Considerations include how much you have to invest and how much risk you’re willing to take.

Bonds and bond funds generally outperformed their stock counterparts in 2011, as global growth uncertainty and Europe’s debt troubles kept up demand for relatively lower risk fixed-income investments.

The sustainability of the strong bond performance is in question as prices have gotten pretty steep. Of course, as for the bullish argument, there remains a backdrop of global economic uncertainty that boosts the appeal of steady bond payments. With this bigger question looming, it’s a good opportunity to review some bond basics. After all, regardless of global market conditions, bonds can be a welcome slice of a diversified portfolio.

In addition to deciding how to divvy up holdings between stocks, bonds, and other securities, investors must choose what types of bond issues to invest in—government-issued paper or company debt, for instance. And for higher net-worth individuals who are looking for a little break on taxes, municipal bonds are an option.

The bigger question, however, is this: Should you go with individual bonds or give the nod to bond funds?

It depends. For example, investing in individual muni bonds requires a relatively high entry point. So if your investment is $100,000 or less, a muni fund may be the best route; it has a lower admission price. Also, in the corporate bond realm, individual issues can require a large single investment, and a roster of thinly traded issues may be nearly impossible to tap by individual investors with a relatively small account to play with. Therefore, accessing company-issued debt with the pooled resources of a fund may be the only option. The same argument can be made for tapping global bond exposure. In this case, the diversification and expertise of a seasoned fund manager may be necessary.

Funds, which charge management fees, offer simplicity and convenience, say proponents. Many tend to make monthly payouts rather than the annual or semiannual calendar that individual bonds tend to follow. For investors who seek steady income flow, that frequency may desirable.

That said, bond funds can be even trickier than bonds themselves because they are not really fixed-income investments, says the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, the regulator of securities firms.

Even when a mutual fund’s portfolio is composed entirely of bonds, the fund itself has neither a fixed yield nor a contractual obligation to give investors back their principal at some later maturity date—the two key fixed characteristics of individual bonds, FINRA says.

In addition, because fund managers constantly trade their positions, the risk-return profile of a bond-fund investment is continually changing. A fund can increase or decrease its risk exposure at the whim of the manager. In this way, a bond fund is closer in character to a collection of equities than it is to that of individual bonds.

Here are some considerations:

1. Assess your risk profile. Different bonds and bond funds, like stocks and stock funds, carry different risk profiles. Generally, funds (and individual issues) pay out higher yields when the risk of default (an issuer missing an interest payment or failing to return the principal amount borrowed) is stronger. Investors are paid in higher yields for shouldering the increased risk. If bond funds are designed to meet a certain objective, managers may fold in riskier, higher-yielding bonds than an individual is comfortable with. That said, the experts’ daring pursuit of yield across the bond spectrum may be beneficial, if appropriate to the investor’s risk tolerance.

2. Familiarize yourself with bond math. Yield and price move inversely. To calculate yield, subtract the price of the bond from the interest coupon. You should also read the bond’s offering statement. That’s where you will find a bond’s important characteristics, from yield to the bond’s call schedule. The call schedule tells you when an issuer might call the bond back, repaying the principal but ending the interest stream you’ve gotten used to.