How the maths works
How to use it
- List assets at what they would actually sell for today, not what you paid. Cash, savings, retirement accounts, vehicles, property, anything genuinely sellable.
- List every liability at its current balance: cards, loans, mortgage, medical debt, money owed to family.
- Record the number and the date. Recalculate quarterly. The trend is the point — a single reading tells you almost nothing.
A worked example
$1,200 checking, $800 savings, $4,000 in a retirement account and a car worth $7,000 is $13,000 in assets. Against $4,200 in cards, $9,000 on the car and $14,000 in student loans — $27,200 — net worth is −$14,200. Negative is where a large share of people under 35 sit, and the number moving from −$14,200 to −$11,000 over a year is real progress that a bank balance alone would never show.
Where this sits in the Financial Literacy resource
A calculator tells you where you are. It does not tell you what to do next, and a number without a plan behind it tends to produce anxiety rather than progress. These stages are free, need no account, and cover the decision this calculator is measuring.
Common questions
Is negative net worth normal?
Very. Anyone with student loans, a car loan or a recent mortgage frequently starts negative, and it is the standard position early in adult life. The figure is a measurement, not a grade. What matters is whether the trend across quarters is moving in the right direction.
Should I include my house and car?
Yes — the asset at its realistic current market value, and the loan against it as a liability. Including the house but not the mortgage is the most common way people accidentally overstate their net worth. Use conservative resale figures rather than optimistic ones.
How often should I calculate net worth?
Quarterly is enough. Monthly invites over-reaction to normal market movement, and annually is too infrequent to notice a problem forming. Four data points a year is plenty to see a trend.
What this calculator is not
It is an educational model, not a projection and certainly not advice. It knows nothing about your income, your state, your debts or your benefits status, and it ignores taxes and fees unless the page says otherwise. If you receive SSI or SSDI some of this maths works differently and getting it wrong can cost you eligibility — start with the Disability Wealth Guide instead. Our sourcing and correction policy is on the editorial standards page.
Nothing here is stored. Every calculation runs in your browser. No numbers are transmitted, logged or saved to any server, and no account is required. Close the tab and it is gone.