If someone said to you, I have $100,000 of hard earned money saved, where would you invest it?

Question/Comment: If someone said to you, I have $100,000 of hard earned money saved, where would you invest it?

Paul Solman: In U.S. government TIPS, Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, I suppose. They pay an interest rate equal to the Consumer Price Index, plus a small premium (a percent or two).

The reason I answer this way is because a major chunk of our family pensions are invested in them, and have been for years. And they’re a favorite of my finance professor guru, Zvi Bodie featured in a piece ours on the financial crisis.

Bodie-sattva, as I sometimes call him, pushes TIPS in his book, ‘Worry-Free Investing.’ They’re also endorsed by Terry Burnham in his fascinating book, ‘Mean Markets and Lizard Brains.’