If you really worry about inflation, having a job is about the only proven antidote. Asset returns and getting to liquidity lag
Lag a little, sure, but if you own a portion of that business (via stock investments, even index funds) that are selling the assets at inflated prices, you're earning that extra money.
Rents rise with inflation, but also lag. If tenants are on a year lease, you need to wait to raise the rent. Even when you do raise it,
but buying food and utilities are real time events.
Sure.
But your solution, a job, doesn't work either.
When have you seen a job give daily or weekly performance reviews and raises based on inflation? Food and utilities raise real time, but jobs and wages don't, they lag even harder than asset prices.
When you have an annual review, at best, and get a small cost of living increase (even less than inflation was) and you're happy to take it, because the economy is rough, you're definitely lagging inflation, and were for that whole year before you got the raise, and the whole year until the next one (even if they didn't put you below, like I said, but they did raise it to match inflation once/yr, you were lagged behind that whole year, and immediately fall behind again).
Instead...
WalMart raises prices on food? Chevron raises gas prices? Electric company raises energy prices?
Good thing I own all of them via index funds, so when people pay those higher prices, I'M the one profiting, all along the way, even if the prices of the stocks haven't gone up a lot to reflect it, yet (lag).
That's one major way to beat inflation--own productive assets.
Too much of your money in bonds? Cash? Ouch. High equities, real estate, those are key things to beating inflation. They have higher volatility, yes, but allow that upside that fixed return assets do not, to adjust up for inflation.
And they lag way less than a job.
This is what I meant by saying you should study and research inflation. Because "a job" as a solution while putting down certain assets that do help is plain silly, IMO. :)
And, as BG says, don't protect too hard against one risk (inflation) at the risk of another (deflation, volatility sequence of returns risk, etc.), but definitely protect against inflation, and the way to do this is via proper asset allocation.