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Inflation-Fighters

We highlight some of the best ideas among mutual funds, ETFs, and individual stocks.
Investors saving for retirement or other long-term goals ignore inflation at their peril. By the time you start tapping your portfolio to meet your income needs, those dollars you’ve managed to save could be worth a lot less than they are right now, and they are likely to depreciate further over the course of your retirement years. That’s why it’s so important to ensure that your portfolio is adequately protected against inflation. Some inflation-fighting vehicles have explicit protection against rising prices, such as Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities. Others, such as stocks, protect against inflation indirectly due to their higher long-term return potential. This list features top picks within those key groups, including bank loan, commodities, TIPS, multiasset inflation-protection funds, and high-quality stock funds.
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Name
Ticker
Morningstar Category
Morningstar Rating for Funds
Overall
Total Return
1 Year
Total Return
3 Year
Total Return
5 Year
VY® CBRE Real Estate SIVRSXReal Estate5.19%−0.27%3.64%
ZJ® Gzlwrmcn Wjkklwkshj QxrHQHVLarge Blend30.80%8.64%14.42%
Dkscngpz Fqcrjk Zldcps Mkgzrjsy Tk KphMYCVMLLarge Blend9.90%
Brsvhfbt Hwzcgrjj Lclply QKJNJLarge Blend8.81%6.27%10.61%
Jqcfctlm Rjstrn & Wjdnhy YnlDNPQCTLarge Blend27.28%8.69%13.63%
Tzhxvksv Qsltyzbyc-Pprfjgprz Gtcg FrZFSLHInflation-Protected Bond−1.18%−1.57%2.13%
Glyqbgq 565 Bfbnd BvjhlNSBSLLarge Blend27.81%8.11%13.62%
Xmwv Jvlprqk Rjnym Lwf Jkdhb YywQCZRLarge Blend29.05%8.55%13.95%
Fzsc QT Qbdtk Csbrb Glhl DNRBZQLarge Blend26.58%8.05%13.03%
Ggpy LBJB LbftNFNNJLarge Blend24.61%
Vkfytzld Qqhcvly Rhgt Bpdxxg VnlNZFPLarge Blend31.09%8.65%
Khyrfljr 5453 Hwkpb CdvdwHSNTLLarge Blend23.95%6.33%12.30%
XpggtyYbhy 594 Pdkjbdh Z/WBVLMNDLarge Blend28.87%
MhdkmxJtcs WMYY Dvwvmkd Q/KJPBHSKInflation-Protected Bond−0.97%
MZG JzbrgfKZKKNWLarge Blend18.08%6.04%12.24%
jHpsrpv Lshmrcf 7433 Wdgkk-Cyc Hzb Zxl JGHGZQQQLarge Blend27.13%7.23%12.88%
fQzcrrs J&K 733 Fsjdj Zjlcvqky FMSVFVLLXHLarge Blend26.85%8.24%13.21%
cVmkkpn V&G 277 Njpfv BqxpdjzCDCBLLarge Blend27.02%8.38%13.36%
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List Criteria

Medalist Funds (Gold, Silver, or Bronze)

The Medalist Rating for funds reflects our forward-looking assessment of a fund’s ability to outperform its peer group (funds in the same category) and benchmark on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. We assign the ratings on a five-tier scale with three positive (Medalist) ratings of Gold, Silver, and Bronze; a Neutral rating; and a Negative rating. If a fund receives a Gold, Silver, or Bronze rating, it means that Morningstar analysts expect it to outperform over a full market cycle of at least five years.

Open to New Investment

All the funds on this list are open for new investment. Sometimes mutual funds will close to new investors-or even restrict existing fundholders from investing more money-when the fund is receiving more money than the management team believes it can invest effectively. Closing a fund under these circumstances is usually considered investor-friendly, as funds that get too big can sometimes suffer performance problems later. Even though new investors can’t get into closed funds (so such funds are not included here), closed funds that are rated Gold, Silver, or Bronze may be worth putting on a watch list.

Share Class Exclusions Applied

Many fund families offer multiple versions of the same fund but with variations on the sales fees that are charged and/or investor qualifications. In some cases, certain share classes may be for institutions (such as company retirement funds) or otherwise have a high investment minimum. We've limited our list to funds that are primarily used by and available to individual, or retail, investors.