How to Track Your Net Worth

Net worth is one of those numbers that can be very useful in tracking how you are doing financially. Tracking your net worth regularly can help give you an idea of whether you are moving forward or backward with your personal finances.

So in this article, I want to share some practical tips on how to track your net worth.

Should Christians Track Their Net Worth?

While net worth is an important number to evaluate, it does not define your true value. Your value is found through Christ alone.

Tracking your net worth can be a bit tricky as a believer because it can be tempting to let it define who you are or how well you are doing in life. I do believe that Christians have a biblical responsibility to track their net worth.

Read more about why Christians should track their net worth.

Bob Lotich, in his new book, Simple Money Rich Life, suggests that we not think about our wealth as our net worth. Rather he suggests thinking about it as our assets under management. I personally love this idea because it takes the focus off of just accumulating more money and rather helps us view our money as a tool to be used for the Kingdom of God!

There are numbers that are more important than net worth, but we still should at least check the vitals of our finances a couple of times a year.

Net worth is one of those numbers that can be very useful in tracking how you are doing financially. Tracking your net worth regularly can help give you an idea of whether you are moving forward or backward with your personal finances. Learn how to track your net worth in this article. — PIN FOR LATER

Where To Track Your Net Worth

This process can be done using a pen and paper because it is very simple. However, I would recommend using something like Excel or Google sheets to track your net worth. I personally prefer Google Sheets over Excel because it is cloud-based and can be accessed anywhere.

I also had a computer crash a year after college (praise God it wasn’t during college) and I lost all the files on it. So I started filing all of my documents in the cloud provided by Google.

The Money Taboo a weekly faith and finance devotional with Katie Jones

How to Track Your Net Worth

Figuring out your net worth is fairly simple. It is simply taking all of your assets and subtracting your liabilities (debts).

Assets – Debts = Net Worth

Assets You May Have

Cash
Savings Account
Checking Account
Retirement Accounts (401k, IRA, 403b, etc)
Brokerage Account
Stocks
Real Estate Investments
HSA

Assets I Personally Don’t Include

I only factor in assets that are liquid cash (savings and checking accounts) as well as your investments (401(k), IRA, brokerage accounts, real estate investments).

You could also add in the value of your primary residence as well as your personal belongings (car, furniture, jewelry, etc)

There are 2 main reasons I don’t add those in though...

I like to know how much cash I have to manage in my bank accounts and investments. They are things that are actively building me equity or can be used soon to buy things with. I probably won’t end up selling any of those things any time soon in order to be able to use that cash for other purchases. So I typically don’t recommend adding them.
Sometimes I feel like adding all the STUFF I have into my net worth makes me focus more on the accumulating part of net worth, rather than the management side of net worth (think assets under management).

Debts You May Have

Student Loans
Car Loan
Credit Card Debt
Mortgage
Personal Loan
Medical Debt
Cell Phone Payments
Furniture Payments
Tax Debt

There are tons of different forms of debt out there. Society has unfortunately taught us that “debt is totally normal and everyone has it!” But the Bible has something different to say about your debt. Read more about what the Bible says about debt.

Negative Net Worth?

It is very possible to have a negative net worth. This happens when you have more debts than you have assets which is typically a result of living beyond your means.

Some quick tips on how you can improve this are…

Mentorship is also a wonderful way to get the help you need in order to increase your income even greater. Remember, this is not to prove to anyone that you are great, but rather, we want to be excellent money managers of the wealth that God has entrusted to us!

Learn about the Redeeming Your Finances Mentorship Program, where you will learn how to manage your money well so you can live abundantly, give generously, and radically advance the Kingdom of God without financial hesitation!