How to Calculate Your Net Worth in less than 30 Minutes
- Janine Rogan
- Jul 3
- 8 min read
Updated: Jul 16
Most women I talk to have never sat down and written their net worth. Not because they don't care about money. Not because they're "bad" at math. But because no one ever told them this was something they were supposed to do, or showed them how.
Here's the thing: your net worth is the single most important number in your financial life. It tells you more about your financial health than your salary, your savings account balance, or the number on your last paycheque. And calculating it takes less time than your morning coffee run.
So let's do it together. Right now.
By the end of this post, you'll know exactly what your net worth is, what it actually means, and how to track it going forward with a template I built to make it effortless.
What Is Net Worth, Exactly?
Your net worth, put simply, is what you own minus what you owe. That's it. One sentence. No finance degree required.
Net Worth = Total Assets (what you own) − Total Liabilities (what you owe)
Your assets are everything you own that has value: your savings, your investments, your home, your car, your TFSA, your RRSP.
Your liabilities are everything you owe: your mortgage, your student loans, your car loan, your credit card balance, your personal loans, and your line of credit.
Add up all your assets, and then all your liabilities. Subtract one from the other, and you have your net worth.
It can be positive. It can be negative. Both are useful pieces of information. And regardless of where you land today, the goal is always the same: grow the number, month by month, decision by decision.
An important note before we go further: your net worth is not your self-worth. Whatever number you find is information, not a verdict. Don’t judge yourself for where you’re starting. The goal is always to move the number forward from here.
Why Your Net Worth Matters More Than Your Salary
Salary is income. Net worth is wealth. They are not the same thing.
You can earn $120,000 a year and have a net worth of $8,000 if your lifestyle, debt, and spending habits are eating into everything you make. And you can earn $60,000 a year and have a net worth of $150,000 if you've been investing consistently and living below your means.
The number that tells the real story is net worth.
This matters especially for women. The gender wealth gap, not the wage gap, is the financial statistic that doesn't get nearly enough attention. On average, women retire with significantly less wealth than men, even when they've earned comparable incomes throughout their careers. The reasons for this are systemic: the motherhood penalty, the investing gap, and lower baseline salaries that compound over time. Women make up 51% of the global population but hold only 30% of global wealth. Add any level of intersectionality, and the gap gets larger.
Tracking your net worth regularly doesn't close the gender wealth gap on its own. But it does give you the visibility to make intentional decisions, which is exactly where building wealth starts.
How to Calculate Your Net Worth: Step-by-Step
You'll need about 30 minutes, a notebook or spreadsheet, and access to your account balances. Grab my Net Worth Template before you start, it does the math for you automatically.
Step 1: List Everything You Own (Your Assets)
Start with the easy ones, the accounts you can look up in under two minutes. Write down the current value of everything. Not the original cost. The current value.
Liquid assets (things you can access quickly):
Chequing account balance
Savings account balance
Emergency fund
Cash or other valuables (e.g. gold)
Registered investment accounts:
TFSA (Tax-Free Savings Account), current market value
RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan), current market value
FHSA (First Home Savings Account), if applicable
RESP (Registered Education Savings Plan), if applicable
Pension value, if applicable (check your most recent statement)
Non-registered investments:
Brokerage accounts
Stocks, ETFs, mutual funds held outside registered accounts
Dividends reinvested
Physical assets:
Real estate, current market value of your home (not what you paid; what it's worth today)
Vehicle, current resale value (not what you paid; look up the Carfax or AutoTrader value)
Business equity, if you own a business
Life insurance with cash value
💡Quick tips: You don't need to be exact. An estimate within $1,000–$2,000 is fine for your first calculation. You're building a picture, not filing a tax return. And only include physical assets you’d realistically sell. If you don’t plan on ever selling it, like an engagement ring, leave it off the list.
Step 2: List Everything You Owe (Your Liabilities)
Now the other side. Be honest here, this is just information. There is no shame in this exercise. Numbers are neutral.
Mortgage balance outstanding
Home equity line of credit (HELOC) balance
Car loan balance
Student loan balance
Credit card balances (total across all cards)
Personal loan balance
Line of credit balance
Any money owed to family (if it's a formal repayment arrangement)
List the current outstanding balance, not the original loan amount, not the monthly payment. What do you actually owe today if you paid it all off?
Step 3: Do the Math
Total Assets − Total Liabilities = Your Net Worth
That number, either positive or negative, is your starting point.
What Does a "Good" Net Worth Look Like?
This is the question everyone wants answered, and the one I want to reframe for you. There are benchmarks. A commonly cited one is that by age 35, you should have roughly 1x your annual salary saved. By 45, 3x. By 55, 5x.
I share these not to create panic, but to give you a reference point. A benchmark is useful but it is not a verdict on your financial character.
What I care more about than the number itself is the direction. Is it growing? Month over month, year over year, is the gap between what you own and what you owe getting wider in your favour?
If you're in your 20s and your net worth is negative because of student debt, that is normal. That debt was an investment in your earning potential, and if you're building toward repayment and starting to invest, you're on the right track.
