No. Distinguish money retained for living costs from actual qualifying capital committed to the enterprise.
Use separate budget categories
Review financing security, fees and the business commitment. A combined household budget does not establish the qualifying investment amount.
Hypothetical example: an investor acquiring a bicycle-frame repair workshop with variable tooling, insurance, and premises costs. Build a transaction ledger that separates the purchase price, inventory, equipment, professional fees, working capital, and personal living reserves. Substantiality is relative to the undertaking, so the useful question is whether the committed amount makes the business more than a speculative plan. Record whether each payment is sunk, escrowed under a real condition, refundable, financed, or still only quoted. The household must decide how much money can be placed in commercial jeopardy without mischaracterizing retained savings as investment.
E-2 calls for treaty nationality, control of the enterprise, and funds committed irrevocably to commercial risk in a real business that is not marginal. The investor must be able to develop and direct the enterprise. No single dollar figure decides substantiality; the amount is assessed against the cost and nature of the particular undertaking.
Use records created closest to the event: signed agreements, payroll or bank evidence, corporate records, licences, civil documents, and dated correspondence. A careful review identifies what each record proves and what it does not prove. Do not solve a factual gap by copying a favourable label from another route. Make the next decision only after the missing fact is either documented, changed, or plainly described as unresolved.