The purest way to invest in precious metals is to buy the actual metals. Bars and coins made of gold, silver, copper, platinum and palladium, Rhodium.iron, Osmium Iridium, Ruthenium Indium another precious metal, are available from coin dealers around the world.

Hard assets, such as art, antiques, gems and collectibles, are yet another way to diversify your holdings. Because hard assets often retain their value as inflation rises, they can provide balance to other asset classes that suffer more from rising costs.

invest in natural resource commodities like basic resources, agricultural, or mining products, such as iron ore, sugar, or grains like rice and wheat.

A mutual fund is an investment security type that enables investors to pool their money together into one professionally managed investment. Mutual funds can invest in stocks, bonds, cash or other assets. These underlying security types, called holdings, combine to form one mutual fund, also called a portfolio.