As part of the Retirement at Risk series, The Times invited readers to submit questions to series co-author and personal finance columnist Kathy M. Kristof. Here is a sampling of the questions and responses. Additional questions and answers will be posted Wednesday. To submit a question, please click here.

Question: Is there anything that the employee can reasonably and legally do to avoid, or reduce, the fees that 401(k)s charge?

Answer: Absolutely. You can talk to your employer about offering more low-cost choices; and you can pay attention to the fees when you are making investment selections.

Typically, participants in a 401(k) are affected by two fees — administration fees charged to everyone in the plan, and mutual fund management fees that vary based on the funds that you select.

When you're making fund selections within your 401(k), read the prospectus, and make fees a part of the selection process.

If you realize that there are absolutely no low-cost funds in your list of choices, complain to your employer. As the plan sponsor, your employer is a fiduciary. That means the company is supposed to act in your best interest, which includes offering reasonable investment choices. If it is offering only high-cost plans, it is likely breaching its fiduciary duty.

Many employers don't pay attention to costs because their employees don't pay attention or complain. If you and your co-workers make it clear that you want low-cost funds, your employer is likely to add them.

Q: My employer provides a 401(K) plan with a 3% match. The problem is that most all the available fund choices are actively managed by fund companies, meaning higher costs. There's only one index fund.

Currently, I have a good Vanguard index fund in my IRA. I like it because of the low fees. Managed funds have higher maintenance and management fees.

Would I be better off taking what is available from my current employer, or putting the money in my IRA instead?

A: Since you do have an index fund option, I'd advise you to stay in the employer plan and take the company match.

It's worth noting, though, that not all index funds are alike. Some funds have different costs, even within the same mutual fund company. Check with your employer to make sure you are getting the lowest-cost option.

Q: My husband has left his job, started another that has a 401(k) program. What should he do with his old 401(k)?

A: You have a couple of options.

The easy answer is to roll the old 401(k) into a rollover Individual Retirement Account. You can set these up at almost any bank or mutual fund company. I generally recommend Vanguard because they have a wide array of funds and very low fees. But if you already have investment accounts at another fund company that you like, go there.

To do it, call the fund company that you want to work with. Tell them what you're doing and that you need to set up a trustee-to-trustee transfer. (That simply means that the money goes from one qualified plan into another, never touching your hands.) They'll send you papers to sign and otherwise handle everything else.

The other option, assuming that your husband's new employer allows it, is to roll the money into his new 401(k). You'd want to do this if the new 401k offers good, low-cost investment options and if you think you might want to borrow against your account. Most 401k plans allow borrowing up to 50% of your account value, or $50,000, whichever is less.

You can't borrow against an IRA.

Q: I will retire at the end of this month. My plan was to leave my money in my 401K, as I had recently allocated those funds into two Vanguard retirement funds. After reading your articles, I am wondering if I should move those funds into an existing IRA or leave them where they are?

A: Unless your plan is charging really high administration fees — and you can check that at www.freeerisa.com — the Vanguard funds are about as low-cost and viable as any investment you can make. Stay where you are.