Know the risk
None of this is to say that you shouldn't have any of your money in bonds right now. Sticking to a reasonable asset allocation strategy makes sense in any market environment. But before you boost your bond exposure beyond its normal levels, make sure you understand exactly how much money you could lose if you make the wrong call.

ETFDuration (Years)Current YieldBreakeven Point (Years)iShares Barclays TIPS Bond (NYSE: TIP - News)3.53.32%*1.1iShares US Treasury 20+ Year (NYSE: TLT - News)15.73.48%4.5Vanguard Total Bond Market (NYSE: BND - News)4.43.62%1.2iShares US Treasury 7-10 Year (NYSE: IEF - News)7.32.98%2.4SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond (NYSE: JNK - News)4.710.68%0.4iShares Investment Grade Corporate (NYSE: LQD - News)7.34.90%1.5iShares US Treasury 1-3 Year (NYSE: SHY - News)1.91.18%1.6

In coming up with ways to protect their portfolios, many investors draw on lessons learned from their most recent mistakes. Unfortunately, most people right now are taking the lessons they learned from the 2008 bear market and buying bonds, which could easily prove to be far riskier than they thought.

With that in mind, let's look at some of the duration figures for the most popular bond exchange-traded funds:

But with so much money moving into the bond market, rates on even the longest-term bonds have fallen to historically low levels. That has created some impressive gains for those who got into bonds early on, but has also increased the risk for those who continue to hold bonds.

To put this in perspective, keep in mind that interest rates have fallen over a percentage point in just the past few months. Investors have based that precipitous drop largely on the prospects for a severe double-dip recession and fears of a long period of stagnation similar to what Japan has suffered through since 1990.

What that indicates is that if the worst-case scenario doesn't happen,NBA, interest rates could rebound very quickly if the economy starts firing again. The speed with which those rate rises could create losses similar to what Treasuries saw in 2009, when the stock market rally encouraged investors to take money out of bonds. And the resulting losses could take years for you to recover through receiving interest payments — especially since most bond ETFs aren't paying you much of a yield right now.

You can find a simple answer to this question by looking at the duration of the bond or fund in question. In simple terms, duration measures how quickly bondholders get their money back, considering both interest payments and the principal payment you receive at maturity. One simple rule of thumb is that for every year of duration, the bond or fund will lose one percentage point of value for every percentage point increase in rates. So while a fund with a duration of one year would suffer only a 1% loss if rates rise by a percentage point, a fund with a duration of 10 years could lose 10% of its value.

Source: Morningstar, author calculations.
Breakeven point refers to length of interest payments needed to offset losses from a one-percentage-point rise in interest rates.
* Includes gain from inflation adjustment.

Fool contributor Dan Caplinger is appalled at what passes for interest rates these days. He owns shares of iShares Barclays TIPS Bond. Try any of our Foolish newsletters today, free for 30 days. The Fool's disclosure policy's word is its bond.

Understanding duration
When bond rates are low, the biggest risk is interest rate risk. The key to rate risk is figuring out how much the price of an individual bond or bond fund will drop for every percentage point that overall rates rise.

The classic seesaw
With occasional exceptions, the historical relationship between stocks and bonds has largely held true for decades, and it's still true today. Typically, stock prices and bond prices move in opposite directions, as investors alternate trading the prospects of greater returns from riskier assets against the desire for safety and capital preservation. That relationship actually works well for those who maintain a diversified portfolio,Juicy Couture jackets, as it ensures that even when one type of asset is doing the poorly, the other usually does fairly well to offset some of the losses.

Stocks may be attractive values right now, but you have to stay away from obvious losers. Fool Jordan DiPietro unearths several trash stocks that only Oscar the Grouch could love.

Bullock, 46 — who attended the ribbon cutting Sunday of a new $700,000 New Orleans health clinic she helped fund to mark the fifth year of Hurricane Katrina — says she loves being tied to the Big Easy.

In her first television interview since splitting with Jesse James, Sandra Bullock says “everything works out the way the universe wants it to work out.”

“It takes good people with integrity,” she says. “I mean, I read something like, how did someone keep a secret, and it’s– you know– human beings exist that have integrity that know how to keep their mouth shut. That know the bigger picture, that don’t sell out their friends. Those people are all over the place. But again, we don’t like to talk about it, because it doesn’t sell a magazine. But I was blessed with the same friends I’ve had since before things got really special for me and blessed in life.

“And when things get bad, they’re still the same friends,” she says. “And,The North Face, you know,Fred perry, it– everything passes. It all passes. But they just– you know, they know if they screw up they’re not coming on the next vacation. I’m not going to babysit their kids. I will cut them. I will take them down.”

