How To Beat Inflation in Todays Economy

What is inflation?

In this part of the world "Mudding" is a big past time. The other day I was with my friend at a big "Mud Bog" rally. We were in his (for lack of a better term) truck, you know, the one you have to have a six foot ladder to get in, and we started up this very muddy hill. I couldn't even see out of the windows. To make a long story short, our tires began to spin about three quarters of the way up. We didn't have enough momentum to continue the climb. You can guess what happened next. We were slipping backwards.

Well that is like inflation.

Basically when you pay $4.50 for a gallon of milk that you used to pay $1.85 for; Then on the other hand, with inflation rate @ 3-4% a year, our salaries or investments need to grow at the same rate; or else, you slip backwards.

We can all feel the affects of inflation, better than we can explain it or how to offset the affects of it.

If you search "how to beat inflation", the sites or articles (around 240k) you read are outdated articles about the same old tired methods. Google doesn't even have sponsored ads on the page.

One I came across on "Hedging the inflation gap, long term" , gave this advice:

• Buy a house (real estate)
• Consider "Land lording" (again real estate)
• Keep a diversified investment portfolio (save & invest)
• Use inflation-indexed security in your portfolio (what?)
• Build or preserve your earning power (get a second job).

All these methods are good , sound advice (if you understand them), but I become weary with that same old rehashed advice, "save and invest", "diversify". That's ok if you have disposable income (that I don' have), but those methods do not beat inflation 95% of the time.

I suppose I could write a book on these matters, but according to my research no one would be interested in reading it. Then since I'm probably reaching the summit of your attention I'll get to the point( that's what my wife always tells me).

My philosophy has always been to "Make more than I can Spend", and with the price of milk, I can spend a lot.

I've always tried to implement my Dads advice with "work hard and spend smart", therefore my advice is "get a second job". Wait, don't leave yet, let me explain, real quick. Typically it was an after hour job at the corner stop and shop, or a paper route, but I know I 'm talking to a group of Internet Savvy readers.

No, a part time job that pays less than your full time job does nothing to hedge against inflation.

Let's see, there is the idea of starting your own business, we won't go there (another book, i.e. do the pro's out weigh the con's?).

Then there is Internet Marketing, granted the industry is huge ($ billions); You don't have to stand on your feet or ride a bicycle, you sit on your butt, and my butt gets tired and fat.

IM marketing for the average person, (considering the time, effort and money put into research & development), the return on investment falls into the same category as diversified investment. What are the chances of a small player tapping into a sizeable portion of those billions of dollars? Somewhat like the lottery.

I surmise that if we could find a patented system, like a franchise model (but far more affordable), where someone else has done all the R&D, ad campaigns etc. and we just, as the saying goes, "Plug and Play"; Would we at least want to investigate?

Then, if upon our investigation we discovered the ROI was by far better than 4%, would we consider a second look? You bet we would.

Well what are you waiting on.