Does net worth include retirement accounts?

Yes, at their current balance. Some people discount them for future tax; either approach is fine as long as you stay consistent.

Should I include my car?

Include it at resale value. It is an asset, but a depreciating one, so it should not be a large share of your net worth.

What is a good net worth for my age?

There is no universal target. A useful benchmark is the median for your age band, and a useful goal is a rising line year on year.

Is negative net worth bad?

Common and often temporary — recent graduates and new homeowners frequently sit below zero. Persistent negative net worth in mid-career signals a debt problem.

What is liquid net worth?

Net worth excluding home equity and other assets you cannot readily sell. It shows what you could actually reach in a crisis.

Estimator

What's My Net Worth? Free Net Worth Calculator

What's my net worth? Everything you own at realistic value, minus everything you owe. It is the single number that shows whether a year of work actually moved you forward.

Your details

Cash and savings$12,000

Investments and retirement accounts$85,000

Home value$340,000

Vehicles and other assets$18,000

Mortgage balance$215,000

All other debts$21,000

Your age40

Net worth

$219,000

$455,000 in assets minus $236,000 in debt

Total assets: $455,000
Total liabilities: $236,000
Liquid net worth (excluding home): $94,000
Median for age 35 to 44: $135,600

How you compare: Median US household net worth by age comes from the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances. Median means half of households are below it — it is a marker, not a target.

How we calculate this

Assets are counted at what you could realistically get today, not what you paid. Cars and furniture are worth their resale value, not their replacement cost.

Retirement accounts count in full even though withdrawals will be taxed; some people prefer to discount them by their expected tax rate for a stricter figure.

Home equity is included, but shown separately as liquid net worth too, because you cannot spend a house without selling or borrowing against it.

Comparisons use median household net worth by age band from the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances, the most reliable US source for this.

Why net worth beats income as a measure

Income tells you what came in. Net worth tells you what stayed. Two households earning the same amount can be $200,000 apart after a decade, entirely because of what they kept.

It is also the only figure that captures debt. A rising salary alongside a rising balance on cards is not progress, and only net worth shows that clearly.

Track it quarterly, on the same date

Pick a date, record the components, and repeat every three months. Markets and house prices move, so the trend across a year is the signal and any single quarter is noise.

Two years of quarterly data will tell you more about your finances than any budgeting app, because it shows the direction rather than the detail.

Reading the comparison honestly

Medians vary enormously by age, region and whether a household owns a home. Being below the median at 30 with student debt and no property is entirely normal.

The comparison that matters is with yourself a year ago. If that line is going up while debt is going down, the plan is working regardless of where you sit nationally.

Frequently asked questions

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