Bullock and ex husband James, 40 — with whom she split earlier this year following reports that he cheated — began the adoption process four years ago. See more photos of Sandra in New Orleans.

“Everything works out the way the universe wants it to work out,” she says. “We had always said that it didn’t matter where the child came from. If they had issues that were medical issues, we didn’t care. It’s like the child that needed us in the home is the child that’s going to be placed.

PHOTOS: Sandra, the stepmom!

“And I didn’t think it would be a boy,” she adds. “We don’t have any boys in our family. Boy, is everyone really happy about that. So, he’s like the crown prince. You know, it’s nothing but girls in our family … It was just the hierarchy that needed to be broken.”

Case in point: Her seven-month-old son Louis, whom she adopted from New Orleans.

PHOTOS: Sandra’s cutest moments with Louis

Kidding aside, she says, “I have friends and family that are filled with massive amounts of integrity. And it shouldn’t be an oddity.”

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Bullock has said she always had “faith” she would end up with the right child.

Bullock kept her adoption hush-hush — and she credits her close friends with helping her do so.

PHOTOS: Sandra’s red carpet looks through the years

“How lucky am I?” she asks Lauer.

“It was a long process,” she tells Lauer. “I did not circumvent. I wanted to do everything exactly the same way everyone else did. And– it was– he was always mine, you know. It wasn’t like I felt like someone was going to take him away. But it was nice to have someone say, I think you’re a fit parent.”

PHOTOS: Sandra and Jesse, they way they were

“He’s a little Cajun cookie,” she tells the Today show’s Matt Lauer in the interview, airing Tuesday.

At the French Open this weekend,Cheap Ed hardy silk scarves, Venus Williams scored an easy win over her opponent,Cheap Christian Audigier, Switzerlwholesale and outlet online’s Patty Schnyder. But victory on the field of fashion didn’t come quite so easily.outlet online wholesale clothing. Venus played in a lace-embellished bustier-style dress from her own line, EleVen. Maybe it was the Paris setting.outlet online brand clothing, but the dress smacks of the Moulin Rouge.outlet online brand clothing, wholesale and outlet online not, we’d have to say,Cheap G-star, in the best possible way. Short even for tennis togs (see left for proof) wholesale and outlet online disconcertingly at odds with Venus’ athletic figure, the whole outfit feels like a bit of a non to us. Venus told the L.A. Times that her look was “about illusion,” which is “a lot of my motif this year.” What do you think? Is this an illusion worth seeing?

Photo: Laurent Rebours / AP Photo

“Just spending time with [Khloe and Lamar] is full of happiness and laughter,” Francis tells Us of the smitten pair. “My fiancee and I are the best of friends, just like Khloe and Lamar, and the next step for us to go down the aisle is only natural!”

Guy gone mild!

Upon hearing of Francis’ engagement, happy wife Khloe, 26, texted her friend a congrats text. The message: “U will love marriage!”

PHOTOS: Stars who’ve mellowed out

PHOTOS: Khloe and Lamar’s wedding

PHOTOS: Their whirlwind romance

Video entrepreneur Joe Francis made his fortune — and some controversy — with the racy Girls Gone Wild DVD series. But nowadays, he’s settled down with fiancee Christina McLarty, to whom he proposed in June.

Read more about Khloe and Lamar’s sweet married life together — Lamar tells Us “she is everything I have ever wanted” — in the new Us Weekly, out now. 

His inspiration to become a married man: good pals Khloe Kardashian and hubby Lamar Odom. “Khloe and Lamar make an amazing couple,” Francis, 37, tells UsMagazine.com of the couple, who celebrate their one-year wedding anniversary Sept. 27. “You see their energy together is real and true love.” he adds.

On August 13, the actress’ mother Dina said that the actress would be returning to New York.

“As a parent, you have to let her go a little bit,” she told Today’s Matt Lauer, recalling when her daughter, now 24, first moved West. “When she went out to Los Angeles when she was 19, I had to let her go and let her live and fall and fail and survive. Without failure, there’s no success. I was there in close proximity, but you can’t make your child not go out and go to a club and not get behind the wheel of a car. I certainly don’t condone any of that behavior.

Why the early release?

Ed McPherson, Lindsay Lohan’s civil attorney, confirms to Usmagazine.com, “She has been released from Inpatient rehab.” 

Asked if she’s “confident” Lindsay will come through it all, Dina said, “She’s already through it.”

Lindsay Lohan has left rehab after 23 days of treatment.

VIDEO: Dina Lohan: I don’t “foresee” Lindsay dying young

PHOTOS: Stars who’ve served time

“They’re gonna do what they’re gonna do when they turn 18, 19,” Dina went on. “… And you kind of lose a little power and control, which you want to do for your child. You want to let them go. Without failure, there’s no success.”

