(MONEY Magazine) – Shortly after Conner Raisin was born in March 1988, his grandparents gave him a $200 zero-coupon Treasury bond that will mature at $1,000 in 2006, when he is ready for college. His parents, John and Caren (here with their baby), liked the idea and began investing some $800 a year in such bonds. Depending on the interest rates, young Conner could walk onto campus with as much as $70,000. Such low-risk investments attract the Raisins. John, 30, an entrepreneur who recently started a partnership to publish travel books, and Caren, 28, a registered nurse, earn around $90,000 a year. They currently have $30,000 in Treasury bills and a money-market fund, $17,000 in high-dividend stocks and $19,250 in their joint IRA divided among a utilities fund, a fund that invests in government agency securities, and two money-market funds. The Raisins' only worry would seem to be a return of rampant inflation. To hedge against that possibility, they bought 40 acres of beachfront land 120 miles from their home in Lafayette, Calif., a suburb of San Francisco. Such scarce beachfront promises to hold up better than real estate generally (see page 62). ''For us,'' says John, ''the important things are to reach our goals and to avoid losses.'' -- J.E.