I have been saving for retirement since my early 20s. Here’s 1 Thing I wish I had done differently.

In my early 20s, I had just finished paying off my student loans and was trying to build a healthy emergency fund for peace of mind. I knew then that it was important to start saving for retirement. So I opened an IRA, since I didn’t have access to a 401(k) plan at the time.

However, my company started offering a 401(k) soon after, so I signed up for it once it became available. But there is a mistake I made back then that I have since regretted a lot.

I was fairly new to retirement savings when I signed up for my company 401(k). But I ended up contributing to that workplace plan for a few years before I left that job. And one thing I wish I had done differently was pushing for a better plan.

I didn’t have a big problem with the investments my old 401(k) offered. That plan had your typical mix of more expensive mutual funds and some lower-cost index funds. My issue, rather, was that there was no match in the workplace.

At the time, matching 401(k) was not as common a practice as it is today. But there were many companies that do this.

Meanwhile, I was quite a valued employee in my company. If I had the guts to approach someone and fight for a better plan, maybe the people in charge would consider putting in some money for the employees.

But I remained quiet. And as a result, I got no help saving for retirement.

Since I worked for that first employer, I ended up being hired by two separate companies that offered their own 401(k) plan. And none of his subsequent employers offered a 401(k) match.

I wasn’t so quiet about it the second and third time around, though.

Both times, I went to the company’s human resources department and made an official request for a workplace game. And both times, I got rejected, with each company citing a different excuse.

But at least I tried.

If you work for a company whose 401(k) plan leaves a lot to be desired, you shouldn’t hesitate to talk about it – respectfully, of course. And it’s not just an absentee employer match that could be the problem.

Your company’s 401(k) may not offer many investment options. It may be that the funds being offered mostly come with high fees, known as expense ratios. Or it could be that your 401(k) comes with hefty administrative fees. (If you’re paying more than 1%, you might be ripped off.)

Your workplace retirement plan could be your ticket to building a solid retirement nest egg. So if it’s not working for you, don’t worry about it.

Even if you fight for a better plan and don’t succeed in the near future, you never know if your employer might take your feedback to heart. And even if the changes you request aren’t implemented while you’re still on the payroll, by speaking up, you could be paving the way for a better 401(k) for future employees.

To this day, I kick myself for not sharing my thoughts with my first employer. If you did that, you could have received some sweet dollars which, by now, could have grown into a pretty respectable sum.

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I have been saving for retirement since my early 20s. Here’s 1 Thing I wish I had done differently. was originally published by The Motley Fool