You'd think rising gas and grocery prices might cause workers to skimp on their 401(k) contributions. But that's only half correct. The faltering economy has some Americans saving less and others tucking away more for retirement. At least that's the confounding result of a new survey.

While it's unsurprising that 15 percent of people in IRAs and workplace retirement plans have lowered their contributions and 73 percent kept theirs the same, a surprising 16 percent say they have actually increased the amount they're saving as a result of the current economic downturn, found a Bankrate.com survey of 1,004 adults done by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media.

As gas and grocery prices rise, some cash-strapped older workers are rethinking plans to retire. Some 27 percent of older workers say they are putting off retirement because of the recent economic slowdown, according to a recent AARP telephone survey of 1,002 workers over age 45. Almost 25 percent of people between the ages of 45 and 64 are taking money out of their 401(k)'s and other investments. And younger baby boomers between the ages of 45 and 54 say they are even postponing paying bills (27 percent) and cutting back on medications (17 percent).

"Taking money out of your retirement savings has a compounding effect, because that money is not allowed to grow at a time when you have fewer working years to replace the losses," says Tom Nelson, AARP's chief operating officer. "Even more troubling, shortchanging your healthcare can lead to higher healthcare costs down the road."

Target-date retirement funds are designed to automatically shift investors' portfolios to less risky assets as they age. You name your retirement year, and the fund managers change the stock and bond allocation inside the fund to an appropriate risk level for your age, in theory getting a bit more conservative as you approach your ideal retirement date.

Almost 80 percent of large U.S. plan sponsors offered target funds as an investment option through their 401(k) plans in 2007, up from 60 percent in 2006, according to research by consulting firm Greenwich Associates. And even if you don't sign up, you could find yourself automatically enrolled in them unless you specifically opt out. "About 40 percent of funds that have adopted automatic enrollment use target retirement date funds as their default, compared with about a third using money market funds," says Greenwich Associates consultant Rodger Smith.

Dear Alpha Consumer,

I contribute 10 percent of my income to my 401(k), which turns out to be around $14,000 a year. But if I get a raise next year and that 10 percent exceeds the $15,500 annual limit for contributions for people under 50, then what will happen? Will someone tell me that I've reached the annual limit, or will I get the money back in some way? Is there a way to contribute exactly $15,500?

Dear Alpha Consumer,

My husband and I are both in graduate school and are living off grants and loans. We both have 401(k) plans from our previous life in the working world but are no longer contributing to them. Since we will both be in school for some time before being in the workforce again, it's going to be a long time until we start contributing to them again. Would it make sense for us to contribute to it now, even if it's on borrowed money? How would we figure out how much to contribute?

That is a great question, and something I also struggled with while I was in grad school. It's hard enough to meet all your expenses without a steady income — and avoid racking up credit card debt — much less save for retirement. But when you go to grad school after working for several years, as so many people do, it can feel strange to forget about retirement altogether.

 "You know, writing about this is dangerous in the current political climate," is what a Democratic congressional aide just said to me concerning my blog posts about how liberal Democrats seem to want to disappear the Investor Class. By "dangerous," I assume he means it doesn't play well with voters. (Indeed, John McCain has picked up on this theme in his stump speech.) If you are tuning in late, let me recap the reasoning behind the accelerating movement to tax retirement plans:

1) Investors tend to be for things liberals don't like, such as big tax cuts, smaller government, and Republicans. This is the political rationale behind Republicans pushing for an Ownership Society.  It's kind of like how government workers tend to prefer bigger government and Democrats.

If Sen. John McCain or some of his high-level campaign staffers knew how to run a presidential campaign, they would have turned information such as this, presented by my U.S. News colleague James Pethokoukis, to voters, combined with Senator Obama's "spread the wealth around" comment. If they had, McCain's poll numbers would look a lot better than they do at this late date.

Yes, too many Americans (unfortunately, in my view) want nationalized healthcare. Yes, they want Social Security to be made fiscally sound. But do they want Daddy Government to reach this far into their beloved 401(k) retirement plans and wreak fiscal havoc? Methinks not. Jimmy P. reports:

Dear Alpha Consumer,

Do you know if my biweekly 401(k) contribution (on my paydays) is invested based on the market price of mutual funds at the beginning of the day or the end of the day?   I know that normally one shouldn't be concerned about such things, but when the market swings up or down by 7 percent on a given day, it can make a difference.

When the market ends up 9 percent one day and down 5 percent the next, it's hard not to be concerned about the timing of investments. I asked Fidelity, the country's largest retirement plan administrator, when, exactly, 401(k) money from paychecks gets put into the market.

Here's a bit more on that plan floating around Democratic/liberal circles to eliminate the tax advantages of 401(k) and other retirement plans, via an interview with the author of one plan, Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic policy analysis at the New School for Social Research in New York. 

Tons of self-employed people aren't saving for their retirement as they could be because they don't think they're able to start a 401(k). But solo 401(k)'s are quite possible, as I have written about. They just got more advantageous:

From the AP:

For self-employed individuals with a simplified employee pension—a SEP plan—or a solo 401(k) designed for independent contractors such as consultants or real estate agents and sole proprietors, the contribution limit increases from $46,000 to $49,000.

I wrote in my previous article about how the annual $46,000 allowed for a solo 401(k) could drop someone a tax bracket. It's now an even better tax shelter thanks to this limit increase.

Of course, 401(k)'s have gotten a bad rap in the media recently after so many lost value because of the drops in the market. But really, despite the ups and downs of the market, over a long period of time, your 401(k) will very likely benefit.