To track your net worth, add up what you own, take away what you owe, and write the answer down on the same day each month. The number itself matters less than whether it goes up over time.
The short answer
- Net worth = assets (savings, ISAs, pensions, property) minus debts (mortgage, cards, loans).
- Use today’s values from statements and apps, not what you paid in.
- Update monthly or quarterly on a set day; look at the trend over a year, not week to week.
What to count as assets
- Cash: current accounts, savings accounts, cash ISAs, Premium Bonds.
- Investments: stocks and shares ISAs, Lifetime ISAs, general investment accounts.
- Pensions: workplace pensions and personal pensions or SIPPs, at their current value.
- Property: your home and any other property, at a realistic value. Update it once a year, not every month.
- Other things worth selling, such as a car, only if you would count them at what they would sell for.
What to take off
- Mortgage balance (from your lender, not the original loan).
- Credit card balances, overdrafts, personal loans and car finance.
- Money owed to family or friends.
Student loans are a choice: repayments depend on income and the rest may be written off, so some people show them on a separate line. Whatever you pick, do it the same way every time.
A worked example
This is an example only, with round numbers.
| Assets | Value |
|---|---|
| Current account and savings | £6,000 |
| Stocks and shares ISA | £14,000 |
| Workplace pension | £38,000 |
| Home (realistic value) | £260,000 |
| Total assets | £318,000 |
| Debts | Value |
|---|---|
| Mortgage balance | £190,000 |
| Credit card | £1,200 |
| Car finance | £6,800 |
| Total debts | £198,000 |
Net worth: £318,000 − £198,000 = £120,000. Without the home and mortgage it is £50,000 − £8,000 = £42,000, which many people track as a second figure because it changes faster.
How often to update it
Monthly works well if you like seeing progress; quarterly is enough for most people. Pick a day, such as the first Sunday of the month, and take every value on that day so the months compare fairly. Expect falls when markets drop: a pension can move a lot in one month.
Spreadsheet or app
Apps connect to your accounts but not always to pensions or property. A spreadsheet takes ten minutes a month and keeps the history in your own hands. The UK Net Worth Tracker spreadsheet has these categories in pounds, a mortgage and equity view, and a chart of the trend, for Excel and Google Sheets.
Figures on this page are examples. General information, not financial advice.
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