Yahoo Finance

The “safe” move on Social Security isn’t always the smart one. Before you lock in a claiming age, look at your whole financial picture, not just the calendar. For more myths busted, head to our page. Read more: https://yhoo.it/3VYQUtd

The scariest Social Security headline isn’t the whole story. Where the money comes from matters as much as how much is left in reserve. Had you heard this one? For more myths busted, head to our page. Read more: https://yhoo.it/3VYQUtd

Planning your retirement budget? Start by asking what else is covering the rest. How are you planning to fill the gap? For more myths busted, head to our page. Read more: https://yhoo.it/3VYQUtd

Halloween is supposed to be Hershey’s sweet spot. 🍫 Hershey stock is down more than 6% over the past five days after the chocolate maker lowered its full-year organic sales outlook to about 3%, the low end of its previous range. Halloween candy sales fell 6.7% in the month ending Oct. 17 from a year earlier, per NielsenIQ. Hershey’s North American volume and mix fell about 11% in the third quarter as price hikes added about 13 percentage points to sales growth. Read more: https://yhoo.it/4zl6wWI

This is the biggest heist in human history as far as we can tell so far, and certainly the biggest crypto heist.

Halloween candy is getting scary expensive. 👻 A 100-piece bag of assorted candy now averages $16.96, up 71% since 2021, according to FinanceBuzz. That’s more than three times the 22% rise in overall consumer prices over the same period, and 3.5% higher than last Halloween. Still, the National Retail Federation expects Americans to spend a record $13.5 billion on Halloween this year, with $4.1 billion going to candy. Many shoppers say they’ll be hunting for savings, with nearly one-third planning to compare prices and 26% looking for coupons or sales. Read more: https://yhoo.it/4symz0B

Tech stocks had a frightful October. The Nasdaq fell more than 5% for the month as AI spending worries hit Big Tech.

Alphabet has lost $766 billion in market value in October, making it the stock’s worst month ever. This week alone, the Google parent shed as much as $477 billion, more than SpaceX, Intel, Nvidia and Amazon lost combined. Swipe through for some perspective on just how much money that really is. Construction costs were adjusted for inflation using the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI Inflation Calculator. Read more from Jared Blikre: https://yhoo.it/4invxsR

Wall Street saved its scariest day of October for last.

Wall Street got an early Halloween scare with its worst day since June. 💀