And that's why just like QE1 and QE2, the launch of QE3 has encouraged droves of investors to stockpile part of their wealth in gold and other hard assets like oil, timber, copper, andreal estate ... anything but depreciating greenbacks. With QE3 officially underway, investing in hard assets like gold and silver (and the companies that mine for the metals) is the best solution to safeguard against the erosive impact of inflation on your purchasing power. On Sept. 13, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pledged to unleash a thirdwave of quantitative easing (QE3) to combat the economic slowdown.