I was updating my Google Sheet expected net worth, income and expense numbers for Sep 2017 this morning. Was surprised to see the saving rate % as a negative figure. Which means I have run into my very first negative cash on hand month. Good news is that it’s not a negative cashflow month. That would have been disastrous.

What does negative cash on hand mean?

I know we can be relatively high spending at times. Hence the reason for setting up automated savings and investments functions in our portfolio. Every month, one fixed portion of our salary income is automatically invested in monthly investment plans and robo-advisor accounts. Another fixed portion of our salary income is automatically transferred into a high interest savings account. In our Google Sheet, the former is recorded as an investment expense and the latter is recorded as a savings expense. I’m fully aware these ......