How to Protect Your Portfolio From Inflation With Minimal Risk

Protecting your portfolio from inflation doesn't have to be a high-risk proposition. This article shows you a simple way to guard the purchasing power of your nest egg.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Conservative investors, particularly retirees, take a risk that they may not understand. Inflationary risk is the loss of purchasing power that comes with inflation. The only sure way to guard against this is to invest in something that has historically outpaced inflation, such as stocks or real estate.

2. In a liquid portfolio, this means that probably about 30 to 40 percent of your assets should be invested in either stocks or real estate. This will allow a portion of your portfolio to grow faster than inflation without putting the majority of assets at risk. The smart way to invest in stocks or real estate in a liquid portfolio is through either Unit Investment Trusts or mutual funds.

3. Some good funds to choose from are the Davis New York Venture Fund and the Davis Real Estate Fund. These funds are conservatively managed equity funds that have shown consistent growth over time. Another good fund is the Franklin Income fund, which invests in both debt and equities, and has posted a steady dividend since 1948.

4. You should probably ladder the remaining portion of your portfolio in safe fixed-income securities like CDs or T-bills. This allows a set portion of your portfolio to mature periodically to meet liquidity needs and protect you from interest rate risk.