This article appears as part of Casey Weade's Weekend Reading for Retirees series. Every Friday, Casey highlights four hand-picked articles on trending retirement topics and delivers them straight to your email inbox. Get on the list here.

📌 If the Social Security trust fund had been invested in the stock market, all would be well: Based on author Richard Quinn’s calculations, “investing the trust in publicly traded stocks and bonds only closes about 6 percent of the funding gap.”

📌 Social Security is a rip off because some people pay in and never collect: The Social Security Administration reports this happens to about five percent of taxpayers. Plus, other taxpayers live longer than expected, offsetting the difference.

📌 Your Social Security benefits should never be taxed: Beneficiaries actually pay for only 15 percent of their collected benefits. In return, those paid taxes support Social Security and Medicare.

📌 The government misappropriated the Social Security trust fund: False! Payments are outpacing the trust fund’s revenue due to an uneven working population versus those retired – combined with extended longevity and increased benefits.

You can easily eliminate financial media “noise” – whether in regard to Social Security or otherwise – simply by checking the credibility of your sources, and by partnering with an educated Financial Advisor for personalized guidance.