As evidenced by our weekly “Ask Rusty” Q&A releases, daily Social Security Report articles, and contributions to the AMAC Magazine content, we’re always on the lookout for new ways to share Social Security knowledge with the AMAC community. Much of what we produce, of course, is in written form, but we’ve also realized success with other media, like the recorded version of our “Ask Rusty” release provided to radio stations and online news sources and the podcast archives we built from on the on-air radio program we ran some time ago.

Based on the analytics we’ve seen in response to these non-print releases, it seems a popular way to receive tips and techniques about complicated programs like Social Security is via audio recordings. With this preference in mind, we continued to look for ways to deliver Social Security information in a format more conducive to public interest (let’s face it…reading black and white reports about something like Social Security can lean toward boring!). And we hit upon another approach…a program delivering 1- to 2-minute Social Security-related facts and tips, condensed in a way that intends to attract attention. The brief recordings are posted on the Foundation’s Facebook page and stored on the Foundation website’s “Audios” page with keyword searchability. 

If you haven’t already, take a look at this feature of our Social Security Advisory Service! The individual releases are brief, but designed to give you a quick snapshot of a specific concept. And here’s a “starter set” of the topics scheduled for the first half dozen Instant Academy releases:

  • Do you know what your full retirement age is?
  • Did you know you can draw benefits before your full retirement age?
  • Did you know you can draw benefits before your full retirement age and still be employed?
  • Did you know delaying benefits beyond your full retirement can increase your monthly payment?
  • Did you know you can change your mind after starting your benefits?
  • Did you know self-employed workers are liable for both the employer and employee portions of the FICA tax?