Most 401K, and other, programs have different mutual funds available that are managed to provide different levels of risk vs reward. Everyone has a different comfort level with different levels of risk. As you get closer to retirement, it’s a good idea to shift from more risky to less risky funds. That way you (probably) won’t loose value right when you’re retiring. Your company may only add shares to a fund that they have approved or contracted with.
The lowest risk fund in our 457 contract is a money market fund. It’s different from a stock fund or a bond fund. The city I work for had just signed a 5-year contract with a guaranteed 4% return to a money market fund when the housing bubble broke. Four percent was small compared to the 10% or more that folks had been expecting from their stock funds. But when the stock funds tanked, it was pretty much the only fund that wasn’t losing value per share.
I’m wondering how your 401K account can have gotten down to $0. I haven’t heard of mutual funds falling to zero.
When stocks were falling in 2008, I kept contributing even though the value per share of the mutual funds were falling. I was a good distance from retiring and considered it to be “buying low”. The value of my accounts went down for a couple of years even though I kept up my contributions. My contributions bought more shares of shares that were falling in value.
When the stock marked revived, those additional shares expanded like flat dinosaur-shaped sponges. Now I’m closer to retirement and this is a good reminder that I need to shift more to less risky funds. I should contact the customer service person assigned to the city’s contract and make the shift.