In my previous blog post, I shared the amount of passive income I received in the first 9 months of 2023.

My investment portfolio is still generating income.

However, there is now more variety in the sources of income.

Why do I say this?

Over the years, I have consistently maintained a meaningful percentage of investment grade bonds in my portfolio.

For a long time, I treated my CPF savings as the investment grade bond component of my portfolio.

Risk-free and volatility-free, there really isn’t a better option for someone like me.

I have a blog post titled “Unless we are very rich, CPF is all we need” to share my perspective on the matter.

This is the link to that blog post: HERE.

Of course, I share my CPF numbers at the start of every year, showing how much interest income is paid to me.

This interest income is not included in my quarterly passive income update.

Why?

The CPF interest generated is not immediately available for withdrawal to be used in any way we like.

We will be allowed to withdraw any CPF savings in excess of the Full Retirement Sum and the Basic Healthcare Sum when we turn 55 and not earlier.

My quarterly passive income report has always been about income generated by my investments in the stock market.

This year, however, my investment portfolio also includes bonds.

In the last year or so, with bond yields much higher, I have also been buying Singapore Savings Bonds and T-bills.

So, my quarterly passive income report this year has another flavor.

A sprinkling of fixed income.

With bonds being much more rewarding now than 1 year ago, I am going to continue strengthening my T-bill ladder and, hence, enlarge the bond component of my portfolio.

I am a lazy fellow and would always go for low hanging fruits first.

Taking advantage of the CPF-SA and the CPF-MA was an easy decision for me so many years ago.

Taking advantage of the higher bond yields now is another easy decision for me.

To be sure, the coupons received from bonds will not make a drastic difference to me even as they slightly increase my quarterly passive income.

However, if we focus on this difference, we are missing the point.

What’s the point then?

This is risk-free and volatility-free.

There is assurance that we will get paid during good and bad times.

This is very comforting to me.

Having such a component in my investment portfolio helps to smooth out rough patches which are bound to appear from time to time.

All else being equal, I will continue to increase exposure to this asset class in 2024.

If AK can do it, so can you!