While researching opinions for a column I'm writing about people's current retirement attitudes, I've been led to one particularly important question: what would I myself do if I had money to invest for retirement?

The first part of my answer is simple. I have a fairly well performing 401k account through my employer and I stick as much money in that account as I can stand. But what if I had excess funds which I wanted to put into safe haven for the future, what would I do right now? At this point, I believe the option I would use is Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS).

You must understand that I hate bonds. I hate them because I think that they're typically very lazy. They generally pay low rates of return and they sometimes lack liquidity. However, with today's extreme investment volatility, I have come to recognize the intrinsic wisdom of government backed bonds. The nice thing about TIPS is that they come with inflation protection built right in.

I did a little research, and I found a short discussion about TIPS funds at CNN Money.com. The article mentions a TIPS fund which is managed by Vanguard, a name which I place a fairly high degree of trust in. The article indicates that the Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securities Fund (VIPSX) has an acceptable rate of return and low operating fees. If I had a large sum of cash which I just wanted to place in a save haven until this bear market runs its course, I believe that this Vanguard fund might be one of my first choices.

"Like other US Treasuries, Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPs) have virtually no credit risk," explains fund expert Mark Salzinger.

The editor of The No-Load Fund Investor adds, "Unlike other US Treasuries beyond short-term bills, however, TIPs also have no inflation risk." Here, he looks at an EYF based on TIPs.

"Twice a year, TIPs' principal valuis are adjusted upward by the amount of the increase in the Consumer Price Index Urban (CPI-U), thus protecting their holders against increases in inflation.

"The total return of the bond equals its yield plus the change in principal value based on inflation, changes in real interest rates (published interest rates minus inflation) and supply-demand in the market for TIPs.

"TIPs' yields are lower than those of regular Treasury sercurities of similar maturities. That's one of the disadvantages of TIPs.

"The other is that any increase in principal value due to the biannual inflation adjustment gets taxed every year as if it were received income.