Net Worth Tracker

Net worth = everything you own minus everything you owe. The single most useful number in personal finance, and the only one that directly measures whether you're getting wealthier or not. This tracker saves everything locally in your browser — nothing is sent to any server.

What net worth actually is

Net worth is the single number that answers “am I getting wealthier?” honestly. Income tells you what's flowing in; expenses what's flowing out. Net worth is the stock — what's accumulated. Two people earning the same salary can have wildly different net worth depending on what they did with that income for the past decade.

Net worth = Total assets − Total liabilities

What counts as an asset

Anything you own that has resale value or generates income. The usual categories:

• Cash: current accounts, savings, money market funds, premium bonds. Liquid, predictable value.
• Investments: ISAs, brokerage accounts, individual shares, ETFs, funds, crypto. Liquid but volatile.
• Pension / retirement: SIPP, workplace pension, 401(k), IRA. Locked but real.
• Property: primary home, buy-to-let, second homes. Illiquid, slow to value accurately.
• Vehicles & durables: cars, boats, valuable equipment. Depreciate fast; include conservatively.
• Business equity: shareholdings in companies you own or co-own. Often very hard to value.
• Other: collectibles, art, gold. Easy to over-value; use current resale price, not insured value.

What counts as a liability

• Mortgages on properties you own (subtract from the property value, or list separately as we do here).
• Loans: car, personal, student, business.
• Credit cards: the balance you carry month to month (not your credit limit).
• Tax liabilities: self-assessment payment on account, capital gains owed, deferred tax. Often forgotten.
• Other: medical bills, family loans, anything contractually owed.

Liquid vs total net worth — why both matter

Your home is usually your single largest asset. It also can't pay for groceries. Liquid net worth — cash and investments minus all liabilities — is a more honest measure of financial resilience than total net worth. Two examples:

• A homeowner with £500k in their house, no investments, and £200k mortgage has a total net worth of £300k. Liquid net worth: roughly −£200k. A six-month income loss is a crisis.
• A renter with £200k in ISA / pension and no debts has total net worth of £200k. Liquid net worth: £200k. The same six-month income loss is manageable.

Track both. They tell different stories.

The two ways to grow net worth

Only two. There are no others.

1. Save more — i.e., spend less than you earn and put the difference into assets. The bigger the gap, the faster.
2. Compound the assets you already have by investing them at a real return above inflation, and waiting.

Income matters, but only insofar as it enables (1). High earners with negative net worth are not unusual; modest earners with strong net worth are equally common. The discipline is the lever.

Track it monthly, not daily

Net worth swings on every market move. Tracking daily produces anxiety without signal. Take a snapshot on the same day each month — the 1st works well — and compare year-over-year. The line should be trending up. If it isn't, look at the saving rate first (controllable) before the return assumption (not controllable).

Common net worth pitfalls

• Counting depreciating goods at purchase price. Cars and electronics lose 15-30% in year one. Use current resale value (e.g., What Car or Auto Trader for cars).
• Counting your home at zillow / aspirational value. Use a conservative recent comparable sale, minus the costs of actually selling (typically 2-3% of value for agent fees + legal + tax).
• Ignoring pension entirely. Locked, but real. Some people prefer to track it separately so the headline number reflects only accessible wealth.
• Forgetting tax owed. Self-employment quarterly liabilities, CGT on investments not yet sold but worth tracking, deferred pension tax.
• Including credit limit instead of balance. Liability = what you actually owe, not your available credit.
• Counting future income. Net worth is what you have, not what you'll earn. Career “human capital” is real but doesn't belong on this list.

UK net worth percentiles (rough benchmarks)

Approximate household net worth percentiles in the UK in 2024-25 (from ONS Wealth and Assets Survey, latest available wave; figures approximate):

• 50th percentile (median): ~£300,000 — heavily property-driven for homeowners.
• 75th percentile: ~£700,000.
• 90th percentile: ~£1,300,000.
• 99th percentile: ~£3,500,000.

These numbers are dominated by home equity and pensions. Median liquid wealth is a fraction of these — typically under £20,000 for the middle of the distribution. Beware comparing yourself to percentiles; the personal-finance question is whether your number is trending up, not where it sits on a national league table.

Disclaimer

Educational only. This tracker is a budgeting tool, not investment advice or a substitute for professional financial planning. All data stays in your browser — there is no server-side storage and no account; clearing site data wipes it.