Participants pass on opportunities for retirement saving

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Participants in 401(k) plans are a feisty lot. Not only do 90 percent of them say that they’ll be relying on themselves to provide the money they need in retirement, but 87 percent of them say that, after health insurance, having a 401(k) plan is the top make-or-break factor when deciding whether to accept a new job.

Yet once they get that coveted 401(k) plan, they aren’t at all confident about their abilities to make the right choices, according to a new survey from Schwab Retirement Plan Services. But that doesn’t mean they’ll ask for help. They’re more likely to get someone to change the oil in their cars (87 percent) than to ask for help in making investment choices (24 percent), and most spend more time researching new cars (55 percent) and vacations (39 percent) than the investment options available in their plans.