What are you worth? Tally your assets and liabilities, then see how you compare against age-based benchmarks from the Federal Reserve. A 5-min checkup.
Net Worth = Total Assets − Total LiabilitiesNet worth measures your financial position at a point in time. Assets include everything of value you own, while liabilities encompass all debts. A positive and growing net worth indicates financial health. The subtraction is simple, but what counts as an asset and how you value it changes the answer more than the arithmetic does. The critical decision is your home. Counting the full property value inflates net worth with an illiquid asset you cannot spend, and it ignores the mortgage that secured it. The more defensible approach is to count your equity — market value minus the outstanding loan balance — which is what this calculator does when you enter home equity rather than the gross price. Investment holdings should be marked to current market value, not to what you paid, so the figure reflects what you could actually realise today. Vehicles are the other contested category: they depreciate, so an estimate is honest rather than a guess at last year's sticker price. On the liability side, include every debt you are legally obliged to repay — mortgages, auto loans, student loans, credit card balances, and any personal loans. Omitting a debt you have not paid off is the single most common way people overstate their position. Two further points about interpretation. First, net worth is a stock, not a flow: it tells you what you have, not what you spend. Two people with identical net worth can have completely different monthly costs, so track it alongside your spending rather than instead of it. Second, the figure is only meaningful measured over time. One reading tells you almost nothing; the trend across quarters and years tells you whether you are building or eroding. The measurement error comes from valuation rather than formula — an imprecise home appraisal or a stale investment balance shifts the result far more than any rounding. Update the inputs quarterly with real figures, and expect the total to move with markets even when nothing about your behaviour changed.
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Total Assets | Sum of all valuable possessions: cash, investments, property, vehicles |
| Total Liabilities | Sum of all debts and financial obligations |
Our calculations are based on established financial and scientific formulas. The following sources inform the default values and methodology used in this calculator:
How does your net worth compare to others in your age group? The Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances provides the most authoritative data on net worth distribution across age groups in the United States.
| Age Group | Median Net Worth | Average Net Worth | Target (2× Income Rule) | Top 25% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | $39,000 | $183,000 | $80,000 | $140,000 |
| 35-44 | $135,600 | $549,000 | $220,000 | $400,000 |
| 45-54 | $247,200 | $975,000 | $380,000 | $650,000 |
| 55-64 | $364,500 | $1,566,000 | $540,000 | $900,000 |
| 65-74 | $409,900 | $1,793,000 | $600,000 | $1,100,000 |
| 75+ | $335,600 | $976,000 | $500,000 | $900,000 |
The "2× income by 35, 4× by 45, 6× by 55" rule is a practical target. Note the large gap between median and average net worth — this reflects extreme wealth concentration at the top. If your net worth is below the median for your age, focus on increasing savings rate and reducing high-interest debt before worrying about investment returns.
Building net worth follows a predictable progression: earn, save, invest, and optimize. The most effective strategy depends on where you are in your financial journey. Below is a stage-by-stage guide to building wealth.
| Financial Stage | Net Worth Range | Primary Strategy | Key Actions | Target Annual Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Out | Under $10,000 | Build savings habit | Emergency fund (3-6 months expenses), pay off high-interest debt, start 401k to get match | Build $500-1,000/month |
| Building | $10,000 - $100,000 | Increase savings rate | Max out 401k match, fund Roth IRA, automate investments, increase income | 15-25% of income saved |
| Accelerating | $100,000 - $500,000 | Optimize investments | Diversify portfolio, tax-efficient investing, real estate, maximize tax-advantaged accounts | 50-100k net worth increase/year |
| Established | $500,000 - $1,000,000 | Preserve and grow | Asset allocation review, estate planning, consider alternative investments, minimize taxes | Market returns + additional savings |
| Wealthy | Over $1,000,000 | Legacy and tax optimization | Trust planning, charitable giving, tax-loss harvesting, generational wealth transfer | 7-10% portfolio growth |
The most important factor in net worth growth is your savings rate, not investment returns. A person saving 20% of a $60,000 salary will build wealth faster than someone saving 5% of a $150,000 salary. The net worth calculator helps you track your progress against benchmarks. Focus on increasing your income and maintaining a high savings rate — that combination is the most reliable path to building wealth.
Two people can have the same salary and wildly different net worth, and often the difference is not discipline — it is bookkeeping. Most people leave real assets off the sheet and leave real debts off too, which cancels out into a number that feels arbitrary and gets abandoned after two months.
The obvious entries are checking, savings, brokerage and home value. The ones people forget: vested restricted stock units, health savings account balances, the cash value of a whole life policy, a pension with a vested benefit, business equity, security deposits held by landlords, and money people owe you. Include the current balance of the HSA — it survives job changes and is one of the most tax-efficient accounts most households have.
On the liability side, people usually remember the mortgage and the car loan and forget: credit card balances whose interest has not posted yet, capitalized interest on student loans, medical payment plans, taxes owed but not yet filed, a margin balance, and the gap on an upside-down vehicle loan. Two rules keep this honest. Use payoff amounts, not original balances. And count unvested stock as zero — if you leave before vesting it disappears, so it is a hope rather than an asset.
| Frequently omitted | Include it? | How to value it |
|---|---|---|
| Vested RSUs | Yes | Current market value |
| Unvested RSUs / options | No | Zero until vested |
| HSA balance | Yes | Current balance |
| Home equity | Yes | Conservative market value minus payoff |
| Car loan | Yes | Payoff amount, not sticker price |
| Taxes owed, not yet filed | Yes | Estimated liability |
Net worth is only useful as a trend, and trends require consistency. Choose a method — conservative (what you would actually receive if you liquidated today, minus selling costs and taxes on gains), practical (market value for liquid assets, conservative for property), or aspirational (include unvested equity) — and then never mix methods between quarters, because a changed convention looks exactly like a changed financial life. Recalculate on the same date each quarter, ideally when the statements land. The number itself rarely tells you anything; the direction over four quarters tells you almost everything. Cash-flow problems show up in net worth months before they show up in a bank balance, and the projection in the calculator above only becomes meaningful once your inputs are measured the same way every time.
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Rates verified 2026-10-09 · Sourced from official seller fee schedules