Net Worth: How to Calculate and Track It
The Formula
Net worth = total assets - total liabilitiesThat is it. A negative result is common in your twenties and is not a moral failing; it usually means a student loan or a mortgage that has not been outrun yet.
Building the Two Lists
Assets: What You Own
- Cash. Current accounts, savings, deposits.
- Investments. Shares, funds, ETFs, bonds, across every broker and pension.
- Property. Your home and anything else you own, at a realistic sale price.
- Vehicles, if they are worth enough to matter.
- Other valuables with a genuine resale market: collectibles, private company holdings.
Liabilities: What You Owe
- Mortgages, at the outstanding balance rather than the original amount.
- Loans. Car, personal, student.
- Credit cards and overdrafts, at the full balance even if you intend to clear it this month.
- Anything owed to family, if it is real.
A Worked Example
| Assets | |
|---|---|
| Current account | EUR 3,200 |
| Savings | EUR 12,000 |
| Investments across two brokers | EUR 41,500 |
| Workplace pension | EUR 28,000 |
| Flat, realistic sale price | EUR 210,000 |
| Total assets | EUR 294,700 |
| Liabilities | |
|---|---|
| Mortgage outstanding | EUR 168,000 |
| Car loan | EUR 6,400 |
| Credit card | EUR 1,150 |
| Total liabilities | EUR 175,550 |
Net worth = 294,700 - 175,550 = EUR 119,150Where It Goes Wrong
Four mistakes account for nearly all bad net-worth figures, and all four are about consistency rather than arithmetic.
Valuing your home optimistically. Use a price you would actually accept, not the highest thing a portal shows. If you would not sell at that number, it is not that number.
Forgetting the pension. It is frequently the largest or second-largest asset, and it is the one people never open. Leaving it out understates the total badly.
Ignoring debt because it feels normal. A mortgage is a liability even though everyone has one. Net worth counts it or it is not net worth.
Changing the rules between measurements. This is the worst one, because it corrupts the trend rather than the level. If you counted your car in March and not in September, the September drop is your bookkeeping, not your finances.
When Your Assets Span Currencies
One complication worth handling deliberately, because it silently distorts the trend.
If you hold assets in more than one currency, your net worth moves when exchange rates move, with nothing else changing. A euro-based investor holding US shares sees the total rise when the dollar strengthens and fall when it weakens, on an unchanged portfolio.
Two rules keep this honest. Pick one base currency and never switch it, ideally the one you spend, since that is the currency your future costs are in. And convert at the rate on the date being measured, not at today's rate applied retrospectively, which would rewrite every historical figure every time you looked.
The second one is the subtle one. Restating your entire history at today's exchange rate makes past quarters move around, which destroys exactly the comparability the series exists for. Our guide to multi-currency investing covers why the exposure is larger than most people assume.
How Often to Measure It
Quarterly is plenty for most people, and monthly is fine if you enjoy it. More often than that and you are mostly watching market noise move a large number around, which is neither informative nor good for you.
The one rule worth keeping: measure on the same basis each time, and write down what you decided to include. Your future self will not remember whether the car was in the list.
How Turbobulls Calculates It
Turbobulls builds net worth from your actual records rather than from a form you fill in once and forget.
Investments come from your transactions across brokers, in 30+ currencies, converted with the exchange rate applied on the trade date. Cash comes from tracked cash accounts. Property and other unlisted holdings are supported as custom assets, which is what stops the largest item on most people's list from sitting outside the calculation. Debt is handled through account types including loan and mortgage, so what you owe is subtracted rather than ignored.
Because it is built from transactions rather than snapshots, the series updates as you go and the basis stays the same by construction, which is the consistency problem solved rather than remembered.
Several net-worth metrics build on top of it, including wealth velocity, growth rate and maximum drawdown. Wealth velocity, CAGR and portfolio share of net worth are available on the free plan; maximum drawdown is on the paid plan.
Stop Rebuilding the Spreadsheet Every Quarter
The Full Picture: Read These Next
Wealth velocity - how fast the number is actually moving
Growth rate (CAGR) - one yearly figure for the whole trajectory
Savings targets by age - what to compare the number against
Financial health score - the 12 dimensions net worth alone does not capture
Invest or pay off debt - why both sides move the same figure
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Should I include my home?
For net worth, yes. It is an asset and its mortgage is a liability, and excluding one while keeping the other produces a badly distorted number. Some people track a second figure excluding the home, on the grounds that they cannot spend it without moving. Both are defensible as long as you are consistent about which you are quoting.Q: What about my pension?
Include it. It is often the largest thing people own and the easiest to forget. If it is inaccessible for decades, that is a reason to track it separately as well, not a reason to leave it out of the total.Q: Is a negative net worth bad?
Not inherently, and it is common early on. A newly qualified professional with a student loan and a mortgage can be deeply negative and on an excellent trajectory. What matters is the direction over time, not the sign today.Q: How is net worth different from my portfolio?
Your portfolio is your investments. Net worth is everything, minus everything you owe. A good investing year and a growing credit card balance can move the two in opposite directions, which is exactly why measuring only the portfolio flatters the picture. See what is a portfolio for the distinction.Turbobulls is a tracking and analytics tool, not an investment adviser. Nothing here is investment, tax, or legal advice. Investing involves risk, including loss of principal. Do your own research or consult a licensed professional.
One Number, Measured the Same Way Every Time
Turbobulls assembles net worth from your transactions across investments, cash, property and debt, so the series stays comparable without any bookkeeping discipline from you.
- Investments across brokers in 30+ currencies, FX on the trade date
- Cash accounts included alongside investments
- Custom assets for property and other unlisted holdings
- Loan and mortgage account types, so debt is subtracted
- Wealth velocity, CAGR and portfolio share of net worth on the free plan
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