The Little Book of the Shrinking Dollar: What You Can Do to Protect Your Money Now

Try This Anti-Inflation Play

Worried about rising food costs? We are. Why not profit from it? Investing in grocery stores isn’t necessarily the way to go. They generally have high input costs and low margins. In other words, they are very poor income payers.

But there is an alternative.

Instead of investing in the low margin side of the food trade, you should follow the money upstream. Forget transportation, food products, or even seed and fertilizer. One of the best ways to make money in any industry is by investing in the tools of the trade, rather than the trade. We’re talking farm equipment.

Rising food prices have put a little extra cash in farmers’ pockets. Or at the very least, they have incentivized farmers to increase crop yield. To do that, they need more equipment.

Likewise, if you’re worried about higher oil and gas prices ahead (Strait of Hormuz excitement aside), there are plenty of great ideas to explore.

Even if you’re paying more at the pump and paying more to heat your house or paying more for your electricity, you can get some of that money back, and then some, by investing in the companies that most stand to benefit from those higher costs.

For example, avoid refineries, but do consider a bevy of oil and gas exploration firms. The smaller they are, the better. As good deposits of monstrous size are becoming rare, the only way the big firms like Exxon keep up their reserves is to snap up younger, more nimble firms that take the risk to find good deposits. They’ll ...