The most important thing you have to do with your money, right now, is protect it from inflation.

This morning the government reported that consumer prices rose 3.7% over the last 12 months. Gasoline prices rose 9.1% in September alone. And inflation has now been over the government’s 2% annual target for 66 months in a row.

Inflation is getting worse, not better.

So what's the best way to protect yourself?

You should invest in America’s largest secret real estate empire. You've driven past these properties your entire life – you just didn’t know it. They are all hidden in plain sight.

No, these aren’t office towers – it doesn’t own any of those. It doesn’t own shopping malls either, thankfully. It also doesn’t own apartments, hotels, or warehouses. It owns something most Americans have never thought of as real estate at all.

And yet, in the last year it collected $10.4 billion in rent.

That is more than Prologis (PLD), which owns or manages 1.2 billion square feet of warehouses, collected ($8.2 billion). It is more than American Tower (AMT) took in from all of its cell towers and data centers combined. It’s more than the largest office REITs collect. It’s even more than the largest real estate companies in the world, like Mitsui Fudosan in Japan and Sun Hung Kai Properties in Hong Kong – combined!

And yet, I’d bet that you’ve never even heard of this real estate company because it was all built in secret by only two men.

How do we know this is the best way to protect yourself from inflation?

We studied what happened last time. From 1970 to 1990, while consumer prices tripled during America’s great inflation, this was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500, earning 20% a year.

And here’s another secret.

While its hidden real estate empire provides the business with enormous benefits from rising rents, that isn’t the main driver of the company’s incredible financial performance.

The real secret is something called “asset allocation.”

It’s ironic that most investors know almost nothing about asset allocation. They don’t know what it means. They don’t know how to measure it. And they certainly don’t understand why it’s the number-one indicator of a “power law” winning business – a company that can create real wealth over time.

Investors would rather talk about earnings and revenue growth. But those numbers only tell you how well a business makes money selling their products or services. Those operating metrics don't tell you what happens to the profits. And over any long holding period, how a company allocates its capital is the most important variable.

Let me explain how this works with a story from my book, Warren's Mistakes – about how legendary investor Warren Buffett stopped investing in capital efficient businesses.

Commercial aviation is the worst business in the history of American capitalism.