By David Bakke

David Bakke writes about money topics like saving money, planning for retirement, smart shopping, and building wealth on the Money Crashers personal finance blog.

If your employer offers an individual 401k retirement plan, you should be contributing to it unless you fall into a very small exception category. The only time I would advise against participating in a company-sponsored 401k plan is if these contributions would interfere with your ability to pay monthly bills or get out of debt. Don’t invest in your future at the expense of your current situation. But if you can afford to make even a small contribution to the plan, go for it. Now that you're considering your personal retirement planning, let's address a crucial question: How much should you contribute to your 401k fund? Is 1% enough? Should it be 5%? Or 10%? Should the amount of your contribution depend on your age? Consider these five key factors.