There are two forces in the investment world than usually do not go together: yield and inflation. The multi-decade era of low/falling interest rates has seemingly caused investors to no longer realize the danger inflation poses to their yielding investments. Bonds, utility stocks, and REITs (specifically those with few land-holdings) all suffer when inflation rises. As explained in "Long-Term Treasuries Are Hardly A Hedge", even a small rise in inflation would be disastrous to many retired investors who depend on fixed-income investments.
While inflation is low and likely to fall slightly over the