MacKenzie says your rate of return depends on your risk profile and objectives, but the standard rule is that as you age, you should reduce your exposure to volatile equities and increase your exposure to fixed income. That's why it's important during this phase to keep a close watch on your asset allocation and how your portfolio is divided into equity and fixed income.

One rule of thumb, he says, is that investors should subtract their age from 100 and difference is the percentage of monies they should invest in equities. Or, put another way, your fixed income holdings should be equal to your age and the rest should be in equities.

So, a 55 year old would have a portfolio featuring 45 percent equities and 55 percent fixed income.

Don't forget about spousal RRSPs
MacKenzie says by age 50, investors should already be splitting income using a spousal RRSP. That's where the family breadwinner contributes money to an RRSP on behalf of a lower-wage-earning spouse. The goal is to split the retirement pool among both spouses so that the amount of tax due is decreased as funds are withdrawn from RRSPs.

For more information, check out Bankrate Canada's article on how to take advantage of spousal RRSPs.

Ammeter adds that if investors still have RRSP contribution room when they're 50 or older, they might consider taking out an RRSP loan. "If the tax savings and benefits outweigh the interest costs, they should be doing it," she says.

Collapsing your RRSP an option for some
Ammeter says some investors might want to consider collapsing their RRSP as they enter their 50s, especially if it contains less than $100,000. (You can take as much as $5,000 out of your RRSP and pay only a 10-percent withholding tax. That rises to 20 percent for withdrawals that are between $5,000 and $15,000 and 30 percent for anything over $15,000.)

Ammeter says investors would only want to collapse their RRSP early in order to preserve their entitlement to various government programs, including the Guaranteed Income Supplement, drug benefits and tax credits. Income earned from an RRSP could result in some benefits being clawed back, so be sure to check your eligibility.

She also says your early 50s is the right time to consolidate all your RRSP accounts into one account to help simply the administration of your assets and reduce your costs.

MacKenzie says when it comes to saving for retirement, "slow and steady wins the race. There are no quick fixes and no easy money. The only magic is time. The earlier you do it the better off you'll be in the long run."

Jim Middlemiss is a freelance writer and lawyer based in Toronto. He's a frequent contributor to the National Post, Investment Executive and Wall Street & Technology.