PERSONAL FINANCE
Your net worth is the single number that sums up your financial position: everything you own minus everything you owe. This calculator adds it up properly, listing your assets on one side and your debts on the other. Work through it once, then repeat it on the same date each year so you can track the trend year after year.
Say your home is worth $450,000, you have $20,000 in bank accounts and cash, $45,000 in investment accounts, $95,000 in retirement accounts, vehicles worth $20,000, and other assets worth $5,000. You own no other property, so that field stays blank.
Your total assets come to $635,000.
On the other side, your mortgage balance is $305,000, your car and other loans come to $15,000, your credit card balances are $4,000, and you have $1,000 of other debts. Your total liabilities come to $325,000.
Your net worth is $635,000 minus $325,000, which is $310,000. Notice that most of it is tied up in the home and retirement accounts, which is normal. The figure only becomes useful when you repeat the same calculation next year and compare: a rising number means you kept more than you spent and paid down what you owed.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offers free guides on budgeting, saving and managing debt.
This calculator adds up everything you own, then takes away everything you owe, and the figure left over is your net worth. Value your assets at what they would realistically sell for today, not what you paid for them and not what you hope they might be worth one day. A home, for example, goes in at a realistic market value, while the mortgage on it sits on the other side as a debt.
A negative net worth is common early in a career, especially if you have student loans or a new mortgage and few assets built up yet. It is a starting point, not a verdict on how good you are with money. What matters is the direction of travel: a figure that rises steadily, even slowly, shows that you are keeping more than you spend and paying down what you owe.
For the comparison to be honest, track your net worth on the same date each year and use the same method every time. Use the same kinds of accounts, value your home the same way, and round the same way. Changing the method between years can make progress look better or worse than it really is, while a consistent method shows the true trend.
Your net worth is everything you own minus everything you owe, worked out at a single moment in time. It is a snapshot, not a score: add up your assets, subtract your debts, and the result is the number this calculator gives you.
Yes. Your home counts as an asset at its current market value, and the mortgage on it counts as a debt on the other side. Some people also keep a second, liquid-only figure that leaves the home out, so they can see what they could reach quickly without selling the house.
There is no single right number. What counts as good depends on your age, your income and your goals, so judge yours by its direction and speed, not by someone else's figure. A net worth that is growing year after year, at a pace that fits your plans, is a healthy one.
Once or twice a year is plenty. Checking more often mostly adds noise, because house prices and investment values move up and down from month to month. The yearly trend is the signal worth watching, so pick a date, repeat the same method, and compare like with like.