Investor

Warren Buffett's first rule of investing is: "Never lose money." To this, he often adds rule No. 2: "Never forget rule No. 1." Of course, following these rules is easier said than done. But Buffett's done pretty well, so it seems unwise to simply dismiss his advice as the semicoherent ramblings of a man who's read way too many 10-Ks.

Stores, software, and surfing the Web will have starring roles in the week that lies ahead.

According to the U.S. Labor Department, the cost of employing a worker in the United States -- your salary and benefits -- grew at the slowest pace on record in 2009, a mere 1.5%. That's an absurdly low increase, especially for those of us whose state, local, or other taxes and other costs of living (which don'tcount in the inflation numbers) rose significantly.

Can you read and write? Count backwards from 10, and remember your birthday? Most important of all, are you crazy?

Had Jerry Maguire been an investor instead of a fictional sports agent, he might have become famous for yelling, "Show me the cash flow!"

Recently, something heartbreaking happened to me: While crammed into a middle seat on a flight from Denver to D.C., I realized that I may neverbecome a great investor.

Stop me if you've heard this one. But the onestock you mustbuy is ... the next Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY), and Baidu.com (Nasdaq: BIDU), all rolled into one.

In a commencement address years ago, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A)(NYSE: BRK-B) co-chairman Charlie Munger evoked the late Johnny Carson, noting that Carson, "couldn't tell the graduating class how to be happy, but he could tell them from personal experience how to guarantee misery."

If you don't know who Charlie Munger is, you're missing out. Let's just say that if it weren't for Warren Buffett, Munger might hold the title as the world's most famous investor.

Socially responsible investing (SRI) has been around for a while, but it really caught fire a few years ago -- so much so that it has arguably become mainstream. What isn't arguable is that it's an influential force, part of a larger trend that has pushed companies from McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) to Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) to reduce their ecological footprints and become better citizens.