[A]t today’s high prices and low yields, bonds are riskier than they were a few months ago. The easiest way to tell is by looking at duration: the change in a bond’s market value when interest rates go up or down by one percentage point. If, for example, you own a bond with a duration of four, then its value will go up about 4% if interest rates fall by a percentage point; the bond will lose about 4% if rates rise by one point. For Treasury bonds, rising interest rates are the main form of risk; for corporate, municipal and other bonds, the financial soundness of the underlying assets raises another kind of risk.

Duration generally rises in tandem with bond prices, meaning that bonds are now primed to lose even more money if interest rates go up. This is, in short, a dangerous time to chase yield.

[T]here’s an irreconcilable conflict in the mutual fund industry between the profit motive and fiduciary responsibility. There are two major organizations, Vanguard and TIAA-CREF, which operate on a not-for-profit basis. That conflict between profit and fiduciary duty disappears. Vanguard and TIAA-CREF are dedicated to serving their investors. They are shining beacons in this otherwise ugly morass.