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 What Costello found was typical of workers who do not pay much
attention to their accounts – it was allocated badly, leaving her
behind on her retirement goals.
In his sister's case, she had put her funds in a money market
account when the recession hit in 2008 and never moved them back
into the market.
"It's been like four or five years of recovery, and she had made
like $10," says Costello, who is co-founder and chief executive of
blooom (http://www.blooom.com/).
Overall, workers have more than $4.3 trillion invested in 401(k)
plans, according to the Investment Company Institute. Yet many of
the 52 million workers who participate in 401(k) are not good at
making their own investment choices, experts say.
Studies show that workers who get investment advice from any source
do better than those who receive no advice.
The difference can be more than 3 percent a year on returns or up to
80 percent over 25 years, according to a recent study by benefits
consultant Aon Hewitt and 401(k) advice service Financial Engines.
 "Left to their own devices, people either do nothing at all or pick
poorly," says Christopher Jones, chief investment officer at
Financial Engines, the largest provider in the advice sector as
ranked by assets under management.
So where can employees turn for guidance?
1. Start with your human resources department
You might already have access to advice, says Grant Easterbrook, an
analyst who tracks online financial services for New York-based
consulting firm Corporate Insights. He says even his own colleagues
do not know they have access to free financial advice as an add-on
benefit.
If you work at a big company, you might be one of the 600 clients of
Financial Engines. Their free services include allocation advice and
performance data. Other companies may employ consultants to give
advice during open-enrollment periods or give access to calculators
and other advice through the website of the 401(k) provider.
Employees at smaller companies might have to venture further to get
help. "Three out of four participants don't have access to an
employer-based advisory tool," says John Eaton, general manager of
401K GPS. "But there are a lot of DIY solutions out there."
2. Get free advice on the Web
The Web offers a lot more these days than standard retirement
calculators. You can obtain detailed advice on allocating funds in
your specific retirement plan from several providers.
 At FutureAdvisor (https://www.futureadvisor.com/) and Kivalia
(https://www.kivalia.com/), to name two, all you have to do is type
in the name of your company and the system will generate a sample
portfolio. You will then have to take that allocation advice and
implement it on your own.
3. Pick managed funds or target-date funds
If you do not want to get too involved in the process - even to just
pick a simple selection of index funds - your company will typically
offer some kind of managed fund or target-date fund, a diversified
fund linked to a future retirement date that gradually gets more
conservative as you age, in their mix of choices.
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When you allocate your money into these types of funds, you are
buying the management expertise that comes with them, timed for a
retirement date in the future. Sometimes that comes with stiff fees,
so be sure to check the fine print, says Easterbrook.
"Absent engagement, it's a reasonable approach to take," adds Shane
Bartling, a senior retirement consultant for benefit provider Towers
Watson & Co.
4. Pay to have somebody manage it for you
Financial Engines has 800,000 subscribers who pay a percentage of
their assets under management to monitor their 401(k) accounts and
make changes accordingly. Others are GuidedChoice (http://www.guidedchoice.com/),
which offers its services through providers such as ADP, Schwab, and
Morningstar, which reaches 99,000 different plans.
Start-ups are emerging as well, either charging a flat fee such as
$10 a month or a fee based on how much money you have. 401K GPS
(https://www.401kgps.com/), which launched in 2011, operates
primarily through investment advisers and small employers. There is
also blooom, MyPlanIQ (http://www.myplaniq.com/), Co-Piloted
(https://www.copiloted.com/) and Smart401k
(http://www.smart401k.com/).
5. Do not opt out of auto-enrollment
The majority of people will still do nothing but that may a savvy
option. Financial Engine's Jones says some companies are making
workers re-enroll in 401(k) plans and defaulting them into managed
accounts to get them to diversify. "When we do that, about 60 percent of population will stay in these
programs," says Jones. About 15 percent of active investors will opt
out because they are already getting advice.
(This version of the story corrects the default allocation to
managed funds instead of target date funds in the fifth section.
Also, corrects dateline to October 6)
(Reproting by Beth Pinsker; Editing by Lauren Young and Steve
Orlofsky)
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