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TIPS keep looking better and better.

So-called TIPS bonds — the acronym stands for “Treasury inflation-protected securities” — are the only asset legally protected against the risks of default and inflation. They are bonds issued by the United States government that pay interest twice a year, like regular Treasury bonds, but which also raise the face value of the bond in line with consumer prices.

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If you hold a TIPS bond to maturity, you are guaranteed to earn a certain rate of return above and beyond any inflation during the period — no ifs, ands or buts. This certain rate of return, known as the “real” yield, is determined at the moment you buy the TIPS bonds.

And right now, thanks to what’s been happening in the markets, it’s well above 2%. For longer-term TIPS bonds, such as those maturing in 20 or even 30 years’ time, the real yield is nearly 2.5%.

It is almost never this high. For most of the period since the late 1990s, when TIPS bonds were first launched, those buying the bonds had to content themselves with real returns of 1.5% or 1% — or even less. At certain times, people have been so worried about inflation they’ve been willing to buy TIPS bonds with negative real yields — meaning they were guaranteed to end up with less purchasing power than at the start. (As someone once said, some ideas are so stupid only experts could believe them.)

Only on a few rare occasions since these bonds were launched have they ever offered rates this good or better.

TIPS, like all bonds, operate like a seesaw. When the price of the bond rises, the yield or interest rate falls (and vice-versa). The price of TIPS bonds have been tumbling in recent weeks, sending the interest rate higher.

TIPS bonds can be bought individually, like any other U.S. Treasury bond, through a brokerage account. Or they can bought through funds, such as the Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securities Fund VAIPX, or the iShares 0-5 Year TIPS Bond ETF STIP for short-term bonds, or the PIMCO 15+ Year U.S. TIPS Index ETF LTPZ for long-term bonds.