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The world of personal finance is flooded with beautiful and sometimes (often) complex worksheets – which assume a certain level of expertise in using Microsoft Excel or its equals. This creates a lot of room for error for those less experienced with these kinds of programs and with that a serious bias in who has appropriate access to these ((un)necessary) tools. This is why, instead of creating just another version of the same complicated worksheets – I provide easy-to-use worksheets with limited access to prevent unnecessary (mistaken) modifications.
With this being said, hoping that every sheet can be used without much explanation, I do feel the need to provide access to some sort of manual for each of my worksheets for those still uncomfortable with using them. If after all this, you still have questions or missing something – reach out! info@financialphilosophies.com.
Last side note: I avoid the use of currency, to make any sheet applicable to your local situation – this does mean that you should try to avoid mixing different currencies into one worksheet though! I would love to think Rp 15,000 is the same as € 15,000 – but sadly this is not the case!
“Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.”
– Benjamin Franklin
The worksheet – Net Worth Calculator
Net worth – the all-important number in the world of personal finance –I too spend a couple of posts on how to calculate it, and how to see if your net worth measures up to what the financial guru’s say your net worth should be. To help facilitate the calculation of your net worth, I created this worksheet that has options to fill in your assets and liabilities to calculate your total net worth automatically. So let me go through the worksheet to have a look at what you can fill out.
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The input - Assets
Your net worth is divided into what you own and what you owe – so naturally, this worksheet has been divided accordingly. On the left you can fill out what you own, your assets (see image), you’ll find gold squares signifying a need for input next to the appropriate asset. This is a simplified worksheet, taking only one of each type of asset – if you have for instance multiple checking accounts just add them together using a formula (=1+2+3). Each category has a miscellaneous (Misc.) section for you to add anything that you feel doesn’t fit a mentioned asset type.
An asset is always a value above zero, otherwise it would be a liability, the assets are automatically added (as positive values) per asset category and each category adds to your total assets. Personally, I like to fill out all golden squares, so I fill in the value of zero to categories not applicable to my net worth.
The input – Liabilities
If it only took assets, your net worth could (possibly) rise quickly, reality is that many people will have some sort of liability to offset the assets – a mortgage to buy the house, a business loan to build that business equity etc.
The right side of the worksheet deals with this side of the equation, just as with the assets the golden squares signify an empty cell that needs an input – with liabilities we would think into negative numbers (below zero), as they decrease your net worth.
In this worksheet, the numbers per category are added automatically, so you don’t need to worry on whether you fill out positive or negative numbers. In the example given (see image), you can see that student loans, although a positive input, are still added as a negative to the total (875 = –875). Negative numbers are shown between brackets.
Again, each category has a miscellaneous (Misc.) section for you to add anything that you feel doesn’t fit a mentioned liability type.
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The outcome – your current net worth
The big box on the bottom left – if it isn’t clear – shows your total current net worth as described here. With your assets set against your liabilities – this is your financial worth at this moment in time.
With a big side note: a net worth rises and falls with each bill and paycheck, and it says nothing about your success in life – it is a convenient way to signify changes over time. Be sure to make it an annual tradition in the new year to see how far you’ve come since the last time you’ve made a net worth calculation – it really can be fun (or an eye opener)!
Have any suggestions for improvement or things that you feel are missing? Let me know in the comments below!
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