sub getInvest 
{ 
    my $investID = shift || return {};
    # grab row from database with fethrow_hashref()
    return \%invest;
}

sub defaultNewInvest
{
   my $q = shift;
 
   my $fillIn = getInvest($q->param('investID'));

   # ...

   $q->td( ["Title:", $q->textfield(-name=>"invest_title", -size=>40, -value=>$fillIn->{'invest_title'} )]) ]);
}