Fixed Income and Portfolio allocation

Your numbers

Portfolio size (bonds only, CPF is on top)

Cost of living increase each year

Annual spending

Years ahead

Economists call the cost of living increase "inflation".

Try a different split (optional)

Move the sliders to see how a different split changes your income. Step 2, the safest, takes whatever is left. Step 1 (CPF) is fixed.

Step 2 · Singapore Government bonds (safest, takes the rest)

Step 3 · Senior bank bonds

Step 4 · Bank Tier 2 bonds

Step 5 · Bank perpetual bonds

Estimated income each year

S$172,514 (3.4% yield)

Coupons from your bonds S$137,250 plus CPF payouts S$35,264. CPF is counted on top of the portfolio size above.

To buy the same things that S$150,000 buys today, you need S$182,849 in 10 years.

Your money in 10 years

In today's money

S$4,297,219

This is what your bonds and CPF would be worth in 10 years, after paying for your spending each year, measured in today's prices.

From year 10 your spending will be more than your income. That is fine — it comes out of bonds as they are repaid. In today's money your savings shrink slowly.

Where your money sits

Each block is S$250,000. Safest at the top, riskiest at the bottom.

Government guaranteed
Government bonds
Very safe bank bonds
Safe bank bonds, paid after senior
Higher income, higher risk. Keep to this size.

Step 1 · Government guaranteed

CPF Retirement Account

S$250k

S$132k

Fixed amount: S$881,600 (about 3.5 lots)

CPF rules

Government pays 4% guaranteed.

Expected yield

4.0%

Expected coupons

S$35,264 a year

Step 2 · Government guaranteed

Singapore Government bonds (SGS)

S$250k

3 lots = S$750,000 (17.6% of your portfolio)

Singapore Government Bonds. Safe, liquid.

Expected yield

2.3%

Expected coupons

S$17,250 a year

Step 3 · Very safe bank bonds

Senior bank bonds

S$250k

7 lots = S$1,750,000 (41.2% of your portfolio)

How does the ladder work?
Explainer: Bonds, LACIs, Tier2, and AT1

Big, well-capitalised banks. Paid back first if anything goes wrong.

Expected yield

3.1%

Expected coupons

S$54,250 a year

Step 4 · Safe bank bonds, paid after senior

Bank Tier 2 bonds

S$250k

4 lots = S$1,000,000 (23.5% of your portfolio)

Explainer: Bonds, LACIs, Tier2, and AT1

Very safe, slightly higher income, paid back after senior bonds.

Expected yield

3.2%

Expected coupons

S$32,000 a year

Step 5 · Higher income, higher risk

Bank perpetual bonds (AT1)

S$250k

3 lots = S$750,000 (17.6% of your portfolio)

Pays the most, but the bank can skip payments or not pay back on time.

Expected yield

4.5%

Expected coupons

S$33,750 a year

The TD bond you already own

Toronto-Dominion Bank perpetual. Pays 5.70% a year on face value, in Singapore dollars, every six months. The bank can choose to repay you from 31 July 2029.

JX or ZX will fill this in from your contract note.

More about this bond

Toronto-Dominion Bank. Pays 5.70% a year on face value, in Singapore dollars, every six months.
The bank can choose to repay you on 31 July 2029. If it does not, the rate resets to a Singapore interest rate plus 2.65%, and it can repay you at later dates.
TD can skip a payment, but if it does, it cannot pay its own shareholders until it pays you again.
If TD were ever failing, this bond turns into TD shares rather than disappearing.
TD's capital cushion was 14.3% at April 2026, well above what regulators require.

Source: TD pricing supplement dated 8 July 2024 (Series 2023-9) and TD's programme prospectus, July 2026.

Explainer: Bonds, LACIs, Tier2, and AT1

Six rules

Never sell a bond because its price fell. You still get every coupon.
Before saying yes to any bond, send JX or ZX the bond's name and the price. Perpetuals only from DBS, OCBC, UOB or a big bank you already hold.
Before buying any bond, ask a second bank for a price on the same bond. Only deal if the prices are close. Why: banks add a hidden margin to bond prices; a second quote shows you how much.
Ask for the yield to call (or yield to maturity), not the coupon rate. The coupon is what the bond pays on 100; the yield is what you actually earn on the price you pay. Why: a 5.7% coupon bought at 104 earns about 4.5% a year to the call date.
Keep the bottom step at one fifth. Only buy more perpetuals when a local bank issues a new one, never at a price above 100.
Each year, check your spending against the cost-of-living line above.

Assumptions we used

Yields are September 2026 working estimates until the bank quotes real prices. Update them in app.js.

Step 1: 4.0% — CPF Retirement Account interest, guaranteed by the Government
Step 2: 2.3% — SGS 2 to 7 year yields, about 2.0 to 2.5%
Step 3: 3.1% — 5-year SGD swap + ~1.0%
Step 4: 3.2% — 5-year SGD swap + ~1.1%
Step 5: 4.5% — 5-year SGD swap + ~2.4%; existing TD bond pays 5.70%

CPF is fixed at S$881,600: two people at the 2026 Enhanced Retirement Sum of S$440,800 each. This assumes you top the Retirement Account back up to the Enhanced Retirement Sum each January, so the balance stays whole while payouts are made. Each step's share of the portfolio is rounded to whole S$250,000 lots; any remainder goes to Step 2, the safest.

The ten-year projection is simplified:

Yields stay at today's levels for all ten years.
Coupons you do not spend are reinvested at the same yield.
CPF is treated as part of the pool earning its 4%.
No tax: Singapore does not tax individuals on bond interest or CPF.
No other income (rent, dividends, pensions) is counted.

Prepared by JX and ZX for family use. Not financial advice. Check prices with the bank before buying.