Tool & guide

Delaware Statutory Trust Returns: Multi-Position Cash-Flow Aggregator

By Sequoia ResearchPublished Read as Markdown

Multi-Position Cash-Flow Aggregator

Users combine dated contributions and receipts from several DST positions. The tool calculates portfolio-level cash-flow measures from the combined series and shows why averaging individual IRRs can be misleading.

For an export, select Download in the tool, then Save file when it appears below. Your entries stay in your browser.

What Is This Article About?

This tool combines dated investor payments from several DST positions into one cash-flow record. It shows paid-in amounts, cash received, and a combined annual rate when the entered record supports that calculation. Active positions need a separate remaining value, which never becomes a cash receipt in the output. The guide explains why an average of individual returns can give a different answer and how to check the data behind both figures.

Table of Contents

What the DST Cash-Flow Aggregator Measures

The aggregator adds the actual cash flows you enter for a selected group of positions. It can process up to 20 positions and 100 payment rows. All amounts use US dollars. It does not convert currencies, obtain account records, or decide which investments belong in your group.

Paid-in amounts are money you paid into the selected investment scope. Received amounts are cash that came back to you within that same scope. The cash net is receipts minus paid-in amounts. A positive cash net is not automatically a complete profit figure if costs or other cash flows are missing.

The tool also divides total cash receipts by total paid-in amounts. That ratio ignores timing. While positions are active, it also leaves out their remaining value. Read its label as a receipt ratio, not as an annual return or a finished investment multiple.

An annualized dated cash-flow rate uses the payment dates as well as the amounts. It can be useful for comparing the combined entered cash record with its separate position records. It does not measure risk, judge sponsor skill, or establish what a future investment will earn.

The SEC urges readers to examine performance methods, costs, periods, and the difference between actual and hypothetical results. Those questions apply to a private worksheet as well as a published performance claim. SEC: Performance Claims

Prepare the Position and Payment Records

Start by choosing the scope. This version is built for full cash histories from each position's first funding. It is not a calendar-year account return calculator. If you enter only this year's distributions but omit the original contribution, the tool cannot reconstruct the missing investment history.

Give each position a unique ID and a clear name. A sponsor name alone may be too broad. Two offerings from the same sponsor need separate IDs when their cash records belong to separate positions. IDs are matched after case and extra spaces are cleaned up.

Choose Completed only when your evidence supports a finished position with no remaining interest or expected payment. Choose Active when an interest remains. Choose Unknown when the status is not established. A source note should explain the status and any value you enter.

For each payment, enter the position ID, actual date, direction, amount, and source reference. Use positive numbers and let the direction set the sign. The tool treats Paid in as negative and Received as positive when it builds the dated return series.

Cash dates cannot follow the review cutoff, and the cutoff cannot follow today's UTC date. Forecast payments do not belong in this actual-cash tool. The date limit helps avoid a simple entry error; it does not verify that a payment occurred.

A blank amount is rejected. Enter zero only when the known amount is zero. For an active position, a blank remaining-value field is allowed, but it blocks a complete combined rate. That is different from entering a supported value of zero.

Use the cost-scope field to state what is included and excluded. A short source reference can identify a statement date, transaction number, or worksheet page. Avoid sensitive account numbers. The source text is kept with your entries, but the tool does not open or verify it.

Follow the Two-Position Worked Example

The built-in example is invented. Maple and Cedar are teaching names, not actual offerings. Assume both positions are completed, the cash histories are complete, and no other fees or taxes apply to the stated payments.

Position Paid on January 1, 2023 Received on January 1, 2024 Gain Individual annual rate
Maple $100,000 $110,000 $10,000 10%
Cedar $400,000 $420,000 $20,000 5%
Combined $500,000 $530,000 $30,000 6%

These dates are exactly 365 days apart. The combined gain is $30,000 on $500,000 paid in, or 6%. The combined receipt ratio is 1.06 times paid-in cash. Both measures are easy to check because this example has only one funding date and one receipt date.

The simple average of the individual rates is 7.5%: add 10% and 5%, then divide by two. That average gives the $100,000 position the same influence as the $400,000 position. It therefore does not describe the combined cash result.

