(BPT) - You’ve spent a lifetime carefully saving your dollars and cents for important life moments – college tuition, a new house and retirement. But as you age, it’s more important than ever to make smart spending and lifestyle decisions. This doesn’t mean that you have to resign yourself to driving a vehicle that was new when you opened your first 401(k) account, though. In fact, people age 50 and older now account for 62 percent of buyers of new vehicles sold in the U.S., according to a study from AARP and J.D. Power.

If you plan on driving in style after you retire, here are some smart spending and lifestyle tips to help put you behind the wheel of the right ride.

It’s all in the timing