PHOTOS: Lindsay Lohan’s most shocking moments

TMZ reported earlier that the actress’ doctors “have already concluded her psychiatric problems are not nearly as severe as first thought. In addition, the doctors do not believe the drug dependency issues are as severe as first thought.”

Lohan, 24, who checked into UCLA Medical Center Aug. 2 after serving 13 days behind bars, was originally sentenced to 90 days at a treatment facility for violating probation in her DUI case. According to Radaronline.com, who originally reported Lohan’s release, the actress was escorted out of the facility’s back door into a waiting limousine on Tuesday afternoon.

PHOTOS: Top 16 Bachelor splits

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The two — who are both 28 — plan on throwing a poolside bash Sunday at Las Vegas resort Rumor. Around 20 former Bachelor stars are expected, including newlyweds Jason and Molly Mesnick, Jesse Kovacs and Vienna Girardi.

This past spring, Lueders, 28, learned she was expecting. (They recently announced they’ll be having a boy; they’re naming him Noah.)

In 2008, Csincsak won the fourth season of The Bachelorette, capturing the heart of DeAnna Pappas (Lueders appeared on Jason Mesnick’s season of The Bachelor).

“I was crying, holding his hands, and he showed me the ring,” she recalled of his proposal. “I just nodded, like, ‘Yeah!’”

Pappas recently announced in Us Weekly that she is engaged to high school teacher Stephen Stagliano.

PHOTOS: Before they were on The Bachelor

Jesse Csincsak and pregnant Ann Lueders, former contestants on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, got married Saturday in Las Vegas.

“I’ve spent the last year getting to know you,” he told her. “I would never have dreamed this would happen, but I’ve fallen in love with you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Csincsak, a pro snowboarder, and Lueders,NFL Jerseys, a former flight attendant, met last year on a cruise for former Bachelor and Bachelorette contestants.

PHOTOS: Bachelor bods through the years

Csincsak and Pappas, 28, called it quits a few months after the show’s finale.

In a video interview on RadarOnline,Ed hardy belts, Csincsak proposed to Lueders with a $22,000 custom-made, 2-carat princess cut engagement ring designed by Rob Levit of northeastern Ohio-based Levit Jewelers Inc.

PHOTOS: Bachelor stars - where are they now?

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Us Weekly recently shot the ladies for our new cover and I had two minutes to pull looks together for them. We had no jewelry. Later, Robert told me how he wished he knew so he could have sent over his stuff. Huh?! He’s got his own line of baubles available on QVC! Who knew? wholesale and outlet online you know what, it’s hot.

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But during his concert Tuesday in Irvine, Calif., he took time out to set the record straight, MTV reports.

Mayer, 32, told the crowd he has a morning ritual of watching naughty Internet videos. (A specific brunette has been his latest obsession.)

Tabloid rumors swirled this week that John Mayer is back on with Jennifer Aniston.

PHOTOS: John Mayer - and other guys linked to Jessica Simpson

As for those Aniston reports, an insider tells UsMagazine.com: “John is still friends with Jen, but they are not dating again. She was not at the Hollywood Bowl show he played, but it would not mean anything if she were. They remain friends but are definitely not back together.”

PHOTOS: Single in the summer!

Then, in typical Mayer style,Evisu, he launched a TMI rant about his love life.

PHOTOS: John and Jen, the way they were

Mayer’s rep does not comment on his personal life.

“I’m completely single!” he told the crowd.

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Sniped the singer, “That is the dirty truth.”

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PHOTOS: The Hills’ biggest OMG moments

A source close to the couple told Us that Montag initiated the split because “she had lost contact with her friends and family.”

Pratt, 26, wed Montag, 23, in April 2009 in a ceremony taped for The Hills,True Religion, the MTV reality show that made them stars.

PHOTOS: How the Hills’ stars have changed

Jodeane Farrell, Montag’s lawyer, confirmed to TMZ that Pratt has signed paperwork confirming that he was served with divorce papers on August 13.

Montag filed for divorce on July 30, citing irreconcilable differencea. Of his wife’s move,Louis Vittion, Pratt quipped to UsMagazine.com, “Heidi couldn’t handle King Spencer’s fame so she got out of the marriage.”

On the day Pratt was served with his wife’s divorce papers, she wrote optimistically on Twitter: “cleaning house and getting rid of my old life, it feels good to live fresh.”

PHOTOS: Heidi and Spencer’s wedding

How’s this for romantic: barring any dramatic reconciliation, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt’s divorce will become final on February 14, 2011.

According to California law, Montag must wait 6 months after Pratt was served in order for their divorce to be finalized — thus making next Valentine’s Day their official split date.