For the average investor, instead of getting all excited and getting into risky Gold or foreign currency investments, you can do very well easily by just going to your 401(k) and allocating all your assets to a mix of diversified Global/International funds. If you max out your 401(k) and they are all invested in Global funds, you have enough protection against moderate inflation/devaluation. Any devaluation of $ will be fairly gradual. My guess is $ may lose 50%-60% (in real purchasing power parity over a basket of major currencies) over the next 10-12 Year period. This will be slow enough for most people not to notice. Only by 2020, will average folks start noticing that we are living less well, than, say 2000. (Only now, some smart piggingtonian like people are realizing that we are less well of in standard of living compared to 1960s)