Marcia Tillotson and Joy Kenefick aren’t your typical drill sergeants.

The boot camp — an extended version of its military namesake — is generally aimed at people a year or two from retirement. While the exercises may be especially rigorous, they offer broad lessons for those who think they may be ready to stop working.

The two advisers require pre-retirees to complete a checklist of exercises, including taking a hard look at where their money is going and making sure they’re on track, for instance, to pay off the mortgage. (That’s a nonnegotiable must-do before retirement, the two women say.

Here's the first of the the women’s eight drills, which you can use to help assess your retirement readiness.

• SPENDING The most important exercise is arguably the first: a thorough cash-flow analysis. That includes taking stock of every expense for the past year, including insurance and vacations. “The purpose of it is to determine what your lifestyle costs,” Ms. Tillotson said.

Courtesy of NYTimes.com