Grief at work, Social Security's future + 7 hot technology stocks

Money and sex are obvious taboo topics in the American workplace. But here is one you might not have thought of: Grief.

If you ever lost someone close to you – a partner, a parent, a child – and returned to the office, you know how awkward things can get.

In the New York Life Foundation's latest "State of Grief Report," 76% of people said bereavement benefits were important when deciding on a new job.

Meanwhile, 85% said they would be proud to work at an employer that was grief-supportive, and 71% were interested in taking grief support training to help colleagues through a loss.

Employees have no federal protections ensuring them the right to take leave from work to cope with a loss, says Rebecca Soffer, author of "The Modern Loss Handbook" and website.

"First and foremost, employers can offer clear bereavement leave policies that would ideally include at least five paid days off," Soffer says.?

"Bonus points for being able to take those days in a non-consecutive way, and whenever the employee feels they need them the most."

Here are four ways to help employees during the most traumatic moments in their lives via Chris Taylor.

The Magnificent Seven

Here is a crazy statistic: Seven U.S. tech stocks account for fully one-third of the S&P 500’s total capitalization!

As a group, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla have racked up the lion’s share of the market’s gains in recent years.

Check out our new tracker for the group of companies so dominant they earned a nickname stolen from Hollywood.

How Trump or Harris would address Social Security’s problems

The next U.S. president and Congress will need to address the financial challenges facing Social Security if we are going to avert sharp cuts in benefits within the next decade to the 68 million retired or disabled Americans who rely on the program for critical income, writes Mark Miller.

The U.S. election will be held on Nov. 5. Neither Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris nor Republican candidate Donald Trump have articulated a specific plan for fixing Social Security, but here is what we do know.

Reuters Poll ??

Halloween is my favorite holiday! In our last poll, we asked readers how much they plan to spend on candy, decorations and other Halloween-related items.?

Well, I’m officially spooked: A whopping 63% of you said you plan to spend NOTHING this year (BOO!!!) while 28% expected to shell out $50 to $100.?

By contrast, I spent $250 this week on candy at Costco. (We get hundreds of trick o’ treaters in our neighborhood.)

And now for this week’s poll:?How much of your portfolio is allocated to technology stocks?

Take our poll here.

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