Two Investing Classics, Plus a Third Destined to Achieve That Status

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change. In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment."

Retired Montreal psychology professor Don Crosbie Donderi is convinced extraterrestrial life exists. The educator, who spent 47 years at McGill University, including as associate dean of the faculty of graduate studies and research — applies his insights into psychology to a book: UFOs, ETs, and Alien Abductions, a Scientist looks at the Evidence. It will be published in May. Mr. Donderi spoke to the Post’s Jen Gerson on Monday.

Find the best bull markets in the world. Get in early. Buy the best assets. Ignore the volatility. And enjoy the ride. That was the basic formula Harris Kupperman, CEO of Mongolia Growth Group (MNGGF), presented at the Value Investing Congress in Las Vegas. Below are some notes from his inspiring presentation… Harris suggested that the best places to find ideas are in assets not yet “financialized.” By this, he means assets for which there is no ready public market. No easy way to invest. An example would be farmland in 2004.

In most businesses the IT team report directly into finance and your investment in technology is likely to be among your biggest capital expenditure. There is no doubt that the right IT investments can help drive new business initiatives, reduce costs and win new customers. But how should CFOs be assessing return on investment? As a CFO, it is critical that you understand your IT spend and how it corresponds to your earnings. So what are the things to look out for as a CFO- here are Synetec’s four sure signs that your IT may be costing instead of making you money:

Welcome to the Curious Cat Investing and Economics Carnival: find useful recent personal finance, investing and economics blog posts and articles.

table.tableizer-table {border: 1px solid #CCC; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;} .tableizer-table td {padding: 4px; margin: 3px; border: 1px solid #ccc;}.tableizer-table th {background-color: #104E8B; color: #FFF; font-weight: bold;}

After nearly 20 years as Sunday business columnist at The Boston Globe, and another eight as proprietor of Economic Principals -- a site that covers the lives, times and ideas of economists -- I have seen my share of books offering investment advice. The most valuable, it seems to me, are those whose authors came up with a thesis about the markets early and then kept refining and updating their ideas during the incredible expansion of financial markets that has occurred since 1975. Three of these, whose first editions appeared in 1982, 1978 and 1973, respectively, are already classics.

Michael David White submits:We have just in the last year had the largest annual fall in real estate prices, hit the highest number of delinquent mortgages measured, witnessed a record 918,000 homes taken in foreclosure, and 11.3 million home owners now own negative equity.