Net worth calculator

How the formula works

Net worth is the plainest number in personal finance: everything you own, added up, minus everything you owe. The things you own are your assets; the debts you owe are your liabilities; the gap between them is your net worth.

There is no interest rate, no time horizon, no forecast — it is a photograph of one moment, the same balance sheet a company files, drawn for a household. It can be negative, and for anyone early in a mortgage or fresh out of school with student loans, it often is: that simply means the debts currently outweigh the assets.

Why track this rather than income? Because income measures the water coming through the pipe, while net worth measures how much is actually in the tank. A high salary that leaves nothing behind builds no net worth; a modest one that quietly retires debt and adds to savings builds it steadily. Two people earning the same can sit decades apart on this number, and it is net worth — not the paycheck — that determines whether you could stop working, weather a shock, or retire. It is the one figure that nets a raise, a splurge, a market year and a debt payment into a single honest score.

One number hides an important distinction, which is why this calculator adds liquid net worth: cash and investments minus your short-term debts — the money you could actually reach in a hurry. A $350,000 house you live in counts fully toward net worth, but you cannot spend a bedroom in an emergency. Liquid net worth strips out what is locked in property and vehicles and asks a narrower question: if you needed money now, how much is within reach? The two figures together — total and liquid — say more than either alone.

What each input means

Cash & savings

Checking, savings, money-market and CD balances — money at or near face value that you could spend this week. Counts fully toward both net worth and liquid net worth.

Investments / retirement

Brokerage accounts, 401(k)s, IRAs, HSAs — their current market value. These count toward liquid net worth here, though retirement accounts are only semi-liquid: reaching them early can mean taxes and penalties, so treat the liquid figure as an upper bound.

Home value

What your home would sell for today, not what you paid or hope to get. A recent comparable sale or an honest online estimate beats wishful thinking — the mortgage below is subtracted from this to give home equity.

Vehicles

Cars, trucks, boats at their resale value — what a buyer would pay today, not the sticker price. A vehicle is a depreciating asset; look up the private-party value rather than guessing high.

Other assets

Anything else with real resale value you would actually sell: a business stake, collectibles, valuable equipment. Leave out furniture and everyday possessions — they rarely fetch enough to matter and tempt you to inflate the total.

Mortgage

The remaining balance on your home loan — the payoff figure, not the original amount. Home value minus this is your home equity.

Car loans

What you still owe on any vehicle. When a car is worth less than its loan, that gap quietly pulls your net worth down.

Student loans

Total remaining balance across federal and private student loans.

Credit cards

Balances you carry from month to month. This is short-term debt, so it is subtracted in the liquid net worth figure as well as the total.

Other debts

Personal loans, medical debt, buy-now-pay-later balances, money owed to family — anything not already listed. Treated as short-term for the liquid figure.

A worked example

The worksheet's defaults sketch a common mid-life balance sheet: a home, a retirement account building up, and the usual debts still being paid down.

• Total assets: $15,000 cash + $85,000 investments + $350,000 home + $20,000 vehicles + $5,000 other = $475,000.
• Total liabilities: $270,000 mortgage + $12,000 car loans + $18,000 student loans + $4,000 credit cards + $0 other = $304,000.
• Net worth: $475,000 − $304,000 = $171,000.
• Home equity: $350,000 home − $270,000 mortgage = $80,000 — nearly half of the net worth is this one illiquid stake.
• Liquid net worth: $15,000 + $85,000 − $4,000 credit cards − $0 other = $96,000 — the part actually within reach.
• Debt-to-asset ratio: $304,000 / $475,000 = 64.0% — for every dollar of assets, about 64 cents is still owed.

The headline is a healthy $171,000, but the two derived figures add colour the total hides: $80,000 of it is tied up in the house and only $96,000 is liquid. A strong net worth can still be an illiquid one — worth knowing before an emergency, not during it.

Assumptions and limits

• Asset values are only as good as your estimates. Use realistic resale values, especially for the home and vehicles — what a buyer pays today, from a recent comparable sale or private-party guide, not the purchase price or a hopeful round number. Inflated inputs give a flattering, useless answer.
• Future pensions, Social Security and expected inheritances are excluded. They are not yours to sell today, so they belong in a retirement projection, not on a balance sheet.
• Selling costs and taxes are ignored. Turning the home or investments into cash would cost realtor fees, closing costs and possibly capital-gains tax, so the true spendable figure runs below the total shown.
• This is a point-in-time snapshot. One reading tells you little; the value is in the trend. Take it on the same date each quarter or year and watch the line — that direction, more than any single number, is the real signal.
• This is arithmetic, not advice. It totals what you enter; it cannot judge whether your mix of assets and debts is right for you.

Questions people ask

What actually counts toward net worth?

Everything you own that has real resale value, minus everything you owe. Assets are cash and savings, investment and retirement accounts, your home and vehicles at what they would sell for, and any business stake or valuable possession you would genuinely sell. Liabilities are your mortgage, car loans, student loans, credit-card balances and any other debt. Leave out everyday possessions — clothes, furniture, the TV — which rarely fetch enough to matter and mostly tempt you to inflate the total. The rule of thumb: if you would not bother listing it in a sale, do not count it.

Is home equity really part of my net worth?

Yes — home value minus the mortgage is equity, and it counts fully. On the defaults that is $350,000 − $270,000 = $80,000, close to half of the $171,000 total. The catch is that it is illiquid: you cannot spend part of a house, and reaching the equity means selling, refinancing or borrowing against it, each with costs and delays. That is exactly why this page also shows liquid net worth, which excludes the home. Home equity is real wealth — it is simply not money you can reach on a Tuesday.

What is a good net worth for my age?

The honest answer is that it depends on income, cost of living and how long you have been earning, so treat any target as descriptive, not a verdict. A widely quoted rule of thumb is Age × Income / 10: at 40 on a $75,000 income that suggests roughly $300,000. Another holds you should reach one times your salary saved by 30, three times by 40, and so on. These are rough signposts built for the middle of the income range, not thresholds you pass or fail. Census and Federal Reserve figures let you find your percentile by age if you want a real benchmark rather than a slogan.

Should I count my car?

Yes, but at its current resale value, not what you paid. A car is a depreciating asset — it loses value the moment you drive it off the lot and keeps sliding — so look up the private-party value from a pricing guide and use that. Subtract any loan against it: if you owe more than the car is worth, that negative equity correctly drags your net worth down. The same rule covers boats and other vehicles. What you should not do is carry a car at its sticker price for years; that quietly inflates your net worth with money you could never actually get.

How often should I update it?

Quarterly or annually is plenty for most people, and consistency matters more than frequency: take the reading on the same date each time so the comparisons are clean. Checking daily invites you to confuse normal market wiggles with real progress. A single snapshot barely means anything; the value is entirely in the trend across readings, which is why keeping the link to your numbers and reopening it each quarter beats recalculating from scratch. Watch the direction of the line, not the decimals.