  Nearby late-type stars are excellent targets for seeking young objects in
stellar associations and moving groups. The origin of these structures is still
misunderstood, and lists of moving group members often change with time and
also from author to author. Most members of these groups have been identified
by means of kinematic criteria, leading to an important contamination of
previous lists by old field stars. We attempt to identify unambiguous moving
group members among a sample of nearby-late type stars by studying their
kinematics, lithium abundance, chromospheric activity, and other age-related
properties. High-resolution echelle spectra ($R \sim 57000$) of a sample of
nearby late-type stars are used to derive accurate radial velocities that are
combined with the precise Hipparcos parallaxes and proper motions to compute
galactic-spatial velocity components. Stars are classified as possible members
of the classical moving groups according to their kinematics. The spectra are
also used to study several age-related properties for young late-type stars,
i.e., the equivalent width of the lithium Li~{\sc i} \space 6707.8 \space \AA
\space line or the $R'_{\rm HK}$ index. Additional information like X-ray
fluxes from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey or the presence of debris discs is also
taken into account. The different age estimators are compared and the moving
group membership of the kinematically selected candidates are discussed. From a
total list of 405 nearby stars, 102 have been classified as moving group
candidates according to their kinematics. i.e., only $\sim$ 25.2 \% of the
sample. The number reduces when age estimates are considered, and only 26
moving group candidates (25.5\% of the 102 candidates) have ages in agreement
with the star having the same age as an MG member
