In the world of personal finance, a lot of emphases is placed on the small everyday things you do with your money. I’m guilty of this focus as well. I spend far more time working on my budget and evaluating my spending day in and day out than I do looking at my big picture finances.
Taking the Time to Evaluate Your Finances as a Whole
The closest I get to taking a gander at the big picture is when I do a debt update each month and even then I’m only looking at my debt. I don’t look at my total savings, my 401k or even the value of my belongings. In short, I rarely bother to calculate my net worth. I’m guessing I’m not alone.
While I’m not going to share my net worth (I think sharing my debt is enough) I would be remiss if I didn’t do a post on how to figure out your net worth. So without further ado here is the obligatory personal finance blog net worth post.
At it’s most basic calculating your net worth looks like this:
[blockquote]Assets – liabilities = Net Worth[/blockquote]
What it actually means:
Assets = savings, investments, property owned etc.
Liabilities = Debts, other things costing you money
So let’s take a look at what this would mean in a real world example:
Sample Assets and liabilities:
Car: You car is currently worth $12k, but you still owe $7k on the car loan
401k: $25k
Emergency Fund: $3k
Student Loans: $35k
Net Worth = $12k(car value) + $25K (401k) + $3k (E-fund) – $7k(car loan) – $35k (student loan)
Net Worth = -$2k
Yup, it is totally possible to have a negative net worth (given my student loans, my net worth is negative) and sadly it is not that uncommon, particularly if you are a recent graduate just starting out.
If you are calculating your net worth for the first time and find yourself in the red, don’t get too discouraged. Your Net Worth is constantly changing. If you want to change it even more quickly, then ramp up your debt repayment. It’s up to you how quickly your Net Worth changes.
If you need help ramping up your debt repayment consider using a tool like Qoins. Connect your bank account to Qoins and it rounds up your purchases to the nearest dollar and sets aside that spare change to put towards your debt.
It makes that extra debt payment once a month so long as it amounts to over $10, if not the spare change just rolls over to the next month. There are lots of “spare change” apps, but they are usually focused on saving or investing, I love that there is finally an app focused on debt, yay for Qoins.
Be a Snoop, Check Out Other’s Net Worth
Rockstar Finance has an amazing list of Blogger’s Net Worth. Seriously there are over 200 bloggers on the list that share their net worths. Their net worths range from -$186k to over $2 million. It is a great list of people willing to share how they are working to change their net worth for the better. I can’t imagine a better way to get some inspiration and tips to better your own net worth.
Some Things to Consider
Always take everything with a grain of salt. It is wonderful that these bloggers are willing to share their net worth, but keep in mind they may choose to keep some things anonymous. The post on Rockstar finance explains and I’d like to reiterate that the bloggers are from all walks of life with different incomes, family sizes, and ages. All of which can impact how they calculate their net worth.
Remember personal finance is personal and you shouldn’t compare your beginning with somebody else’s middle. Just keep doing you and working towards your financial goals, you’ll get there eventually.
Do you calculate your Net Worth on a regular basis?
Original article and pictures take i2.wp.com site
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