Upset about all those so-called oil company windfall profits with each $4 gallon of gasoline you pump into your vehicle?

And what about your natural gas and electricity bills?

Instead of complaining about rising energy costs, people can buy stock in energy companies, energy-sector mutual funds or exchange-traded funds and take the risk that they will likely profit if energy prices keep rising, says economist and forecaster Ken Mayland, the Pepper Pike-based owner of ClearView Economics.

''You don't have to be a victim. You don't have to play the victim,'' Mayland said. ''This is stuff I've told audiences the past two years. . . . I said, create a natural hedge.''

Anyone who bought 100 shares of ExxonMobil stock a year ago, for instance, would have offset up to a $1.50 a gallon rise in gasoline as the oil company stock appreciated at one point by $9 a share for a gain of $900, Mayland said. He said he owns energy company stocks, though not ExxonMobil.

At $86.41 a share as of Thursday's close, 100 shares of ExxonMobil stock would be valued at $8,641.

Shares are up 7.4 percent from a year ago — but down 7 percent since Jan. 1, even as crude oil prices increased.

Share prices hit a 52-week high of $95 in December and a 52-week low of $81.44 in early February.

While $8,000 to $10,000 is not a trivial sum, the size of that investment is within the reach of a great many families, Mayland said.

(Some mutual fund companies have policies that allow investors to buy their funds for as little as $50 to $100 a month. Investors can also buy smaller amounts of individual shares of a company stock, but they will also incur costs by paying transaction fees to buy and sell shares.)

''This is not theoretical, pie-in-the-sky stuff,'' Mayland said. ''What you lose at the pump, you'll gain in value of your stock portfolio.''

The downside risk is that if energy prices fall, then the value of any energy company shares or related mutual fund would also fall, Mayland said.

''If oil prices fall a lot, you'll be shelling out a lot less at the pump but the value of your investment will go down a lot. That's the nature of a hedge,'' Mayland said.

A financial planner cautioned against making a move to buy high-flying energy stocks and funds now.

Keep in mind the bursting of the tech stock bubble and what is currently happening to once high-flying housing prices.

Plus, people who own investments such as broadly diversified mutual funds may already have exposure to the energy sector and don't need to increase their exposure.

Buying energy stocks or energy-related mutual funds now, particularly with many oil and energy company stock prices at or near record highs, would be highly speculative, said Tom Presper, financial planner at The Millennial Group in Akron.

Anyone who invests in energy company stocks needs to use money that he or she can afford to lose without changing their lifestyle, he said.

''Our approach is not speculation. We look at broad diversification of assets,'' Presper said. ''It's not something we would recommend.''