Total up your assets, subtract your liabilities, and see your net worth broken down by category.
| Category | Type | Amount |
|---|
List everything you own with monetary value under Assets — cash, investments, retirement accounts, property, and vehicles — using current market value rather than what you originally paid. Then list everything you owe under Liabilities, including mortgage balance, loans, and credit card debt. The calculator subtracts liabilities from assets to give your net worth.
An asset is anything of monetary value that you own: bank balances, investment and brokerage accounts, retirement savings, the current market value of property (not the original purchase price), and the resale value of vehicles. Items with sentimental but limited resale value, like furniture or personal belongings, are usually excluded from net worth calculations since they're rarely converted to cash.
A single net worth figure is a snapshot, but tracking it monthly or quarterly reveals the trend — whether you're building wealth, treading water, or losing ground. Because net worth combines the effects of saving, debt repayment, and asset growth or decline into one number, it's often a clearer long-term financial health signal than income alone.
Always use current market value, not what you originally paid. For property, this might mean checking a recent appraisal or comparable local sales. For vehicles, use a current resale estimate, since vehicles typically depreciate significantly from their purchase price.
A negative net worth simply means liabilities currently exceed assets, which is common earlier in life — for example, shortly after taking on a mortgage or student loans, before assets have had time to grow. What matters more than the snapshot is the trend over time.
Many people find a quarterly or annual check-in strikes a good balance — frequent enough to track meaningful progress, but not so frequent that day-to-day market fluctuations in investments cause unnecessary stress.