Your New Year’s resolutions are going to require more sacrifice than usual this year. Layoffs, benefit cuts, and disappearing 401(k) balances have lashed workers in 2008. Yet everyone still has to provide for retirement.  US Newsoffers 10 ways you can resolve to get your retirement plan back on track in 2009.

NIRS executive director advises, “Do all that you can to cut expenses and find other sources of cash before breaking the lock on your retirement piggy bank,” advises Beth Almeida, executive director of the National Institute on Retirement Security.

“When the money is out of your retirement account, you rob yourself of compounded investment returns. And if you don’t pay the loan back, you’ll have to pay Uncle Sam taxes on the loan and a whopping 10 percent penalty,” Almeida says. Plus, if the worst-case scenario should strike and you’re forced to file for bankruptcy, your retirement savings in a pension, 401(k), or IRA are protected from creditors, while most other assets are not.