Investing in bonds right now is risky because the current interest is at lowest and can only go up. Then your bond price will go down because there will be bonds with better interest later on. It is true that the original price is guaranteed _at the maturity_ so you won't loose if you are sure you won't need the money until then. However, the inflation may eat away your savings. There are also inflation adjusted bonds that you might consider. With present rally in stock markets, the best is to invest in Mutual Funds or ETFs, where you can diversify and lower the risk. Of course, there is a risk but you can keep it under control, e.g. with automatic Stop Loss order for ETFs. The present deposit rates are pathetic
and don't forget the DIRT coming on top of it.