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Everyone Should Track Their Net Worth

Even if you aren’t going to share the information with the world like I do, I believe it is important for most people to track their net worth.  If I convince you with regards to the why, the how becomes less important.

Why Should You Track your Net Worth?

Discover Bad Trends

By reviewing your numbers every month you can discover trends, mistakes, etc.  If you are watching your investable assets decrease despite the broad market increasing, you may have discovered that either your investments have high fees, your investments don’t line up with your risk tolerance, or you are being defrauded. In addition, if your liabilities include credit card debt, tracking your net worth will allow you to take a quick view to make sure those numbers are not increasing month over month.

You May Create Accountability

For me, I know I have made decisions based on knowing that I have to face the spreadsheet at the end of the month.  Is that good? Who the hell knows, but I do know that it has forced me to make reasonable and responsible decisions rather than saying F’ it and buying a ridiculous material item.  Although I am pretty sure I am getting this (or something like it) amazing dual tap kegerator for my birthday and Christmas.

double tap kegerator

Often the question will come up, “accountable to who”? Maybe it is just creating accountability to yourself or maybe, if you have a personal finance blog, it is sharing it with those few visitors who may (slightly) care.

Figuring out Where You Have Been Helps to Discover Where You are Headed

I know it may seem cliche (and completely obvious) but how the hell do you know if you are headed in the right direction if you don’t have a starting point? If you have never added up your assets and liabilities how could you possibly know you are doing the right thing to grow that number (assuming that is your goal – and I believe most people want to be wealthy).  You could be thinking that you are doing everything right, but if that pure number isn’t going in the direction you want it to, maybe there is some room to make changes in your life/decisions.

Do you track your net worth? 

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5 COMMENTS

  1. Definitely agree with tracking your net worth. I wish I hard started sooner so I could see the actual numbers. I had a vague idea over the years that my net worth was going up as I was paying off debt, but I never really tracked it to see. Will be nice to look back in a decade or so and see where I’ve been and where I went.

    • Better late than never! I have them going back to 2011. I wish I had started earlier also, but that might be the nature of the beast

  2. I do track mine but don’t take it all that seriously. A big market crash or correction in the real estate market could make me very sad if I cared too much.

    I focus on my saving % and dividend growth. Both should always grow even in a bad market.

    That’s the plan at least 🙂

  3. Agreed 100%. Starting a blog earlier this year to do this publicly has really helped with accountability and staying on track, as well as thinking equity purchases through more. Recommended for anyone interested or on the path to financial freedom.

  4. We do track net worth and call it the Amberindex. Its main goal is to see that the trend is up and towards are goal.

    My main focus is our system and staying in budget pet month is a key part in the system.

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