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Before you can participate in your employer's 401(k) plan, you have to meet the plan's eligibility requirements. It's also a good idea to familiarize yourself with the contribution limits and matching benefits your employer might offer before you sign up.

With many employers, you have to sign up before you can contribute part of your earnings to your plan account. You have to choose how much to put away. And you must decide where to invest your contributions, selecting among the investment choices offered in the plan.

But a growing number of employers automatically sign up eligible employees. In that case, your employer chooses an automatic contribution rate, known as the default rate, and an automatic investment alternative, known as the default investment, for plan participants.

When you’re automatically enrolled, you have the right to change the default rate and default investment to help you meet your personal retirement goals at a level of risk you’re comfortable taking. You also can opt out of the 401(k) plan, either when you’re initially enrolled or at a later date.

More than 40 percent of 401(k) plans with more than 5,000 participants have adopted automatic enrollment. For more information about automatic 401(k)s, visit http://www.RetirementMadeSimpler.org, a new resource from FINRA, AARP, and the Retirement Security Project.