A cash target cannot spend money the dividend did not supply.
With an assumed $150 cash target, a $300 receipt supplies $150 cash and leaves $150 to reinvest. A $100 receipt supplies only $100 cash, leaves nothing to reinvest and exposes a $50 funding gap. A zero receipt leaves the full $150 target unfunded. These amounts are chosen test inputs, not actual SCHD payments.
This worksheet reserves a fixed amount from each receipt before allocating the remainder. It does not sell shares, borrow, draw from an opening reserve or assume a broker can automate the instruction. It differs from the percentage-split model, where both destinations vary with the payment.
Use three outputs, not a negative reinvestment
For nonnegative receipt D and target B, cash supplied = min(D, B). Reinvestment = D − cash supplied. Funding gap = B − cash supplied. Two checks follow: supplied cash + reinvestment = receipt; supplied cash + gap = target. The gap is unmet demand, not another withdrawal.
For the $100 receipt and $150 target, a naive subtraction gives $100 − $150 = −$50. Calling that negative number reinvestment hides an extra funding source. Our row instead records $100 supplied, $0 reinvested and $50 still needed. It never claims that $150 was paid from a $100 receipt.
For $300 and the same target, the receipt splits evenly. For $0, neither destination receives cash and the target remains entirely unmet. The amount that can be assigned depends on the receipt actually entered, even when the requested budget stays fixed.
Replay three receipts without inventing a reserve
Take the independent receipt inputs $300, $100 and $0 in that order, each with a $150 cash target. Total receipts are $400 and total requested cash is $450. The rows supply only $250 cash and allocate $150 to reinvestment. Their funding gaps add to $200.
Why is the gap $200 rather than $50? The first row already assigns its $150 surplus to reinvestment. This rule does not hold that surplus for later bills or reverse the investment in a later row. The accounting closes: $250 supplied + $150 reinvested = $400 received; $250 supplied + $200 unfunded = $450 requested. The $50 difference between total receipts and total targets answers a different, pooled-cash question.
If an alternative rule holds the first surplus as a reserve, it could later cover the second row's $50 shortfall and $100 of the third row's target, leaving a $50 final shortfall. That alternative reinvests none of the original surplus. It is not the same strategy producing a better answer: the destination of $150 has changed. Our downloadable ledger keeps the receipt-level rule explicit.
| Receipt | Cash target | Cash supplied | Reinvest | Funding gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 300 | 150 | 150 | 150 | 0 |
| 100 | 150 | 100 | 0 | 50 |
| 0 | 150 | 0 | 0 | 150 |
Download the three-receipt ledger · Download boundary inputs and expected outputs
Check one assumed receipt
Enter amounts in dollars for one receipt and its cash target. The result applies the stated rule only. Taxes, execution costs and actual available cash must be handled separately before an account-level decision.
Cash supplied $100.00; reinvestment $0.00; funding gap $50.00.
Boundary cases reveal different instructions
When receipt and target both equal $150, cash supplied is $150 and both other outputs are zero. With a $300 receipt and a zero target, all $300 is allocated to reinvestment. With both inputs zero, every output is zero. These are valid explicit instructions, unlike a blank input, which the test file marks missing.
A fractional case enters $100.005 received and a $100 target. The exact remainder is $0.005. It remains in the decimal CSV rather than becoming evidence that a broker will purchase that amount. The interface displays cents after calculation; those displayed cents must not replace the unrounded value in an audit. Negative amounts are rejected because this version models incoming receipts and nonnegative targets, not refunds or reversals.
Can this prove a monthly bill is covered?
No. The receipt inputs have no dates, and a per-receipt target is not a monthly payment calendar. Our dated cash-flow worksheet instead tracks balances around bills and receipts with an explicit opening reserve. Use a timeline when availability before a due date matters. No future SCHD amount is inferred from either example.
Source and scope
A public question about taking cash while reinvesting part motivates the distinction, without supplying inputs or broker-policy evidence. Investor.gov separately labels contributions and withdrawals in its general calculator. This page's min/max allocation, reserve counterexample and exact tests are independent work. Three current comparator bodies already explain DRIP and cash; the bounded addition is this capped-budget reconciliation, not a claim that the general idea is new.
For an explicit reserve-cap alternative, see the capped-reserve event ledger.