Net worth calculator
Your net worth is everything you own minus everything you owe. Add up your cash, investments, crypto, property and anything else with a resale value; subtract your mortgage, loans and card balances; the difference is the number. It is the only figure that describes your whole financial position in one line, which is why it is worth tracking rather than calculating once.
The projection below is the engine Vault runs, in the same code. Enter what you have and what you save, and it answers the question a net-worth figure raises next — how long until it is enough.
Your annual spending divided by the withdrawal rate — not a fixed multiple of 25.
A projection is arithmetic on assumptions you choose. It is not a forecast, and it is not advice.
What counts as an asset
Anything you could sell, at what you could actually sell it for rather than what you paid. The usual mistake is optimism about illiquid things.
- Cash: current accounts, savings, notice accounts, and money sitting on a brokerage platform.
- Investments: shares, ETFs, bonds, funds and pensions, valued at today's market price.
- Crypto: quantity times current price, wherever it is held. Self-custodied coins count exactly like exchange balances.
- Property: what it would sell for now, not what you paid and not what the listing next door is asking.
- Everything else with a resale value: a vehicle, metals, a stake in a private business. Be conservative.
What counts as a liability
Everything somebody could ask you to repay, at today's outstanding balance rather than the original amount.
- Mortgages, at the balance outstanding rather than the sum you borrowed.
- Personal loans, car finance and student debt.
- Credit-card balances, including the ones you intend to clear this month.
- Tax you know is coming but have not yet paid.
Two mistakes that make the number wrong
Counting an asset gross of the debt against it, and forgetting currency. A flat worth 400,000 with 250,000 left on the mortgage adds 150,000 to your net worth, not 400,000 — and an account in another currency has to be converted at today's rate before it can be added to anything. Both are why a spreadsheet drifts and why this is worth automating.
Why the figure matters more as a series than as a number
One net-worth figure tells you where you stand. Twelve of them tell you where you are going, which is the question you actually care about. A single close each month turns a balance into a trend, and the trend is what the projection below runs on.
Questions
Should I include my pension in net worth?
Yes. It is money you own, even if you cannot reach it yet. Some people track a second figure that excludes anything locked until retirement, which is useful if you are planning to stop work early — the pension is real but it will not pay the bills at 45.
Should I include my home?
Include it, with its mortgage against it. It is a real asset and a real debt. Just be aware that a home you live in does not fund retirement unless you sell it, so a financial-independence target usually excludes it.
How often should I calculate it?
Once a month is plenty. More often and you are watching market noise rather than your own progress.