If you're in your 30s or 40s and you've never calculated your net worth before, this moment is your starting point, not a place to judge yourself for what you didn't do earlier. The best time to start was ten years ago. The second-best time is today.
I've been tracking our joint household net worth (almost) every month since 2012 which means I have almost 15 years of data. Some years our net worth didn't budge much, and some years that number went down. But over the course of 15 years together my husband and I have been able to turn our $17,000 net worth into 7-figures.
What to Do Once You Have Your Net Worth Number
Write it down. Date it. That's step one. Your net worth on this date, at this moment, is your financial baseline. Every decision you make from here where you invest, how you handle debt, how you allocate your next raise works toward moving that number in the right direction.
Then come back in 30–60–90 days and recalculate. This is the part that most people skip. Calculating your net worth once is interesting. Tracking it every month or quarter is transformational.
Here's what happens when you track monthly:
You start to see patterns. Maybe your credit card balance keeps creeping up. Maybe your TFSA contributions are barely moving the needle because you're not investing the cash. Maybe, and this is the one that surprises most people, your net worth is actually growing faster than you thought.
Visibility creates accountability. And accountability creates results.
Common Mistakes When Calculating Net Worth
A few things that trip people up the first time they calculate their net worth:
Using the original price of assets instead of the current value, Your car is not worth what you paid for it. Your condo may be worth more than you paid for it. Use today's value for everything.
Forgetting registered account balances, Your TFSA and RRSP count as assets. Log in to your brokerage or bank app and get the number.
Including only "big" liabilities, That $3,200 credit card balance counts. That $800 personal loan counts. Include everything.
Rounding too aggressively, A rough estimate is fine for a starting point, but the more precise you are, the more useful the exercise becomes.
Doing it once and never again, Calculating your net worth once is better than never. Tracking it monthly or quarterly is where the real insight lives.
Your Net Worth Is Not Your Self-Worth
I want to say this as you look at your number. Your net worth is not your self-worth.
Whatever you find when you do this calculation, a number that's lower than you hoped, a mountain of debt you've been quietly carrying, a total that feels embarrassingly small for your age and salary, it is information. Not a verdict.
You are not defined by the number on the page. But you have the power to change it. You can't take a head-in-the-sand approach. The only way to grow it is to look at it.
The Net Worth Template
I built this template because I wanted something that was actually simple to use, not a 40-tab monstrosity that requires an accounting degree to navigate.
Here's what's inside:
Net worth tracker for Singles, 24 months of assets and liabilities
Net worth tracker for Couples, dual entries for all accounts, including RRSP, TFSA, and vehicles
Automatic month-over-month change calculation (in dollars and percentage)
Retirement target calculator using the 4% rule so you know the number you're working toward
Visualization tab to chart your net worth over time, so you can see the growth
You fill in your numbers. It does the math. You track the trend. Works with Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets (free).
Frequently Asked Questions on How To Calculate Your Net Worth
How do I calculate my net worth?
To calculate your net worth, add up everything you own (assets), savings, investments, real estate, vehicles, and registered accounts like your TFSA and RRSP, then subtract everything you owe (liabilities) like mortgage, student loans, credit cards, car loans, and any lines of credit. The resulting number is your net worth. Net Worth = Total Assets − Total Liabilities.
What counts as an asset for net worth?
Assets include: chequing and savings accounts, TFSA and RRSP balances, non-registered investment accounts, real estate (at current market value), vehicles (at current resale value), business equity, and any cash value in life insurance policies.
What counts as a liability for net worth?
Liabilities include: mortgage balance, home equity line of credit (HELOC), car loan, student loans, credit card balances, personal loans, and any outstanding lines of credit.
What is a good net worth by age?
A commonly referenced benchmark is 1x your annual salary saved by age 35, 3x by age 45, and 5x by age 55. However, these are guidelines, not rules, and they don't account for the reality of the gender wage gap, career breaks, or late starts. What matters most is the direction: is your net worth growing month over month?
How often should I calculate my net worth?
Calculate your net worth monthly. A single calculation gives you a snapshot; monthly tracking gives you the trend. Watching your net worth grow even by a few hundred dollars is one of the most motivating financial habits you can build.
Is a negative net worth bad?
A negative net worth, where you owe more than you own, is common especially in your 20s when student debt is high and asset accumulation is just beginning. It is not a permanent condition and it is not a moral failing. It is a starting point. The goal is to move the number in the right direction, consistently, over time.
What is the gender wealth gap?
The gender wealth gap refers to the difference in accumulated wealth between men and women over a lifetime. Even when women earn comparable salaries, they tend to retire with significantly less wealth due to the motherhood penalty, unpaid caregiving work, lower participation in investing, and other systemic factors. Tracking your own net worth is a first step toward closing your personal wealth gap.
About Janine Rogan
Janine is an award-winning CPA, TEDx speaker, and bestselling author of The Pink Tax: Dismantling A Financial System Designed To Keep Women Broke. She is the founder of The Wealth Building Academy, where she teaches women to invest with confidence and build lasting wealth without the shame, jargon, or finance-bro energy.
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