Where to put one's money?

Given inflation, where does one put one's money? Holding cash over the long term, especially in today's money printing environment, is a losing proposition. This week's Barrons takes a look at three investment classes... homes, stocks and commodities. This chart from the article gives both the nominal (red - left scale) and real inflation adjusted (blue - right scale) prices. To quote from the article:


"Housing does remain a good hedge against inflation over very long periods. Examine any 20-year stretch since 1970 and you'll find that home prices, adjusted for inflation, rose. Inflation-adjusted stock prices generally did even better over long periods, albeit with greater volatility, a Barron's analysis found. Surprisingly, commodities way underperformed both housing and equities as inflation hedges, notwithstanding the current run-ups in food, fuel and metals."


The full article can be found here.