Your home and car need the most care, because what you paid for each is rarely what it would sell for today. A car loses value as it ages, and a home’s price rises or falls with the local market.
Almost everything else comes straight off a statement or an account page, so the whole count takes about 15 minutes with your account logins ready.
List what you own at today’s value.
- Cash in checking and savings, at today’s balance
- Retirement and investment accounts, at their current balance
- Your home, at what similar homes nearby have sold for recently, minus the agent commissions and closing costs of selling it
- Your car, at its private-party value on Kelley Blue Book, the price a buyer would pay you directly
- Anything else that would sell for real money, such as a boat or fine jewelry, but not everyday belongings like furniture, clothes, and electronics, which resell for little
Then list every debt, including your mortgage, car loans, student loans, credit cards, medical bills, and money borrowed from family. Use each one’s current balance from your latest statement, not the total of your remaining payments, which includes interest you haven’t been charged yet.
Money in a traditional 401(k) or IRA hasn’t been taxed yet, so you’ll owe income tax on what you withdraw. Count the full balance or subtract tax at the rate you expect to pay in retirement, and use the same method every time, because the change between counts is what you’re tracking.
A negative total isn’t a verdict on you. It means your debts outweigh what you own for now. Write the total and today’s date in a spreadsheet or a free tracker app. Then count again on the same date next year, valuing everything the same way, or track your net worth each quarter to see how much your own saving added.
To track your net worth in an app instead of a spreadsheet, compare the best personal finance apps.
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