Your net worth is what you own minus what you owe, so what’s included in net worth is every asset you could sell, withdraw, or convert to cash today, offset by every debt you currently owe. If your assets add up to $500,000 and your debts total $200,000, your net worth is $300,000. The number can be negative when debts exceed assets, and that’s simply information, not a verdict. The sections below walk through each category that belongs on the asset side, each category that belongs on the debt side, and the items people commonly try to include that don’t actually count.
Cash and Liquid Assets
Start with the easiest category to count. Liquid assets have a clear value and can be accessed quickly without losing value.
- Cash on hand, including physical currency kept at home or in a safe.
- Checking and savings account balances, including high-yield savings.
- Money market account balances.
- Certificates of deposit at their current value, though an early withdrawal penalty may reduce what you actually receive.
Deposit accounts are covered by FDIC insurance up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each ownership category.1FDIC.gov. Deposit Insurance Pull the exact figures from your most recent statements or online banking.
Investment and Retirement Accounts
Investment accounts count at current market value — what they would sell for today, not what you paid. That covers brokerage accounts holding stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs. Balances move with the market, so use the value as of the date you run the calculation.
Retirement accounts work the same way. Include the current market value of your 401(k), 403(b), traditional IRA, Roth IRA, SEP IRA, and any other employer-sponsored or individual retirement plan.2Internal Revenue Service. Types of Retirement Plans Your quarterly or annual plan statement shows the figure to use.
Employee Stock and Restricted Stock Units
If you receive equity compensation at work, include vested shares and vested restricted stock units at their current market price. Unvested shares generally don’t count because you don’t yet have unrestricted ownership; leaving the company before vesting means forfeiting them. Vested stock options that are in the money carry value equal to the current share price minus the exercise cost, multiplied by the number of options. Unvested options are typically excluded.
Digital Assets
Cryptocurrency and other digital assets are treated as property for federal purposes and belong in your calculation at their fair market value in U.S. dollars on the date you run the numbers.3Internal Revenue Service. Digital Assets Prices can swing hard in a single day, so pick a consistent source like a major exchange and record the date alongside the value. If you hold several types across different wallets or exchanges, add each position separately.
Real Estate
Real estate is often the largest line on a net worth statement. Include the current fair market value of every property you own: primary home, vacation property, rentals, undeveloped land. Fair market value is the price a willing buyer and willing seller would agree on with no pressure on either side. It is not what you paid, and not what you hope to get.
You can estimate value through recent comparable sales in your neighborhood, online valuation tools, or a professional appraisal. A formal residential appraisal typically costs a few hundred dollars and gives the most reliable figure, which matters when real estate makes up a large share of your wealth. Only your equity counts toward net worth, so the mortgage balance comes off on the liability side.
Vehicles and Personal Property
Cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, jewelry, art, and collectibles belong on the asset side at their current resale value, not what you originally paid. Vehicles depreciate steadily, so check pricing guides or dealer listings for a realistic number. A five-year-old car is worth considerably less than its purchase price regardless of how well it has been maintained.
For high-value items like fine art, antiques, or significant jewelry, a professional appraisal gives the most accurate figure. Note the difference between fair market value and liquidation value. Fair market value assumes a normal sale with no time pressure. Liquidation value — what you would get in a forced quick sale — is typically much lower. Most financial planners use fair market value, though a modest discount from the appraised figure is reasonable if you want a more conservative estimate.
Business Interests
Any ownership stake in a business is an asset. Valuing it is the hardest part of a net worth calculation because privately held businesses don’t have a public share price. For a rough estimate, industry rules of thumb (such as a multiple of annual revenue) can work. For a defensible number, a certified business appraiser can produce a formal valuation using income, market, or asset-based methods. Professional valuations typically range from a few thousand dollars for a simple small business to tens of thousands for complex enterprises.
Other Assets Worth Counting
A few items are easy to overlook.
Permanent life insurance policies, including whole life and universal life, build a cash surrender value over time that you can borrow against or withdraw. That cash value is an asset. Term life insurance has no cash value and doesn’t count. Check your annual policy statement or contact the insurer to find the current cash surrender value.
Patents, copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property with income-generating potential are assets. The common way to value them is the income method, which estimates the future income stream and adjusts it to present value. If you receive royalty payments from published work or licensed technology, the right to those future payments has a calculable value.
Deferred annuities that haven’t started paying out should be included at their current account value or cash surrender value, which may be reduced by surrender charges if the contract is still inside its penalty period. An annuity already making fixed payments to you has no remaining withdrawable value and generally isn’t listed as a separate asset.
