Protecting your nest egg during the golden years really comes down to careful planning. The main goal is to leave the money you have in your retirement account untouched as long as possible so that it can grow tax deferred for as long as possible. Here are some costs you should get rid off and secrets you should know right now to have an easier life later.

1) Payoff Your Mortgage - The relief that comes with not having a mortgage when your paycheck shrinks because your retiring gives you room to breathe. If you're refinancing don't take out a new 30 year loan, take out a loan that will bridge you to retirement, take out a 10 to 15 year loan.

2) Limit Yourself To One Car - If you're both retiring at the same time and you've been getting around with 2 cars, getting rid of one limits the cost of a car, maintenance, parking, and insurance. It's a lot of savings, you can also use zipcar service as an alternative.

3) Drop Unnecessary Phones And Other Connections - Everyone can do this, if you have a lan line, cell phone, cable and internet chances are you have a lot of services that are overlapping. Why pay for both? go through the bills and do an audit. Use services like BillShrink.com to help you audit. Many people have dropped cable for internet to watch TV.

4) Get Rid Of Credit Card Debt - Get rid of the high interest credit card debt. If you're overwhelmed see a credit counselor 3 or 4 years before you retire so they can put you on a 4 year plan to clear the deck so you can understand what you have going forward.

5) Plan For Big Expenses - If you know your roof only has 2 more years of life left, plan ahead by saving extra money just for that so when it comes time to redo your roof you will not have to dip into your retirement funds. Any major expenses that cannot be avoided, set aside money to pay for them.

6) Dot It Yourself - Most of us delegate or hire others to do jobs like lawn care, fixing the computer, or painting the house as most of us work full time and can't take care of these things. However, you can barter these jobs and tasks with friends. Find something that you like to do and do that job for a friend or neighbor, then have that person do the same for you, so there is no payment involved.

7) Lower Investment Fees - You're going to be rolling your 401K into an IRA, you may take a lump sum and put it into an annuity,  it is important to watch the fees in any case. Even 1% in investment fees are eat into your returns significantly if you're only earning 5 to 6 % a year, so read the fine print.