You will find people who talk a lot about the options involved in taking advantage of your 401k retirement plan or in trying to bend the rules. There’s not a lot of them—the 401k is so complicated that most people spend their time trying to help you understand how it works—but there are enough that they will suggest that the best retirement plan is one that you have full control over. These people look at the 401k retirement plan and say that it makes you sacrifice a fair amount of autonomy: your employer holds the funds, your employer provides the investment opportunities, your employer even decides how much access you get, perhaps restricting even further the limits provided for by the federal government.

Even so, your 401k retirement plan can give you a fair amount of autonomy. In the modern job market, you know that people will change jobs many, many times—and with the current economic slip-and-slide, that change might be more sudden than you would expect or enjoy. All those changes mean that your 401k gets passed around almost like the potato in the childhood game of hot potato, singing fingers and inducing giggles all the way. You can actually discover ways to take advantage of that fluidity with your 401k. You might discover that between two employers, you’re better off leaving part of your retirement fund in the hands of your previous employer rather than rolling the whole thing over. (This is especially true if you hold stock in that company as part of your 401k.) You might also discover that, as you weigh two or three very attractive job options, one lets you take a loan against your 401k. Sure, you have to repay yourself, but in some instances you are a superior creditor to the standard credit outlets.

See, your 401k retirement plan lets you adjust the amount you contribute (as long as it isn’t going beyond an IRS-imposed stricture). That way, if you find yourself better off in playing the stock market a little or investing in a mutual fund outside of the work being done by your 401k, you can take those liberties. Sure, that money isn’t tax-deferred like your 401k, but if you consider diversifying your investments a good thing, having a 401k on hand is just another way to diversify those investments.

Now, we will admit that it can seem a little frustrating to be in any degree of bondage to a higher entity of some sort—especially when it comes to what’s going on with your finances—but remember that most established employers are going to give you a pretty good-sized chunk of freedom with your 401k retirement plan. They will allow you decide what funds the money gets invested in, whether in stock, mutual funds, bonds, or other options. In that way, you can diversify even further—or even consolidate your investments into a more effective location—so that your money is doing the most work for you that it can. So don’t discount all the advantages of a 401k. Just weigh them carefully.