The Miami Herald Money Matters Column.

Byline: Harriet Johnson Brackey

Jan. 20--Could your 401(k) account collapse like Enron employees' did?

Probably not.

With some attention to one's retirement savings account, even Enron's workers could have limited their losses.

I'm not buying the stories of hapless workers caught in an impossible situation, with their 401(k)s shoved into Enron stock that they could not sell while the company collapsed. Meanwhile, the executives unloaded their shares and made millions.

It didn't happen that way, from what I see of the Enron 401(k) plan.

The big issues:

-- Enron loaded its 401(k) plan with company stock.

Not so. This was done by the employees themselves.

Enron, until late last year, matched most of its employees' 401(k) contributions with company stock -- which about 45 percent of 401(k) plans do, according to Hewitt Associates' survey of 428 employers last year. The Hewitt study looks at plans that cover 3.5 million workers and hold $279 billion in assets.

Enron gave them a 50 percent match up to six percent of base pay. That's the most common form of matching, Hewitt says.

For most of us, the company match does not add up to a fortune. Over the years, it can become a large part of one's retirement and any plunge would hurt. But a diversified…