"In a new paradigm where risk will become a paranoid obsession with investors, a few TIPS make sense for income," says long-standing advisory industry expert Curtis Hesler.

In his The Professional Timing Service, he highlights the role of Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities within a long-term portfolio and reviews two ways for investors to purchases these issues.

"You can buy them in your Treasury Direct account. If you don't have a Treasury Direct account, you can open one at www.treasurydirect.gov. The problem is that so far, you can't open a retirement account - only an individual account. Go to the Treasury Direct Web site and bone up on all the details, especially if you are going to buy them online.

"TIPS work this way. They are U.S. government bonds issued by the Treasury. They are marketable in that you can sell them in the 'after' market. They come in terms of 5, 10, and 20 years. The interest rate on an issue is determined at auction, and they are sold in increments of $1,000.

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

In his Forbes ETF Trader, Jim Lowell says, "My top conservative pick for 2008 is the iShares Lehman TIPs (NYSE: TIP). This exchange-traded fund enters the mix as a less-spirited way to play the recessionary hand that 2008 could deal.

"While the performance behavior of the underlying holdings will make the case for this being nothing more than a dolled up basket of long-term Treasuries, the market reality is that in times of duress, the momentum tends to favor these instruments over most others.

"But don't buy it for yield or price. Instead, view it as a life raft on the deck of all the above picks. It's good to know it's there if you need it -- and according to consensus estimates, in 2008 it's not a case of if but when."

As an alternative, conservative investors can buy the iShares S&P 100 Index Fund (ASE: OEF). The S&P 100 Index is comprised of the largest 100 stocks in the S&P 500 Index. As such, it's an intermediate play between the Dow 30 and the S&P 500, and ought to continue to benefit from the current flight to quality in '08.

While I'm occasionally offered refills at no charge at my local independent coffee shop, I'm never offered free drinks at either that establishment or my local Starbucks Corporation (NADSAQ:SBUX) outlet. (And I'm nice, really I am!) Yet many customers, if a recent thread at Starbucks Gossip is any indication, are. One (must be extremely nice) customer writes in to say that she's comped as much as 2/3 of her drinks.
The post started quite a discussion about free beverages, with one angry district manager writing in to claim that this was theft, and if he were their boss, he'd fire the whole lot of 'em. Some other equally angry and righteous commenters agreed, but the general consensus was that occasional free beverages were good for business -- "Surprise and Delight" 'em, the concept goes, and they'll keep coming back and spending their money in your store. And putting lots of extra bills in your tip jar!

Sure, if a customer is getting most of her drinks free, and putting the $2 in the tip jar instead of the till, that equation is pretty straightforward: sorry guys, that's just a tiny bit of bad ethics there. But a once-a-week freebie for great customers or even (as one barista mentioned) confused out-of-towners? I'm thinking that it will serve to increase business and customer goodwill.

For busy families that have a lot of service providers to thank (house cleaners, babysitters, hairdressers, etc.), the tipping tally can easily total in the thousands of dollars. (Read SmartMoney's take on what is reasonable and expected for year-end gratuities or take AOL's tipping quiz to see if you know it all already.)

As much as you might fantasize, you can't skip the tips. If you want to keep your tipping budget to a reasonable level, you don't have to play scrooge this season. Here's some ideas for how to thank the folks who help you out year-round without busting your budget: