How to calculate your net worth (and why it tells you more than your salary)

Your net worth is the value of everything you own minus everything you owe. To work it out, list your assets (cash, savings, investments, pension, home, car), list your debts (mortgage, car loan, student loan, credit cards), and subtract the debts from the assets. With rough numbers it takes about 20 minutes.

Most people know their salary to the euro and have no idea what their net worth is. That's a shame, because the two tell very different stories. Someone earning €45,000 a year with €120,000 in savings and home equity is in a stronger spot than someone earning €90,000 who owes more than they own. Salary is the flow into the bucket. Net worth is the water that's actually in it.

A quick example

Say you have €8,000 in a savings account, €15,000 in index funds and a flat that would sell for €220,000. You still owe €160,000 on the mortgage and €6,000 on a car loan.

• Assets: €8,000 + €15,000 + €220,000 = €243,000
• Debts: €160,000 + €6,000 = €166,000
• Net worth: €243,000 − €166,000 = €77,000

That €77,000 is the number to watch. Pay down the mortgage, add to the index funds, or let the flat gain value, and it goes up. Take on a new loan for a car you don't need, and it goes down.

Step 1: list what you own

Rough values are fine. You're not doing an audit, and being within a few hundred euros on each line won't change the picture.

Cash and savings

Add up today's balance in your current account, savings accounts and any money you keep elsewhere, like a deposit account or cash at home.

Pension and retirement savings

Include any voluntary pension savings, workplace pension pots you can see a balance for, and long-term savings accounts. You may not be able to touch this money for decades, but it's still yours.

Investments

Funds, shares, bonds and crypto, at today's market value. If a fund you bought for €10,000 is now worth €8,600, write down €8,600.

Your home

Look up recent sale prices for similar homes nearby on a property listing site and pick a figure on the cautious side. Asking prices tend to run higher than what homes actually sell for, so knock a little off.

Cars and other things you could sell

Use what a private buyer would pay today, not what you paid. Only include other items if you could really sell them for a meaningful sum, like a good bike, a camera kit or a watch. Furniture, clothes and kitchen gear don't count. A €2,000 sofa might fetch €200 second-hand, if you're lucky.

Step 2: list what you owe

This is the part people skip, and it's the part that makes the number honest. For each debt, use the remaining balance, not the monthly payment.

• Mortgage: the amount you'd need to pay today to clear it. Your bank app or latest statement will show it.
• Car loan or lease buy-out: the payoff amount.
• Student loans: the current balance, including any interest that has built up.
• Credit cards: the balance you carry. A card you clear in full every month counts as zero.
• Buy now, pay later and instalment plans: whatever is left to pay.
• Money borrowed from family or friends: if you plan to pay it back, it belongs on the list.

Step 3: subtract

Total the first list, total the second, and subtract. A negative result simply means you owe more than you own right now. That's normal early on, especially with student loans or a new mortgage, and it says nothing about how things will look in five years.

What to do with your number

If it's negative

Start with the most expensive debt. Credit cards and consumer loans often charge 15% or more, so clearing them is the best return you'll get anywhere. Keep paying the minimum on everything else, and if your employer matches pension contributions, keep taking the match.

If it's positive but small

Your next priority is a cushion. An emergency fund of three to six months of essential costs means a broken fridge or a gap between jobs doesn't turn into new debt. We wrote a separate guide on how big your emergency fund should be.

If it's growing

Keep going and resist the urge to upgrade everything at once. Automating a fixed transfer to savings or investments on payday is the simplest way to keep the line moving up without thinking about it.

How to track it over time

A single calculation is a snapshot. The real value comes from repeating it and watching the trend. A few habits keep it quick:

• Update once a quarter. Put four dates in your calendar, for example the first of January, April, July and October. Monthly updates mostly show market wobbles.
• Value things the same way each time. If you used one listing site for your home last quarter, use it again. A consistent method matters more than a precise one.
• Look at the direction, not one quarter. One flat quarter is noise. Three in a row is worth a closer look at spending, new debt or paused savings.
• Do an extra update after big changes, like paying off a loan, taking a new one, or getting a bonus.

Common mistakes

• Counting stuff as assets. If you couldn't sell it for a few hundred euros, leave it out.
• Leaving out debt you plan to clear soon. The €1,500 on your card counts today. Your net worth will go up when you pay it off.
• Being optimistic about your home. Use a cautious figure and remember that selling costs money.
• Using monthly payments instead of balances. A €400 car payment says nothing about the €9,000 still owed.

Why it's worth the 20 minutes

Income can change quickly. Jobs end, freelance work dries up, a business has a slow year. Net worth is what's left to lean on when that happens, and it grows on its own once it's there, through investment returns and a shrinking mortgage. It's also private. Nobody sees it, so there's no pressure to make it look good, only to make it grow.

Do it in mooves

1. Open Net worth and add each account, investment and property as an asset.
2. Add your mortgage, loans and card balances as debts. mooves does the subtraction.
3. Once a quarter, update the balances. The chart shows whether the line is going up.

Try it free