Updated July 23, 2026, 1:15 p.m. ET
Dear Quentin,
I am a 63-year-old semiretired physician. Years ago I said that I would gladly opt out of Social Security if, in exchange, the government removed the contribution limits on IRAs and 401(k)s — particularly Roth IRAs.
Your recent article (“I will definitely claim Social Security early. Why do so few people talk about the elephant in the room?”) mentioned a phaseout for people with more than $2 million in retirement accounts. That strikes me as an excellent threshold at which individuals could be given the option to opt out of Social Security while also eliminating or substantially increasing the limits on retirement-account contributions. Such a policy would shift more of the responsibility for retirement security from the government to the individual.