Clean Cash vs Generated Wealth | Omnicogi Portfolio Methodology

The problem with blended totals

Most broker platforms show you a single "Total Return" or "P&L" figure. While technically accurate, it often masks the most important question for a long-term investor:

Is my portfolio growing because I'm a good investor, or simply because I'm saving more money?

The Cumulative View

Standard reporting focuses on your Total Balance and current P&L. This is excellent for checking your current net worth, but it often treats all capital the same.

Scenario:

A £10k deposit made 5 years ago is grouped with a £10k deposit made yesterday. The "Total Return" percentage is diluted by the new cash, making it harder to see how your older capital has compounded.

The Flow-Adjusted View

Omnicogi isolates when money entered the portfolio and where it came from, allowing for a precise measurement of investment skill.

Reinvestment tracking:

If you sell "Stock A" for a profit and buy "Stock B," Omnicogi knows that no new Clean Cash was added. Your "Generated Wealth" is simply being redeployed, keeping your lifetime performance metrics accurate.

How Omnicogi calculates it

Omnicogi maintains two running totals across the lifetime of each portfolio:

Clean Cash — the net sum of all deposits minus all withdrawals. Every time you transfer money in, Clean Cash increases. Every time you withdraw, it decreases. Dividends do not count as deposits — they are income and go into Generated Wealth.
Generated Wealth — the difference between your current portfolio value and your Clean Cash. This includes unrealised capital gains, realised gains, dividend income accumulated, and interest received.

Even when you sell a position, the history stays in your ledger. Realised gains become part of Generated Wealth permanently — not a "reset" that wipes out the record.

The XIRR connection

Knowing Clean Cash alone answers "how much did I put in?" but not "did I invest it well?" That's where XIRR comes in. Money-weighted return accounts for when each pound was deployed — so a large deposit made near a market peak counts differently than one made during a dip.

Together, Clean Cash, Generated Wealth, and XIRR give you a complete picture: what you put in, what the market created, and how efficiently it was timed.

Assets & Matching Next: XIRR & TWR Explained