Personal Finance - How to Calculate Net Worth (2024)

By Stacy Williams

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Do you know what your net worth is? If you’re like most, you don’t. After all, the majority of people don’t list personal finance as one of their hobbies. Learning how to calculate net worth might not be your favorite thing in the world to do, but it is incredibly important for your financial future. Aside from helping you to set your own personal financial goals, it also allows you to have a very clear picture of where you are financially. If you’re looking to stop living paycheck to paycheck, if you’retrying to figure out if your family budget is working for you, if you’re trying to save money and build wealth at the same time and if you have dreams of being a millionaire someday, the first thing you’ll need to do is learn how to figure out your net worth.

Personal Finance - How to Calculate Net Worth (1)

As I said earlier, learning how to calculate your net worth is incredibly important. Your net worth is one of the basic foundational stones for the future of your personal finances. It may only be a number, but that number allows you to look, at a glance, at what is working for you financially and what isn’t. If you’re working on becoming debt free, you can look at your net worth and know where you need work. If you’re concerned that you’re not saving enough, your net worth will let you know if you need to boost your savings account. If you’re trying to judge where you are financially versus where you should be at your age, it will tell you at a glanceif you need to brush up on your personal finance knowledge and actions.

Personal Finance – How to Calculate Net Worth

For my family, we were doing really well until May of 2014. It was then that we suffered the loss of over half of our income each month. What was left was barely enough to survive on so by the end of 2014, we were in deep trouble to the tune of a $5,000 bail out from my husband’s grandparents. 2015 was a much better year, but was spent catching up and repairing the damage from 2014. 2016 was supposed to be the year that we really started working on jumping our net worth and yes, we have somewhat, but life happened and other things took precedence. First it was cutting household expenses.Thenit was my health. Once that was under control and I was feeling better and living healthier, it was a move that took 4 months to plan and 3 weeks to pull off. Then, it was a private (and major) issue in our home. Finally, it was starting not one, but two additional businesses between June 2016 and August 2016. New businesses, moves and everything else we encountered this year take money so needless to say, our net worth hasn’t grown much since it crashed in 2014.

So what exactly is a net worth? Your net worth is the total sum of your assets minus your debts. Basically, if you were to liquidate all of your assets to pay off your debts, your net worth would be the amount of money that you would have left over. This means that learning how to figure out your net worth is incredibly easy.

Personal Finance – How to Figure out your Net Worth

Total up all of your assets. This means any savings accounts, checking accounts, retirement accounts, investment accounts, gold and silver that you have on hand, businesses, cash on hand, your home (if paid off), your car (if paid off) and anything else that you could possibly liquidate (or cash out) should you need to.

Next, total up all of your debts. Be sure to include your home (if you have a mortgage), car, student loans, personal loans and so on.

Now subtract the total of your debts from the total of your assets. The number left over is your net worth.

See? Easy peasy!

For my family, the numbers look like this:

  • Assets – $90,035
  • Debt – $20,065

This means that as of August 2016, my net worth is $69,970.00.Do I want it to be higher? Yes! I know that it takes work though and I’m totally ready to do that work!

Now here’s the catch. You will need to update your net worth on a regular basis. Why? Because you want it to grow! If you’re not updating it on a regular basis, you won’t know if your net worth has grown or if you’ve lost money! Make yourself a spreadsheet that tracks it, keep your numbers on a Word doc, keep it in your phone, but figure out your net worth at least once a month. If you aren’t into spreadsheets or really want to make it as easy as possible on yourself, look into some of the programs that are available. Sites like Personal Capital and Bettermint both help you track your net worth, make and track investments and more so they’re perfect for folks who don’t have a personal finance background and who need to make things as easy as possible. They’re both free to sign up for so it just makes sense (to me anyhow) to useone.So there you have it. You now how how to calculate net worth. What are you waiting for? Go figure yours out and then make a plan to increase your numbers!

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Personal Finance - How to Calculate Net Worth (2024)

FAQs

Personal Finance - How to Calculate Net Worth? ›

Your net worth is your assets minus your liabilities. It's what you have left over after you pay all your liabilities. Net worth is a better measure of someone's financial stability than income alone. A person's income could be disrupted by job loss or reduction in work hours.