In this narrow one-year example, weighting the rates by their original contributions happens to give 6%. Do not turn that coincidence into a general method for all cash schedules. With different start dates, extra payments, interim receipts, or unequal holding periods, the dated combined series needs its own calculation.

For a separate timing illustration, suppose $100,000 grows to $110,000 in 730 days with no other cash flows. The cumulative gain is still 10%, but the annualized dated rate is about 4.8809%. Dividing the cumulative gain by two years gives 5%, which is a different calculation.

The tool displays each position's available rate and their simple average for comparison. The average is plainly labeled as not the combined return. If an individual rate cannot be calculated, the simple-average field is also left uncalculated.

Understand the Dated Return Calculation

First, the tool combines all payments on the same date. A $20,000 receipt and a $5,000 payment on one date produce $15,000 of net cash for that date. The original rows remain in the record, so the gross amounts are still traceable.

The return calculation seeks a rate at which the dated negative and positive amounts balance after discounting. It uses actual days between dates divided by 365. Leap days count as days, but the year divisor stays 365.

Microsoft's XIRR documentation describes this general dated-cash method and the relationship between a return rate and a zero net present value. This tool uses its own solver and more restrictive eligibility rules; it is not an Excel plug-in or a reproduction of Excel's implementation. Microsoft: XIRR Function

After same-day netting and removal of zero net dates, this version requires one sign change. Negative funding dates must come before positive receipt dates. There must be at least two dates with nonzero net amounts. These rules let the tool solve a conventional investment pattern without choosing among possible results from a more complex pattern.

The permitted annual rate range runs from minus 99.99% through 10,000%. A rate beyond those bounds is reported as unavailable. The bounds are software limits, not likely investment outcomes or acceptable return targets.

A later negative payment after positive receipts makes the series ineligible here. That does not prove the investment has no useful return measure, or that its record is wrong. It means this version will not select a rate for that pattern. The cash totals and dated record still appear.

Dollar sums are kept in exact cents. The annual rate uses a numerical approximation and is displayed to four decimal places. Extra decimal places do not make the entered evidence more precise. An estimated terminal value can dominate the result even when the arithmetic is accurate.

Handle Active DST Values and Missing History

An active position may still own valuable assets after the last cash payment. Calculating a completed return from cash receipts alone would leave that interest out. This version therefore requires an entered remaining value at the common cutoff before it calculates a complete combined rate.

The value should refer to the investor's remaining economic interest, using a stated method and date. A gross property price is not the same thing. Debt, ownership share, sale costs, and other claims may matter to a value estimate. The tool does not perform that valuation work.

Consider a separate fictional position. An investor pays $200,000 on January 1, 2023. By January 1, 2024, the investor has received $12,000 and still holds an interest estimated at $190,000. Assume that all receipts and the stated value fall on the latter date for this illustration.

Cash received minus paid in is negative $188,000. Adding the entered remaining value produces a $2,000 value-inclusive surplus. The dated value-inclusive rate is 1% over the 365-day interval. The $190,000 has not been received in cash, and the $2,000 is not a fully realized gain.

If the remaining value is unknown, the tool preserves the cash totals and blocks the complete rate. It does not replace the missing value with the original investment or zero. You can then focus on obtaining a suitable value record rather than treating a guessed number as fact.

Every position also has a full-history checkbox. Leaving it unchecked blocks that position's rate and the combined rate. Checking it is your statement about the record, not an automated audit. A missing payment can still change the result even if the form accepts the dataset.

Keep Transfers, Fees, and Taxes in Their Proper Place

Choose a consistent cash boundary. This tool combines investment-position cash flows; it does not maintain your bank or brokerage cash balance. Cash returned from one investment is treated as a receipt from that position, whether you spend it, hold it, or later invest it elsewhere.

Suppose one position returns $50,000 and you fund another with $50,000 on the same date. Enter each transaction under its own position. They cancel in the combined net dated series. The gross receipt and paid-in totals still include both amounts, so their ratio can reflect recycled money.

