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Here are some tips you'll want to follow when enrolling in a 401(k) or other employer-sponsored retirement plan. 1. Contribute. The first thing you need to do is contribute, period - especially if your company offers a match. If you don't, you're literally turning down free money. The most common employer-sponsored plan is a 401(k), in which pre-tax money is deducted from each paycheck based on a percentage you choose, with an annual max of $17,500. 2. Be sure to contribute enough. Contributing a default percentage (on average 3%) simply isn't enough. A bump in your contribution percentage could mean thousands of dollars in retirement income down the road. 3. Roll over your plan from your previous job. With all the excitement of getting a new job, it's easy to forget (or dread) rolling over your old retirement plan into a new one. But failing to do so could cost you. 4. Increase your contribution over time. Early in your career, it's common for your initial contributions to start off low. 5. Be mindful of your portfolio. Stocks and bonds fluctuate, a lot. "Setting it and forgetting it" isn't a viable savings strategy. 6. Wait until retirement to cash out. While this seems like an obvious piece of advice, a lot of people look at their 401(k) as a reserve fund. 7. Resist the temptation to borrow from your plan. Borrowing against your account is far better than cashing out early, but you still face numerous risks.