For the three years between 2006 and 2008, the median annual return for investors who received employer-provided help was 1.86 percentage points higher (after taking fees into account), on average, than those who did not receive any help, according to the report. The study was conducted by Hewitt Associates and Financial Engines, which builds and manages portfolios for retirement plan participants (and which clearly stands to benefit if more employers hire them to provide advice).

Employer-provided “help” includes the use of target-date funds, whose investment mix becomes more conservative as the it nears its target date; managed accounts, where the 401(k) is professionally managed; and online advice, where investors are given specific online recommendations that they must carry out on their own.

In his State of the Union address on Wednesday, President Obama is expected to propose a series of initiatives that would help middle-class families, including more assistance in saving for retirement. Among other things, the administration said it was reviewing target-date funds, and will require clear disclosures of their risks.

The results of the study aren’t surprising. Many 401(k) participants would probably be better off in a well-constructed target-date fund, for instance, than left to their own devices. The people in the study who didn’t receive help often had portfolios that were inappropriate for their stage in life. For instance, participants who were 55 years or older, and who had the riskiest portfolios, were actually taking on even more risk as they approached retirement (usually by having too much company stock), while some younger 401(k) participants were invested too conservatively.

“They were making poor choices related to their portfolio risk, or they were choosing portfolios that were inefficiently allocated,” said Christopher Jones, chief investment officer at Financial Engines. (The report examined 400,000 participants in seven large plans that collectively held $20 billion in assets. The plans are joint clients of Financial Engines and Hewitt.)

So does that mean everyone needs some sort of 401(k) advice?

I raised this question — about financial advice in general — in a recent column. The answer varies, of course, and largely depends on your specific circumstances.

Yet simply making advice available doesn’t offer any guarantees either. Target-date funds are often misused because investors don’t fully grasp how they work. Other online advice has limits, too. The strength of Mr. Obama’s proposal will be apparent once we know the details. Will employers be required to educate employees? What kind of “advice” will be available? And how much will it cost?

Of the study’s participants who were offered at least one type of help within their 401(k), about a quarter of them used that help in the way it was intended, Mr. Jones said.

The good news is that the more large employers are already providing some type of guidance. About 71 percent of employers now offer target-date funds, up from 52 percent in 2007, according to a separate 2009 Hewitt study. And nearly a third of employers offer online advice, up from 20 percent in 2007. The number of plans offering managed accounts has more than doubled, rising to 26 percent in 2009 from 11 percent in 2007.

The quality of investment options and advice is going to vary across employers. And some may charge more than others for advice. If you’re lucky, your employer offers several inexpensive index funds and target-date funds from reputable providers, along with free online advice and tools.

If your choices are lacking, don’t wait for the government to act. Consider banding together with your co-workers to lobby your human resources department to make some improvements.

What kind of advice does your 401(k) plan offer? Have you used it?

Records of the companies and funds would assure you of the security and less risks which come along with the investments. Recession does shake the companies and fund whenever it arrives. So, better look for the funds which don’t change much after the investment as the investment for a long period of time needs better planning. If you are looking for a 401k advice which would let you earn more profit than the previous one, so think about the companies who are about to expand. Expansion brings in lots of risks along with it but also leave with good percentage of profit which can’t be ignored by the investors.

Sometimes it’s best to go for a 401k advice which will make you earn more than you possibly could think of. Try to make a search of the companies which have a fair record of the success. These are the companies which remain still while everything blows-off. Even, these companies provide hope to the nations to take their economies out of the trouble. Government related companies’ investment is another option is also included in the 401k advice. 401k advice is thus the best advice which you could get in the times when most of the experts and investment consulting agencies are in doubt and confusion. It’s better to go with the 401 advice as it provides reliability and assurance that your investments are with you.

If you want to know more about any of the 401k advice, better search it on the internet. 401k advice will surely pay-off your trouble and stress and would leave you without worries. 401k advice is the helpful one in the times when nobody might help you.

This is why having a 401K plan is so important for your life. Eventually you are going to retire and you are going to need some money properly invested to be able to live. But even when it comes to owning a 401K just having one doesn’t insure you are going to be able to retire well. You must have a plan to invest into your 401K and make changes in your 401K when necessary.

If you do not do this then it is possible you could lose everything. Workers who had all of their 401K invested in Enron and Merrill Lynch stock had their 401K’s wiped out when their companies went under while the average 401K investor who was fully invested in the stock market in the past few years has gone on a wild roller coaster swing experiencing massive losses and gains in just a matter of weeks a time.

Those swings aren’t necessary and if you have had to go through them they are a sign that you really have no real investment plan when it comes to managing your 401K. You need to be properly diversified in order to smooth out such fluctuations and have a system for moving money into some funds and out of other funds at the right time to maximize your returns.

It is all about maximizing your return safely.

In reality only 5% of the people who invested in a 401K are able to reach their retirement goals. That’s because 95% of the people simply put money into their 401K without any thought or plan of action at all.

I have been successfully investing in the stock market for over a decade now, even managing one of the top hedge funds on Wall Street for several years before I retired, and have put together a powerful investment guide that can help you easily control your risk and maximize the returns in your 401K. After you read this guide with just five minutes a month you’ll be able to identify which investment options in your 401K are best for you and when you may need to even move from one option to another.