That distinction matters when interpreting the receipt ratio. It is not always a multiple of fresh outside capital. If you need the return of a full account including idle cash, its interest, and outside deposits, use a method that includes those balances and flows.

Costs need the same care. Your original contribution may already fund offering expenses. An investor distribution may already be net of property and trust charges. Do not enter those same costs again as separate payments unless they were actually paid outside the amounts recorded.

A separate account fee paid by the investor can be included as a Paid in outflow when that cost is inside the chosen scope. Explain the choice in the cost note. Mixing some after-fee positions with some before-fee positions without a clear note can make the combined result misleading.

The SEC's fee bulletin points readers to product and account disclosures because costs can arise in different places. It does not provide the missing charges for this worksheet. You must obtain the relevant records. SEC: How Fees and Expenses Affect Your Investment Portfolio

The tool does not calculate taxes, depreciation, exchange deferral, or after-tax value. State whether tax payments are excluded. Do not call a result after-tax merely because the underlying investment has tax features.

Read the Output Without Overstating It

Start with the cash totals, then inspect the dated series. Confirm that each source payment appears once and that any remaining value appears only in the value-inclusive column. Review unavailable-result reasons before looking for a return percentage.

Possible duplicate rows are flagged when position, date, direction, and amount match. Both rows remain in the sums. Two equal payments can be valid, so the tool does not silently delete one. Check the source references and remove only an actual duplicate.

A completed total loss may have paid-in cash and no positive receipts. The cash net and receipt ratio still show the entered loss. This solver does not return an annualized minus 100% rate for that pattern. “Not calculated” is not the same as no loss.

The grouped result describes only the entered positions. It does not prove that the selection includes every account or every investment. Leaving out a failed position can improve the displayed result without changing what happened. Write the selection scope clearly and reconcile it with your own inventory.

Check, Change, and Save the Dataset

Begin with the fictional example to see the expected 6% combined rate and 7.5% simple average. Then start a new dataset and enter your own supported records. The form accepts dates from 1900 through 2100 and amounts up to $1 billion per entry, subject to the cutoff rule.

Adding or removing rows updates their visible numbers. Removing a position leaves its cash rows in place so you can reassign or remove them deliberately. An unmatched position ID blocks calculation. The tool asks for an in-page confirmation before clearing, replacing, or removing entries.

Any edit clears the prior result and disables its export. Run the calculation again after changes. Canceling a pending clear preserves your entries. Editing while a confirmation is pending cancels that proposed change.

Download the JSON file to keep the current entries, source notes, combined dates, results, and limitations. This version has no import function or automatic storage. Refreshing or closing the page can lose unsaved work. A file export records what you entered; it does not certify the source data.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the average of my DST returns different from the combined rate?

Individual rates can represent different amounts and dates. A simple average gives each position equal influence. The combined calculation uses the signed, dated cash flows instead. Even a contribution-weighted average may fail when payment timing differs.

Does the tool treat a distribution as profit?

No. A distribution enters as cash received. The tool does not determine its tax character or assume it is all profit. The cash net subtracts paid-in amounts, and an active position's remaining value stays separate.

Can I include an active position without a current value?

Yes, for cash totals. Leave its value blank and the tool will explain why a complete combined rate is unavailable. Entering zero would mean you are asserting a zero value, which is a different fact.

Why does a later contribution sometimes block the annual rate?

This solver accepts only one negative-to-positive sign change after same-day netting. A later net negative date can fall outside that pattern. Your cash entries remain usable, but the rate needs a separate analysis suited to the full pattern.

Is the displayed annual rate a forecast?

No. It describes the entered past cash flows and, where supplied, remaining values at the cutoff. It does not predict future distributions, a sale price, or investment risk. Estimated values also make the result partly valuation-based.

Can I use this output as an audited performance record?

No. The tool performs calculations on human-entered data. It does not verify completeness, source accuracy, fees, or values. Keep the source records and have material uncertainties resolved before relying on the figures.

About Sequoia Research

Sequoia Research, LLC provides independent research on DSTs and other real estate investment offerings. This educational library uses primary sources and original examples to explain investment terms, document review, and cash-flow analysis.

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