Secured Debt
Secured debts are loans tied to specific property a lender can seize if you stop paying. Include:
- Mortgage balances, including any second mortgage.
- Home equity line of credit balances. Only the amount you’ve actually drawn counts, not the full credit limit. A $50,000 HELOC with $20,000 drawn is a $20,000 liability.
- Auto loan principal.
- Boat, RV, or other loans secured by personal property.
For accuracy, request a formal payoff amount from your lender rather than using the balance on your monthly statement. The payoff accounts for interest accrued through a specific date. For home loans, federal law requires your lender or servicer to send an accurate payoff balance within seven business days of receiving a written request.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1639g – Requests for Payoff Amounts of Home Loan
Unsecured Debt
Unsecured debts aren’t backed by collateral, and they reduce your net worth dollar for dollar.
- Credit card balances, including any accrued interest.
- Federal and private student loan balances. Unpaid interest that hasn’t yet been added to principal still represents money you owe, and when that interest capitalizes, your total loan balance grows.5Federal Student Aid. What Is Interest Capitalization on a Student Loan
- Personal loans from banks, credit unions, or online lenders.
- Medical debt, at the amount currently billed by the provider.
- Unpaid federal, state, or local taxes, including balances on an IRS payment plan.
Cosigned Loans and Other Contingent Liabilities
A contingent liability is a debt you may have to pay depending on what someone else does. The most common example is a cosigned loan: you become legally responsible for the full balance if the primary borrower stops paying, and the obligation shows up on your credit report. Whether to include a cosigned loan on your personal net worth statement depends on why you’re calculating. For a conservative view, or when filling out a formal financial statement for a lender, listing the cosigned balance gives a more complete picture of your exposure.
What Not to Include
A few things feel like they should count and don’t.
- Income. Salary, hourly wages, and freelance earnings aren’t assets. Net worth measures what you’ve accumulated, not what flows in each month.
- Future Social Security benefits. They have value, but they aren’t something you own or can sell today.
- Expected inheritances. Until money or property is actually transferred to you, it doesn’t exist on your balance sheet.
- Term life insurance. There’s no cash value, and the death benefit goes to your beneficiaries, not to you.
- Earning potential. A medical degree or professional license raises your ability to earn, but it isn’t a financial asset with a market value.
The simplest filter: if you can’t sell it, withdraw it, or convert it to cash today, it doesn’t belong on the statement. Sticking to that rule keeps the number honest and comparable from year to year.
Headline Value vs. After-Tax Value
A standard net worth calculation uses the full market value of each asset before taxes. Some assets carry a built-in tax bill, so what you could actually pocket is lower than the headline number.
Money in a traditional 401(k) or traditional IRA has never been taxed. Withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income, so a $500,000 traditional IRA is not equivalent to $500,000 in a regular brokerage account. Some researchers suggest adjusting retirement balances by your expected future tax rate for a more realistic after-tax net worth.6U.S. Department of Labor. Valuing Assets in Retirement Saving Accounts A Roth IRA or Roth 401(k) holds after-tax money; qualified withdrawals are tax-free, so the balance more closely matches its true value.
Appreciated real estate and investments carry capital gains exposure. For a primary residence, you can exclude up to $250,000 in gain, or $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly, if you owned and lived in the home for at least two of the five years before the sale.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 121 – Exclusion of Gain From Sale of Principal Residence Gains above those thresholds, and gains on investment property, are subject to capital gains tax.8Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 409, Capital Gains and Losses Most people calculate net worth without adjusting for these potential taxes, which is fine for tracking progress year to year. When you’re approaching retirement or planning a major sale, factoring in the tax cost gives a clearer picture of spendable wealth.
Thresholds Where the Number Matters
Two thresholds change what the number means in practice.
To qualify as an accredited investor by the net worth test, you need more than $1 million either individually or jointly with a spouse, with your primary residence excluded.9U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Accredited Investors You can’t count home equity toward the $1 million, and mortgage debt on the home is also excluded from your liabilities. One exception: if the mortgage exceeds the home’s fair market value, the excess counts against you.
For 2026, the federal estate tax exemption is $15,000,000 per person, and estates above that are subject to federal estate tax on the excess.10Internal Revenue Service. Whats New – Estate and Gift Tax Married couples can effectively double the exemption through portability of the unused portion of a deceased spouse’s exemption. If your net worth is approaching this level, strategies such as lifetime gifting, trusts, or charitable donations can reduce future tax exposure.