The good news is, the companies that design plans for employers have been polishing their offerings, and employers with renewed profitability are in a better position to adopt new plans. At the same time, lower taxes on capital gains and dividends make tax-deferred retirement plans somewhat less valuable by comparison, especially for high-bracket taxpayers: the profits you earn on stocks you buy yourself will be taxed at 15 percent, tops, compared with the 25 percent or more you’re likely to pay on your retirement-plan profits.

So you can afford to be picky, and your boss can afford to do better. The latest wave in 401(k) offerings is complete investment management, at an affordable price. That’s particularly attractive to employees who made bad decisions, like buying too much tech in 2000 and selling at 2002 lows. Now they’ve thrown up their hands and want someone else to do it.

For roughly 0.5 percent of assets, companies like Morningstar and Financial Engines will create a balanced portfolio for your 401(k) and make sure it stays balanced. Employees whose companies use Vanguard Investments to run their 401(k) plans can sign up for One-Step, a program that automatically enrolls employees in their 401(k)s, increases contributions every year, chooses investments and rebalances the portfolio regularly. Even without the management option, a decent 401(k) now offers solid management advice, tailored to individuals and available online 24/7, through the same companies that are also starting to offer management.

There are lots of new investment choices, too. Many plans let confident investors buy anything they want for their 401(k)s. The good plans offer almost 20 mutual fund choices, including indexed funds, managed funds that invest in stocks and bonds, and a stable value, or guaranteed return, choice. They include some kind of pre-mixed mutual funds (usually called lifecycle, lifestyle or target retirement) for employees who don’t want to make their own decisions.

Those funds should be good and cheap, and are available from a variety of fund companies. Check your plan’s offerings against other funds in the same categories at Morningstar.com; they should perform in the top half for return and the bottom half for cost. The average management fee for a large cap stock fund is 1.26 percent a year; your 401(k) should have choices that are far cheaper than that.

Most employers kick in some of their own cash. The typical company contribution averages 3 percent of employee pay, by matching half of employee’s contributions, up to 6 percent of pay, reports the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Enron and its aftermath cured most companies of requiring employees to hold company stock: if your plan is still stuffed with it, that’s your fault, because you should be able to sell it right away. Employee matches might be going up soon, too. New pension rules will encourage employers to increase matches to 4 percent for participants, or to give even 3 percent of income to those who don’t sign up for the 401(k).

If you don’t like what you see, talk before you walk. “I’ve seen employers add new bells and whistles just because one or two employees asked for it,” says David Huntley of HR Investment Consultants. If your boss won’t make it better, at least participate to get the match. No sense leaving money on the table.