How do you calculate net worth in personal finance? ›

To calculate your net worth, you subtract your total liabilities from your total assets. Total assets will include your investments, savings, cash deposits, and any equity that you have in a home, car, or other similar assets. Total liabilities would include any debt, such as student loans and credit card debt.

What is the formula for calculating net worth? ›

Net worth is the net value of the value of an individual's assets minus the value of an individual's liabilities. Net worth = Assets - Liabilities. Negative net worth is represented when assets are less than liabilities. Assets are items owned that have value, while liabilities are obligations owed.

How do you answer what is your net worth? ›

The basic formula to calculate your net worth is to add up all of your assets, and then add up all of your liabilities. Once you have those two numbers, subtract your liabilities from your assets. That number is your net worth.

What is an example of net worth? ›

For example, if you have a mortgage on a house with a market value of $200,000 and the balance on your loan is $150,000, you can add $50,000 to your net worth. And by the way, your income is not included in a net worth calculation.

What is a net worth statement in personal finance? ›

A net worth statement is a financial tool that shows your financial position at a given point in time. It is like a “financial snapshot” that shows the dollar value of what you own (assets) and what you owe (liabilities or debts). This formula for calculating net worth is Assets – Liabilities = Net Worth.

What is the net worth of a personal balance sheet? ›

A personal balance sheet provides an overall snapshot of your wealth at a specific period in time. It's a summary of your assets or what you own and your liabilities or what you owe. It results in your net worth: your assets minus liabilities.

What is the formula for net worth quizlet? ›

Formula: Net worth= Total Assets-Total Liabilities.

What is considered a good net worth? ›

(According to Stanley and Danko, an ideal net worth equals your age multiplied by your pretax income, divided by 10.) For anyone 50 and younger making that salary (or less), a $500,000 net worth is good.

What is the average net worth of a person? ›

Net worth is the difference between the values of your assets and liabilities. The average American net worth is $1,063,700, as of 2022. Net worth averages increase with age from $183,500 for those 35 and under to $1,794,600 for those 65 to 74.

Do you include cars in net worth? ›

Your net worth is what you own minus what you owe. It's the total value of all your assets—including your house, cars, investments and cash—minus your liabilities (things like credit card debt, student loans, and what you still owe on your mortgage).

Do you count a house in net worth? ›

Net worth is a measure of what you own minus what you owe. It's calculated by subtracting all of your liabilities from all of your assets. In addition to your home, key assets include investments, automobiles, collectibles, and jewelry.

Why you should calculate your net worth? ›

The combination of what you own (your assets) and what you owe (your liabilities) makes up your personal net worth. Knowing your net worth is important for two reasons: It lets you understand your current financial situation. It gives you a reference point for measuring progress toward your goals.

What is included in net worth? ›

To figure out your net worth add up your assets (the cash you've got in bank accounts, investments, retirement accounts, etc. as well as the value of any properties you own) and then subtract any liabilities (debt, including student loans, credit card, your mortgage, etc.) that you owe.

How do you prepare a net worth statement? ›

All you have to do is add up the value of your total assets (i.e., everything you own) and then subtract the value of your total liabilities (i.e., what you owe) to get your net worth number.

What is the most common net worth? ›

Americans' average net worth by age

The most recent report includes data collected mainly in 2022. Between 2019 and 2022, the median net worth of U.S. households surged 37% to $192,900, according to the report. The mean, or average, net worth increased 23% to $1,063,700.

What should your net worth be by 30? ›

The net worth you should be aiming for in your 30s is between $25,000 and $100,000, according to Crissi Cole, founder and CEO of Penny Finance.

What is the net worth ratio for individuals? ›

As for net worth, it is the difference between the assets you own and the liabilities that you owe. Generally, a minimum ratio of 15% is safe. If you think you may be “asset rich cash poor”, check whether your ratio is meeting at least 15% of the guideline.

What should my net worth be at 40? ›

Average net worth by age
Age by decadeAverage net worthMedian net worth
30s$277,788$34,691
40s$713,796$126,881
50s$1,310,775$292,085
60s$1,634,724$454,489
4 more rows

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