How long are you and I going to live? None of us knows, of course, but this number is important for a variety of planning issues—including, of course, how long your money will have to last in retirement. Actuarial tables tell us how long people will live on average, but that isn’t much help for planning a specific person’s life, and the averages conceal a lot of variation.

Living today is a huge advantage over living in the past, and living in a developed nation is a benefit as well. As you can see from the chart, most children born in the late 1700s had a life expectancy below age 35; today, the global average is 70, and people who make it to age 65 have a good chance of living to 85 or longer.

Some crucial maneuvers will help soon-to-retire people avoid trouble.

I recently contributed to this important Wall Street Journal article by Jane Hodges.

The size of your nest egg isn’t the only thing you should be focused on as you close in on retirement.

So say financial planners and experts, who point to several financial moves investors can make in the years before they leave work that might help them preserve their savings, reduce their tax bills and provide for loved ones and heirs.

“Race you to the buoy,” my daughter, Judy, shouted. She had thrown down the gauntlet and was now engaged with my husband, Peter, in a swim contest. They decided on a timed race because Judy couldn’t trust her father not to pull her foot as he swam behind her. I timed them from the Cape May, NJ beach with a smile, wondering who would emerge victorious from the wavy ocean; it was a fairly matched challenge as Judy is an accomplished middle school swimmer while my husband wins in the size and experience areas.

“I’ll trade you LAX for Fenway Park,” my daughter Judy said while playing monopoly with her cousin, Liz. As a fee-only financial advisor, Monopoly is one of my favorite games. It focuses on many valuable personal finance lessons, including making change, handling money, budgeting, and mortgages. I really took notice, however, when I heard her say, “I passed Go! Give me $2,000,000.” $2,000,000? What happened to $200? It was all down hill from there.

June and Joe are 73 and 75 respectively. They are happily retired and still living in the home where they raised their three children. Like many people their age, they panicked in the 2008 financial crisis and reallocated much of their portfolio out of stocks—and never got back in. As a result, they do not have an abundance of assets.

“I am 62 years old, and have worked hard all my life–I’m tired,” Joe explained at the start of our conversation about retiring. His song is a familiar one. There is just something about the early 60’s that screams, “time to retire.” When age 65 rolls around many feel entitled to call it a day regardless of whether they are financially ready or not. The problem is that only 48% are in financial shape to do so.

4 Good Reasons to Take the Plunge Yourself.

1. Peace of Mind. Max Weinberg was determined not to be a burden to his children. He remembered well how difficult it was to raise and educate his three children while supporting first his own parents and then later his wife’s parents. The memory of that monthly panic still haunts him to this day. How will I ever pay the school bill? How will I make ends meet? Max didn’t want his own children to suffer his fate.