Get 'Real' and Protect Your Money (Update 1)

Updated for February's CPI report.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Inflation erodes wealth. A way to counter the threat of rising prices is by investing in so-called real assets such as gold and real estate.

Central banks have flooded the markets with cash, oil prices continue to rise, and emerging market economies are growing rapidly. That means inflation is very likely to increase in the years -- if not months -- ahead.

The government's measure of inflation, known as the consumer price index, or CPI, showed that inflation increased 2.9% in February from a year earlier. That's lower than the average rate of 3.6% since 1980. However, John Williams, an economist at Shadow Government Statistics, thinks those numbers are grossly understated given the changes in CPI calculations. If inflation were measured the same way it was in 1980, the average increase over the past 30-plus years would be 7.7%, he says.

Now, compare that to yields on savings accounts and Treasury bills. It's not hard to realize that, based on inflation alone, many people are slowly watching the value of their money deteriorate.

Add to the equation the high correlation in the stock market and high volatility, and suddenly the rule of thumb of investing 60% of your money in stocks and 40% in bonds no longer provides the returns they once did.

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It quickly becomes clear that investors need to beat inflation. Cohen & Steers (CNS), well-known as one of the largest real estate investment trust (REIT) investors in the world, suggests investing in real assets.

Investments in commodities, natural-resources equities and REITs, all backed by "real," or physical, assets, can diversify portfolios and mitigate volatility. Cohen & Steers' new fund, the Cohen & Steers Real Assets Fund, invests in all three of those categories.

"These groups are all attractive from a fundamental perspective," Cohen & Steers Chief Investment Officer Joseph Harvey says. "With values driven by increasing demand, barriers to supply and rising replacement costs, they also have inflation-fighting tendencies, which are the key to maintaining long-term purchasing power."

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