The best 401(k) plans don't just happen — they're created by smart advisors, sponsors, and providers. Here are some tips. (Photo: Shutterstock)

How can retirement plan sponsors and the advisors who work with them design plans that maximize participation, contributions and investment diversification?

Those are the key characteristics of a healthy 401(k) plan, according to Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust, which just released its 2018 Driving Plan Health report, based on analysis of more than 2,000 plans representing more than 4 million eligible employers.

The analysis found that participation, contributions and diversification have increased among the plans it studied but more needs to be done if employees will be able to replace 80% of their current income in retirement, which is the minimum goal.

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Bernice Napach

Bernice Napach is a senior writer at ThinkAdvisor covering financial markets and asset managers, robo-advisors, college planning and retirement issues. She has worked at Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg TV, CNBC, Reuters, Investor's Business Daily and The Bond Buyer and has written articles for The New York Times, TheStreet.com, The Star-Ledger, The Record, Variety and Worth magazine. Bernice has a Bachelor of Science in Social Welfare from SUNY at Stony Brook.