Calculating your net worth takes about twenty minutes the first time and about five minutes after that. You do not need a spreadsheet, a financial advisor, or any special knowledge. You need a list of what you own, a list of what you owe, and the ability to subtract. This guide walks through each step with a complete example, so you can follow along with your own numbers in the net worth calculator.
Net worth = total assets minus total liabilities. Assets are things you own that have value. Liabilities are amounts you owe. If you owned everything on the first list and paid off everything on the second, the leftover is your net worth. If the debts are larger than the assets, the result is negative, which is a normal starting point for many people and not a verdict on you. See what a negative net worth really means.
Pick one day and collect current balances from each source. Open your banking app for checking and savings. Log in to your retirement plan or IRA provider for the latest statement value. Check any brokerage account. For your home, look at a recent appraisal, a comparable sale nearby, or a conservative online estimate. For a vehicle, look up what similar cars are actually selling for. For debts, find the current payoff balance on your latest mortgage, student loan, auto loan, and credit card statements. Use one date for everything, so the picture is consistent.
Write down each asset at today's realistic market value:
Write down what you owe on each debt: the mortgage principal (not the monthly payment), student loans (federal and private together), auto loans, credit card balances (the actual balance, not the limit), and anything else such as personal loans, medical bills, back taxes, buy-now-pay-later balances, or money you borrowed and are expected to repay. Forgotten debts are the most common reason a self-calculated net worth looks better than reality.
Add the assets, add the liabilities, and subtract. Here is a complete example for a made-up person, Maya, who is 29, rents her apartment, and has student loans. These numbers are invented for illustration only.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Cash and savings | $6,500 |
| Retirement account (401k) | $41,000 |
| Brokerage account | $3,500 |
| Car (current resale value) | $12,000 |
| Total assets | $63,000 |
| Student loans | $24,000 |
| Car loan | $7,500 |
| Credit card balance | $3,200 |
| Total liabilities | $34,700 |
| Net worth ($63,000 minus $34,700) | $28,300 |
Check the arithmetic: $6,500 + $41,000 + $3,500 + $12,000 = $63,000, and $24,000 + $7,500 + $3,200 = $34,700. Subtract and you get $28,300. Maya can enter exactly these figures into the calculator to confirm.
Now picture Daniel, who owns a house. He has $9,000 in cash, $120,000 in retirement accounts, a home he estimates could sell for $380,000, and a car worth $16,000, for total assets of $525,000. He owes $290,000 on the mortgage, $11,000 on the car loan, and $1,500 on a credit card, which is $302,500 in liabilities. His net worth is $525,000 minus $302,500, or $222,500. Notice that his home equity (the $380,000 value minus the $290,000 mortgage, or $90,000) is already counted in that total because the full home value sits in assets and the full mortgage sits in liabilities. You should never subtract the mortgage twice.
One number is a starting line, not a grade. The useful next step is to write it down with today's date and calculate again in a few months. Our guide to tracking your net worth over time shows a simple way to do that. To understand how your figure compares with groups of people, read about net worth by age, and remember that no benchmark describes your personal situation. For the exact rules this site uses for each field, see the methodology, and for common questions visit the FAQ.
This guide is educational and uses invented numbers. It is not financial, tax, or investment advice. See the disclaimer.