Finished one round of my Bond Ladder

I blogged about creating a bond ladder last year Aug: 

https://financeopti.blogspot.com/2023/08/creating-bond-ladder.html

As of May 2024, I just finished one round of my 'bond ladder'.

It is mixed with fixed deposits in Stashaway for the first 2 months of Jun and Jul 2023:

For the next 4 months of Aug, Sep, Oct, and Nov 2023, I subscribed to 6-month TBills:

Here are the stats:

Total profits = $1,104.35

Average profits per month = $184

Average interest rate = 3.70%

Here are my learnings:

• While this is meant to be passive income, it took more effort than I initially thought. Firstly the issue dates are not on a fixed day of every month, you have to check the Issuance Calendar from the MAS website. Next, you have to put a task in your calendar so that you won't forget to subscribe

• Subscribing is a breeze now with online applications. I use OCBC, where you can use cash or CPFIS to subscribe

• No idea how to determine the rate for 'Competitive' bids, so I simply apply for 'Non-Competitive' bids

• Applications are closed on holidays, so if the Auction date is T and you try to subscribe on T-1 which is a holiday, you are already too late and have to wait 2 weeks plus for the next round. This means your cash sits idle in this period, so plan properly

All in, it was easy money, just take time.