Tommy Fuzhen Art.

Are we heading for inflation? What about deflation? Do you know? A lot of people are so it is becoming difficult to know where to put your money. In a world that is so uncertain I think you should look at some alternative investments. No one can be sure of what is to come but we can do our best to prepare for it.

If we do see deflation then it is a good idea to hold cash. In deflationary times cash actually increases in value. This is one of the reasons that policy makers don't like deflation. People hoard money. They don't spend it because things will be cheaper in the future and as a result the economy seizes up.

So is cash Better Than alternative investments in deflation? The answer is maybe. While we might see deflation in the 'real' economy, policy makes are doing their best to avoid it. They are trying to achieve that by using the printing presses to print money. Even though the money might not be in the wider economy, it is in the financial markets. They then search for greater returns and may look towards alternative investments to find them.

There are experts on both sides of the debate but most of them think we will get inflation. If this happened then alternative investments would be good.

Whatever happens we are surely going to see a bumpy ride in the stock market, I am pretty certain of that. These fluctuations don't tend to follow into the alternative investments market. You will be able to hedge part of the risk that you hold in equities.

Not even the experts know exactly what will happen. This means that you should allocate your assets well in order to protect yourself. A way of doing that would be to have some alternative assets in your portfolio.