Inflation Hedging: How to Protect Your Portfolio

David Fessler submits:

Right now, the markets are caring about one thing: inflation. And they’re starting to get a little edgy. They need inflation hedging…

Why? The U.S. Treasury is printing money and dumping it into the financial system at historically unprecedented rates, in an effort to stimulate the economy.

Chances are good that the Fed won’t know when to stop the printing presses. Continuing to print money only exacerbates the inflation problem and deepens the hole.

And it’s quite a hole.

Jessica Hoversen, Fixed Income Analyst at MF Global, had this to say Thursday on CNBC: “The ratio of U.S. budget deficit to [gross domestic product] GDP is at the highest level since World War II.”

The government thought process goes something like, “If some stimulation is good, more will be even better.” And most politicians, who are always looking ahead to the next election, won’t want to risk their futures by cutting off ANY economic aid prematurely.

It goes on and on…

The real problem though, is that all of this economic over-stimulation sets us up for inflation. It’s something every investor should guard against in his or her portfolio. And it’s why we’ve got the best four investments for you to hedge against inflation’s impact.

The Tried and True Inflation Hedge – Gold

These days, many think of gold as a great investment for its safety and growth. And solely based on the amount of direct-mail advertisements I get from gold bugs, you’d think it was the only investment worth keeping.

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