@bluebayou I tried that site in the past, and twice it came up as an unsecure site. Did not make me comfortable. Know more about it?
I think one of the great drawbacks of everyone working from home is exactly what you experienced. If you had been able to make an appointment, bring in all of your documents and received the information that you did when you originally applied.
When my sisterâs husband passed away, I went with her to the SS office. She made an appointment and found out from the officer about her survivors benefits. So she could better understand what her options were.
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Itâs the reddit people manipulating the market - Gamestop, Bed Bath and Beyond, and AMC. More to come I am sure. Plus earnings season.
Hold on for the ride.
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OpenSocialSecurity is a fantastic, free site IMO. Mike Piper is a CPA in St. Louis, and author of several easy-to-read books on SS. Heâs a frequent poster on the Bogleheads forum under the sn of Oblivious Investor, and his stuff has been referenced in the major press, including articles in AARP and WSJ. Heâs easily accessible and responds to questions quickly.
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I kind of understand whatâs happening with GameStop. Can anyone tell me what that means for an average Jane like me who has money in a 401k and isnât day-trading? TIA
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I think it means almost nothing, unless you are invested in a mutual fund or ETF which owns this crappy company. In that case you may have noticed a tiny increase in the value of your holdings, and may notice a tiny decrease when it inevitably crashes back down.
Yesterdayâs close: $347
Todayâs high: $482
Todayâs low: $112
Current: $250-ish
What a wild ride, it went from $482 to 112 in about 80 minutes. Not sure why trading wasnât stopped, actually.
Sorry for your loss. Yes, I think that the SS dept and many FAâs donât do a full assessment of benefits. Iâm glad you found the information that you needed.
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Well, any investor has the right to buy and sell as they like with inherent risks. What short sellers ( in this case funds) want to do is keep the market as it is and lock out those who are not playing on their side. They are trying to mitigate their risk by shutting down parts of the market. Not cool. At all.
People are starting to realize that they can play the market in all kinds of ways. This has been done for decades by sophisticated investors ( who by the way used to have all of the tools which were not available to the public). What you are seeing now is the public responding in a concerted fashion and beating back the sheer size of the big investors.
I wouldnât dip into that for any amount of money but I also would not interfere in the market. If we have favoritism in the market based on the size of the players our 401Kâs will fall in value. Stock manipulation has led to some of the safety features we have today. Donât believe the media hype. Look at the economics and what is fundamentally happening and understand it. You DONât want markets where some are more equal than others.
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They often stop trading for extreme volume, sales of companies and a list of other reasons( like 9/11). A bunch of people playing the market with shorts and extreme buys might not warrant an intervention.
Thereâs also circuit breakers for individual stocks that undergo rapid declines, although I donât know if GameStop is big enough to qualify.
Looks like the party is over though, AMC is down 50+%, Blackberry is down 40%, Bed Bath and Beyond is down 40%. Robinhood banned day-trading in these and others.
Hopefully no one is losing their house playing with this stuff.
Yes, you sure hope that people who donât know what they are doing are short stocks. Yikes.
Robinhood and other platforms used by retail traders stopped taking buy orders from individuals so that the big short sellers could close their positions without a loss. Totally unfair market manipulation that favors the big hedge funds that were short, over the little guys.
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Agree, itâs utterly ridiculous. But perhaps, the âbig guysâ have taken note. Now that this has been done once, itâs likely to be done again.
Hedge funds have ruined so many companies via shorts and stock manipulation. Iâd have to say Iâm a little happy their plays are out in the open.
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When my dad died at 64 (he started SS at 62 as did my mom) my mom was then receiving survivorâs benefits. It makes sense about previous spouse where you qualify for their benefits that this is also the case.
I need to look into filing Medicare for DH who turns 65 in June. Any advice on this would be appreciated. I turn 65 in Oct and will continue working until that time. I also need to check into my health insurance plan through work (BCBS of AL) about H having their insurance as secondary to MC once MC become effective. Or do I go with another 2ndary insurance and then when I retire I go to same or different secondary insurance? I know the end of year has âopen enrollmentâ opportunity, but I want to have us on the right secondary at the get go if possible.
You can get advice from experts in your state: https://www.shiptacenter.org/. They have counselors who can help you understand your choices and choose plans that are best for you. They are not affiliated with any insurers, and they are not licensed to sell insurance.
Yep, and thatâs why I would never be caught short selling. Those guys got killed over this losing billions, and Iâm sure many little guys lost their shirts too. Today, Robinhood and others kicked them off their list of tradeable stocks and now the lawsuits begin. Of course not before the stock went up on a crazy swing!
@SOSConcern - Based on my husbands experience, I would say start many months early on Medicare planning. Also take advantage of a Medicare broker (free to you, see if your local 65+ friends have a recommendation.
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So it turns out that one of Robinhoodâs biggest customers lent billions to a hedge fund caught in the GameStop short squeeze. Robinhood (and some others that sell their order stream) cut off purchasing of GameStop, which led to a large price decline, saving the hedge fund a ton of money.
Itâs practically the definition of market manipulation.
I hope Robinhood gets sued/fined out of business.
And how is it possible to short 140% of a companiesâ stock? You are selling something which doesnât exist. How is that not fraudulent?
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Person A holds a share in their brokerage account. Person B short sells a share, which the brokerage borrows from A to allow B to short sell it. Person C is the buyer of that share in their brokerage account. Person D short sells a share, which that brokerage borrows from C to allow D to short sell it. Person E is the buyer of that shareâŠ
After this, you will see that:
- A, C, E each see 1 share in their accounts.
- B, D each see -1 share (short position) in their accounts.
- The share has been short sold twice.
NRE, this unlimited (more than 100%) borrowing of float is called a ânaked short,â and I agree with you that it should be illegal. It creates froth in the market, and as we know, âwhen fall the banks of Englandâ⊠it hits the fan.
Here is a good article explaining what is happening for anyone who is curious what is going on and what problems it could bring.