Given that most contemporary/traditional investment strategies are always frought with risk, it seems to me a better deal to simply make more money in time than inflation will devalue.

In volatile times when inflation is expected to increase quickly, I find that switching from one assignment to another affords me a great opportunity to negotiate a better deal on a regular basis allowing for inflationary adjustments. For instance, if I am presently making a $100k per year salary, and inflation goes up 25% this year (an egregious amount to be sure), I would simply seek another opportunity as quickly as possible and set my expected compensation level accodingly.

As I've said before, I consider my 401k and other financial investments a novelty. My hedge against inflation is having a commodity that is market-proof and negotiating a better deal as often as needed. If the market ever gets bad enought that I can't peddle my wares here, then our country is in an extremely dire situation, and I will probably end up doing what I do in China since they haven't the skill set to compete, and will have a huge need for my services there (they already do, but I don't need to pull that string yet).