By: Darci Swisher, March 10th 2015

If the only retirement plan your employer offers is a 401(k) account, you’ve got to sign up and make the most of it.

We can’t guarantee that you’ll be able to build the nest egg you need for the retirement you want.

The ultimate value of your 401(k) account depends on so many things — how much you make, how much you save, how long you have before you retire and how well the stock market performs over that time.

But we can guarantee this: Some savings will always be better than no savings. You’ll be incredibly grateful for every dollar you set aside.

Our 7 simple rules for a successful 401(k) account can help you do as well as possible by making all the right decisions about your retirement plan.

If your employer offers a 401(k) account, you need to take advantage of it.

Rule 1. Choose a Roth 401(k) account if it’s available.

Contributions to a traditional 401(k) plan are tax deductible. The money you put into a Roth 401(k) is not.

But when you retire, none of your Roth 401(k) withdrawals are taxed, including all of the money you’ll earn from capital gains (the increased value of your mutual fund holdings), interest and dividends.

While taking a tax deduction now may seem like the better choice, most families don’t save that much by deducting 401(k) contributions.

We’re talking about $375 for a family of four making the national median income of $53,891 a year and contributing $2,500 to a traditional retirement plan.

You’ll probably be better off avoiding taxes on your earnings, which after years of growth will account for the majority of the money in your 401(k) account.

This is a particularly wise choice if you’re in your 20s and 30s.

Since you’re not making nearly as much as you likely will later in your career, your contributions are taxed at a relatively low rate, and your earnings will never be taxed — no matter how much your income might grow in the future.

If your company doesn’t offer a Roth 401(k) account, go ahead and open a traditional 401(k).

It’s still important to start saving for retirement now.

If your company eventually adds a Roth 401(k) offering, you can sign up and switch all future contributions to it. Your past contributions will remain in the traditional 401(k) and continue growing until retirement.

Rule 2. Start small and gradually increase your contributions.

The major reason employees don’t take part in their company’s 401(k) plan is a perfectly understandable reluctance to have more money withheld from their paychecks.

So start small by setting aside just 1% of your pay. You’ll hardly notice 1%. We promise.

If you’re contributing to a Roth 401(k), every dollar you contribute will be a dollar less in your paycheck.

But since traditional 401(k) contributions are not taxed, your take-home pay will only fall 65 to 90 cents for every dollar you put in your retirement account.

If you’re making $40,000 a year, contributing 1% percent of your salary adds $8 a week to your retirement account but only reduces your paycheck by $7 a week. If you’re making $90,000, you’ll save $17 a week but only see your take-home pay drop by $13.

Money advice for a lasting marriage

You’ve found The One, but before you exchange vows, you need to share credit card bills, bank statements and retirement savings plans. In fact, talking about money now — and settling on a plan to achieve financial security together — just might save your marriage later. So before you walk the aisle, make these 7 financial vows.

Rule 3. Go for the match.

Once you’ve started contributing, your next goal should be to qualify for any matching funds your company is willing to put into your retirement account.

Laws governing 401(k) accounts encourage employers to match the first 1% of your savings dollar-for-dollar and then contribute 50 cents for each additional dollar you save up to 6% of your annual earnings.

That’s an extra 3.5% you could be earning every year and that you don’t want to leave on the table.

Gradually set aside more money for your retirement plan by increasing your contribution 1% a month for the next five months. Too fast? How about an extra 1% every six months, or even every year?

Just make a plan, and stick to it. You may be able to sign up for automatic increases, so you don’t have to call or submit a form each time you want to boost your savings.

Your ultimate goal should be to keep pushing your contributions up a percent at a time until you’re saving 12% to 15% of your income in your retirement fund.

Recent studies show you’ll need to save at least that much, over a significant number of years, for a comfortable retirement, especially if your 401(k) plan and Social Security will be your only sources of income.

Rule 4. Put your money into a target date fund.

Another reason employees fail to sign up is that they don’t know what to do with their contributions.

Most plans require you to put your retirement savings in a mutual fund, a type of investment that pools the savings of tens of thousands of people to buy a broad range of stocks, bonds or both.

There’s no reason to be overwhelmed by the number of mutual funds to choose from — just pick what’s called a target date fund or life cycle fund.

That’s as simple as choosing the one designed for the approximate year you plan to retire. (That date will be right in the fund’s name.)

The professional managers running these funds take greater risks with your money when you’re young, buying a mix of stocks and bonds with the most potential to increase in price and boosting the value of your 401(k) account.

Of course, those kinds of investments are the most likely to tumble if the market falls. But there’s plenty of time for the market and your retirement savings to rebound.

As you age, life cycle funds adjust their mix of stocks and bonds to take fewer risks and ensure your money is there when you retire. Your account may not grow as fast, but it won’t be as susceptible to downturns in the stock market, either.

5 things to know about target date funds

Target date funds can make investing easy. Rather than picking stocks and bonds on your own to create a diversified portfolio, you select a single fund designed to have the right combination of assets based on when you plan to retire — your target date. Here’s how to buy with confidence.

If your retirement plan doesn’t offer a target date or life cycle fund, then invest in a mutual fund that buys shares in all the companies represented in a widely watched measure or index of how the stock market is performing.

Index funds don’t buy stocks that managers expect to outperform the overall market. They buy a broad range of companies on the assumption that stocks, as a whole, become more valuable over time.

Rule 5. Buy mutual funds with the lowest fees.

Fees can be a relentless drain on retirement accounts, holding down gains when the markets are up and accelerating losses when stock prices are falling.

The lower the fees, the more your 401(k) is likely to make for you.

A good rule of thumb is to never buy a mutual fund that charges more than 1% a year.

The great majority of target date and index funds charge much less than that. Vanguard Target Retirement Funds, for example, charge only about 0.17% a year.

If you have a choice between two target funds from two different investment companies, go for the one with the lowest fees.

Rule 6. Watch but don’t touch.

Mutual funds are long-term investments, and you have to be patient.

You’re in this to build wealth over the next 30 or 40 years and shouldn’t fret over the daily ups and downs of the market.

Revel in the gains, but don’t panic over the losses — and, above all else, don’t sell your mutual funds during a downturn.

Rule 7. Don’t borrow against your 401(k).

Yes, it’s your money. And, yes, you can borrow against it.

But money you borrow from your 401(k) is no longer working for you and your retirement, and you have to figure out a way to pay it back within a specified time, usually five years.

That’s right: Even though you’ve essentially borrowed your own money, it must be paid back.

Those loans can’t be repaid through pretax payroll deductions. You must reimburse your retirement account with post-tax cash from your checking or savings account .

If you fail to do so, your loan will be considered a premature distribution — and a premature anything is usually bad.

In the case of your 401(k) account, money withdrawn before you’re 59 1/2 incurs a 10% penalty, and you must pay state and federal income taxes on the amount.

Also, if you want to change employers, you have to pay back any loans against your 401(k) before you leave your job. If you don’t, your loan will automatically be considered a premature distribution.