Whatever your investing goals may have been when you were younger, retirement is likely to be your prime concern at this point.

If you haven't been able to save enough, now is the time to do absolutely everything you can to catch up. If you aren't already doing so, maximize your retirement plan contributions and look into funding additional savings vehicles, such an IRA or annuity. Your financial professional can help you decide what route is appropriate for you.

Remember, those age 50 and over are allowed to make additional "catch-up" contributions annually to many types of employer sponsored qualified retirement plans.

Reallocating your portfolio to become more conservative is especially critical at this time. If your investments are too aggressive, a serious market downturn might not leave you with enough time for your investments to recover. This could seriously affect the size of your nest-egg at retirement, and therefore your retirement lifestyle.

You also need to be especially careful of any tax drain on your investments. A variety of investment accounts from AXA Advisors, including Strategic Asset Management, Personal Wealth Portfolios, and Manager Select, can professionally manage your investment taxes, which can help you pursue superior performance.

Be careful when making any rollovers from previous employers' retirement plans to a new employer’s plan or your own rollover IRA. Not following the proper procedure could cost you up to 20% in withholding and possibly a 10% IRS tax penalty.