Tracking Your Financial Progress: Why Net Worth Matters

As someone drowning in debt with little to no savings, why should I care about my net worth?

This is the question I’d ask myself when I first embarked on my financial journey over a decade ago.

The concept of tracking my net worth seemed like something reserved for the elite – the billionaires featured on the cover of Forbes magazine. 

Here's the simple truth: Your net worth is a powerful tool for measuring your financial progress and setting goals for the future.

Now, I'll be honest – I wasn't keen on meticulously calculating the value of every item I owned. 

(Who has the time to figure out the worth of a two-year-old $6 Target shirt, anyway?) 

Instead, I focused on tallying up the assets that were easy to quantify: my savings account, checking account, investment accounts, and the value of my home – basically, anywhere I had money stashed away.

Then came the less enjoyable part: subtracting everything I owed, from credit card debt to student loans to car payments. 

The result?

A negative net worth. 

It was a sobering realization, but it also provided me with a starting point, a baseline from which I could begin my journey towards financial stability.

My strategy was simple: make it a goal to increase my net worth every single month. 

By tracking my numbers at the start of each month, I could visually chart my progress. 

And let me tell you, seeing that number move from negative to positive was a game-changer.

Sure, some months saw slower growth than others, but once the momentum kicked in, there was no stopping it. 

Conclusion

Watching my net worth climb was not only motivating, but it also opened my eyes to the possibilities of a brighter financial future.

Even if you are currently at a position where you have a negative net worth, knowing where you stand presents an opportunity to see where you are and how you can improve and grow your finances.

So, here's my question for you: Have you ever calculated your net worth? If not, what's holding you back? And if you have, what steps are you taking to increase it every month?