The perfect 401(k) may seem like an elusive retirement vehicle, but Catherine Collinson, president of Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, believes six steps would lead to just that.

Collinson defines the perfect 401(k) as one that "helps ensure that workers are participating, contributing and managing investments wisely in order to adequately fund their future retirement and that workers have a strategy for saving, investing and transitioning into retirement."

According to her white paper, "The Perfect 401(k)," Collinson lists the key ingredients of a perfect 401(k):

• Maximizes employee participation and contribution rates
• Provides and promotes incentives to save (e.g., employer match, tax incentives)
• Educates and empowers employees to make informed decisions about retirement saving, planning and investing
• Underscores the need for workers to have a retirement strategy
• Maximizes plan effectiveness (including investments, education, customer service) and participant satisfaction
• Serves as a highly effective tool for employers to attract and retain employees

Collinson came up with the idea of the perfect 401(k) because there are so many different aspects to them and "how you prepare workers for retirement seems more daunting than ever."