[Bee]

Your wife should get a package from the group managing the 401K for her new company (wells fargo, ING, or whoever). That will include a list of what they offer (different companies offer different funds) and how those funds have performed historically. You will then fill out a form with what percentages you want invested in which specific funds. Every pay period that will be taken out of the check and invested based on your percentage breakdown. Companies handle their matching investment differently (some do it per pay period, but most I've seen do it either every 6 months or once a year) and sometimes the matching requires vesting periods before it all becomes "yours" so you control the investment of that money but it's tracked separately and if your wife leaves before the vesting period she will only get a percentage of that based on their vesting schedule.

You should get a statement every quarter on how your investments are performing. How often you want to update is up to you, I personally update yearly but then again most of my investments are not in a 401K. The breakdown of percentages recommended to you seems a little over the top to me at the beginning of a 401K. Assuming your wife is making $50K a year, 6% is $3K. 1% of that is $30 (assuming paycheck every 2 weeks) you are putting in a little more than $1 every pay check to some of those investments. I personally think that is taking diversification a little far, but that's just my opinion.