When you’re self employed and receive 1099 income, you pay both the employer and employee portions of Social Security and Medicare taxes. Contributing to a SEP reduces these along with federal and state income taxes. While it gives you the flexibility to decide how much you want to save each year, it also gives you much higher contribution limits than the $5,500 limit of a traditional IRA—and it can be just as easy to set up. It can be a powerful wealth management tool.

When it comes to negotiating and owning your career, Nicole Lapin has been around the block. She was one of the youngest anchors to ever join CNN, and went on to be business and finance correspondent for Morning Joe on MSNBC and The Today Show on NBC and Bloomberg Television. More recently, she’s published two New York Times bestsellers all about how she got to where she is today—Rich Bitch and Boss Bitch.

As part of Raise Week, which was launched to empower career professionals to promote themselves and negotiate for what they’re worth (more on that here), Lapin stepped in to offer her career advice to Twitter users during a Twitter chat hosted earlier this week. Here’s Nicole Lapin’s advice on how to step up and claim your raise as you navigate your career.