Your financial net worth is simply a snapshot of your financial health at a specific moment in time.
Calculating Your Financial Net Worth
Calculating your financial net worth can confirm how well you are doing on your path to financial independence. To begin calculating your financial net worth, first list all of your assets (what you own) and all your liabilities (what you owe) in two separate columns. Add up each column.
Then it is really just a simple math calculation where you subtract the value of your liabilities from the value of your assets:
Net worth = Your assets minus your liabilities
Remember:
- Assets include cash, bank accounts, investments, brokerage accounts, retirement funds, real estate, and personal items like your car or jewelry.
- Liabilities include your mortgage, car loans, credit card debt, student loans, installment loans and any other debt you owe.
If your assets are greater than your liabilities, you have a positive net worth. if your liabilities are greater than your assets, you have a negative net worth.
Some things to consider about your financial net worth:
- It will fluctuate over time based on your financial activities.
- Reviewing it periodically (think quarterly!) will help you stay focused on your long-term financial goals by changing your spending or savings habits.
- Net worth is not about your income, it’s about your assets and liabilities.
- Having a negative net worth simply means at the time of your calculation, you have more liabilities than assets.
- Generally speaking, as you get older, your net worth should increase.
- This is simply a calculation for your financial net worth and is not a reflection of your net worth as a person.
A Journey to Personal Financial Success
At Morgan Franklin Fellowship (MFF), we support the concept of financial freedom – by teaching participants how to save by paying themselves first, invest for their future and grow their net worth.
Learning how money works and how to talk about money with others are the first steps towards recognizing an individual’s lifelong financial goals. Our online programs, podcasts, blogs, and book reviews and resources are designed to help you learn the concepts, rules and vocabulary of money, finance and investing.
Becoming an MFF Fellow
Our Standards of Financial Literacy – Learning about money series is engaging, full of interesting information, and easy to navigate. Adapted from the National Standards for Personal Financial Education developed by the Council for Economic Education (CEE), this robust curriculum features six short lessons on such important topics as earning income, understanding the value of saving and using credit. When completed, this program lays the foundation for becoming an MFF Fellow.
Becoming an MFF Fellow is the ticket to access additional MFF programs and opportunities for mentoring, networking, internships and real-world opportunities. Hear from the MFF Fellow themselves on how these opportunities encourage them to continue their journey to personal financial success.
Learn More about Money
Begin the journey towards personal financial independence today. LEARN MORE at mff.saveinvestgrow.org
