Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities help investors hedge against the risks of diminished purchasing power although easy monetary policies by central banks have yet to stoke runaway inflation. If interest rates rise, investors would do better with global and short-term TIPS related exchange traded funds.
TIPS are a type of government issued Treasury security indexed to inflation. The par value would rise along with inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index.
The largest TIPS ETF, the iShares TIPS Bond ETF (NYSEArca: TIP), provides exposure to inflation protected Treasuries, but the fund only has 36 holdings and a 8.16 year duration. TIP has a 12-month yield of 1.94%. [Are Treasury ETFs Riskier than Stocks?]
Duration is a measure of risk associated with increases in interest rates – if interest rates rise, bonds with higher durations would take a larger hit.
Alternatively, David Fabian of Fabian Capital Management suggests investors should consider short-duration and global TIPS instead.