Doug Asbe Planned as if Social Security Might Be Missing. Now He Sails the Pacific.

Doug Asbe of La Conner, Washington, spent most of his working life saving as much as he and his wife could, because he worried Social Security would not be there when he retired. In 2015 the couple decided it was a good time to retire, and they now spend their leisure time sailing the Pacific, Marketplace reported on Nov. 9.¹

His story is part of Marketplace’s “Clocked Out” series, and it is a useful one for anyone who has ever looked at a paycheck and wondered where part of it went. Marketplace presents it as one couple’s experience, not as financial advice.¹

It started with four letters on a pay stub

Asbe started working in 1986. On his first pay stub he spotted a deduction labeled FICA and learned it was Social Security.¹

He says he then read that Social Security would run out of money in 2025, which happened to be the year he had planned to retire.¹ That date is his recollection of what he read, and the official projections today look different (more on those below).

He responded by saving. “So, I spent most of my career saving as much money as we could, understanding that Social Security may not be there for me when I got to be that age,” he said.¹

A decision made slowly

In 2015, Asbe and his wife looked over their finances and concluded it was a good time to retire.¹ They did not settle it in one conversation. Marketplace reports the decision came together over many months.¹

“It was both scary and liberating,” Asbe said.¹

The payoff was a dream he has had since his teens. “But I’d always dreamed of sailing since I was a teenager,” he said. Marketplace’s photo shows the couple on their sailboat in La Conner, and they now spend their free time sailing the Pacific.¹

What Social Security’s own numbers say

The fear that pushed Asbe to save is a common one, so the current projections are worth knowing. The 2026 Social Security Trustees Report, released June 9, projects that the program’s combined trust fund reserves will be used up in 2034.²

Even then, the program is not projected to disappear. About 83% of scheduled benefits would still be payable. The retirement fund on its own is projected to be depleted sooner, in the last quarter of 2032, with 78% of benefits payable at that point.²

Lessons readers can take from it

• Look at your pay stub. Asbe noticed the FICA deduction on his very first one and learned what it was.¹
• Save steadily, for a long time. His approach was not a single clever move. It was saving as much as the couple could across most of a career.¹
• Give big decisions time. The couple reviewed their finances and took many months to decide, even though the choice felt scary.¹
• Check the real projections. Social Security faces a shortfall, but the latest official estimates still have about 83% of scheduled benefits payable when the combined reserves run out in 2034.²

Saving alone may not get everyone to the same place. Asbe’s outcome depended on his own circumstances, and Marketplace presents his story as an anecdote, not a plan to copy.¹