How to use this calculator
Net worth is one subtraction with a long list on each side. The hard part is deciding what belongs, not doing the arithmetic.
- Enter assets at what they would sell for this month, not what you paid. A car is worth its resale value today, not its sticker price.
- Include cash accounts, brokerage accounts, and retirement accounts. Retirement balances count in full, even though the tax has not been paid yet.
- Enter liabilities as current balances: mortgage, auto loans, student loans, card balances, and anything else you owe.
- Ignore small possessions. A sofa is an asset only if you would actually sell it, and it has no place in a working tally.
- Record the total somewhere outside the page. Nothing is saved when you close it.
A worked example: a homeowner with student loans
| Assets | | Liabilities | |
|---|
| House | $350,000 | Mortgage | $240,000 |
| Cash | $25,000 | Auto loan | $12,000 |
| Retirement | $60,000 | Student loans | $22,000 |
| Vehicle | $18,000 | Cards | $8,000 |
| Total | $453,000 | Total | $282,000 |
Net worth is $171,000. The house contributes $110,000 of that — $350,000 of value minus the $240,000 still owed — not $350,000. A worksheet that lists the house without the mortgage reports a number that is not real.
The car is the same trap in miniature. At $18,000 against a $12,000 loan it adds $6,000, and it will fall every year while the loan falls more slowly. Vehicles are the asset most likely to shrink faster than the debt attached to them.
What your results mean
A single number with no context is not very useful. The useful version is the same worksheet six months or a year later, showing which side moved and why. Growth in the asset column from contributions is different from growth from markets, and the liabilities column only goes down when you pay principal.
A negative result is common and not a verdict. The year you buy a house, or the year you finish a degree, liabilities can exceed assets by a wide margin. What matters is the direction over time and whether the debts carrying the highest rates are shrinking.
This measure deliberately leaves out things that matter: future income, future tax on retirement balances, a pension's value, and anything you own that you would never sell. It also can't tell a 3% mortgage from a 24% card, which is a distinction no single net-worth figure can make.
Use it as a checkpoint, then take the highest-rate liability to the debt payoff planner and the mortgage question to the mortgage calculator. Those pages can act on the number; this one just reports it.
Frequently asked questions
Should I include my home?
Yes, at a realistic market value, with the mortgage as a liability. Leaving the house out and keeping the mortgage in would understate net worth badly; keeping the house and forgetting the mortgage would overstate it.
Should retirement accounts count in full?
Yes for this measure. Note that withdrawals will be taxed, so the spendable value is lower than the balance. Some people track a separate after-tax figure for that reason.
Is a car an asset?
It is, at resale value. It is also depreciating, so counting it at purchase price and ignoring the loan flatters the total. Use what a buyer would pay this month.
Why is my net worth negative?
Usually a recent house purchase, a recent degree, or a period of borrowing. It is an arithmetic result, not a judgment. The direction of travel over the next year is the more useful signal.
Is my data saved?
No. Everything runs in your browser and nothing is transmitted or stored. Closing the page clears the figures, so write down the total if you want to compare later.
How often should I update it?
Quarterly is enough for most people and annually is enough for many. More often turns a slow measure into noise, and the point of the number is the trend rather than the day.
Sources & references
Net worth is a definition, not a federal form. The CFPB's housing material is the right companion when the house dominates the asset side.
Last updated: November 2, 2026. Reviewed by David Liu. A snapshot, not a valuation. Nothing you enter is stored.