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Your net worth is the single best measure of financial progress. Here are the best free and paid apps to track it automatically, plus how to calculate it yourself.
Your salary is not your financial health. Your spending is not your financial health. Your net worth is your financial health. It is the single number that captures everything: what you own minus what you owe.
Net worth rising? You are building wealth, regardless of your income. Net worth stagnant or declining? Something is wrong, even if your paycheck is large. Tracking your net worth monthly is the simplest way to know whether your financial life is moving in the right direction.
According to the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, the median net worth for Americans under 35 is roughly $39,000. For ages 35 to 44, it is roughly $135,000. For ages 45 to 54, roughly $247,000. Knowing where you stand relative to these benchmarks gives you context for your progress.
Here is how to calculate your net worth and the best tools to track it over time.
How to calculate your net worth
The formula is simple:
Net worth = Total assets – Total liabilities
Assets (what you own)
Cash and savings: Checking accounts, high-yield savings accounts, CDs, money market accounts.
Investments: 401(k), Roth IRA, Traditional IRA, SEP IRA, HSA, taxable brokerage accounts, 529 plans.
Property: Home value (use Zillow or Redfin estimate as a rough guide), rental properties, vehicles (use Kelley Blue Book value).
Other: Business equity, crypto holdings, valuable personal property (only if significant and liquid).
Liabilities (what you owe)
Mortgage: Remaining balance (not the monthly payment).
Student loans: Total balance across all federal and private loans.
Auto loans: Remaining balance.
Credit card debt: Total balance across all cards. If you pay in full monthly, this is $0 for net worth purposes.
Personal loans: Any outstanding balances.
Other: Medical debt, back taxes, money owed to family.
Example calculation
| Assets | Amount |
|---|---|
| Checking account | $3,000 |
| High-yield savings | $12,000 |
| 401(k) | $45,000 |
| Roth IRA | $18,000 |
| Taxable brokerage | $8,000 |
| Car value | $12,000 |
| Total assets | $98,000 |
| Liabilities | Amount |
|---|---|
| Student loans | $22,000 |
| Auto loan | $8,000 |
| Credit card balance | $0 |
| Total liabilities | $30,000 |
Net worth: $98,000 – $30,000 = $68,000
The best apps to track net worth
1. Empower (formerly Personal Capital) – Best free option
Empower offers a free financial dashboard that aggregates all your accounts in one place. It is the most popular free net worth tracker for good reason.
Price: Free (the wealth management service is separate and charges fees on managed assets)
What it does: Links to your bank accounts, credit cards, investment accounts, loans, and mortgages. Calculates net worth automatically and tracks it over time with charts showing monthly and yearly trends.
Investment tools: Portfolio analysis showing asset allocation, fee analysis (identifies hidden mutual fund fees), retirement planner, and investment checkup comparing your portfolio to recommended allocations.
Strengths: Completely free for tracking. The investment analysis tools are excellent. Clean interface. Tracks net worth history so you can see your progress over months and years.
Weaknesses: Empower’s business model is wealth management, so you will receive calls from financial advisors trying to sell their managed investment service. You can ignore these. The advisor calls are the “price” of the free tracking tool.
2. Monarch Money – Best paid option
Monarch Money is a comprehensive financial management app that combines budgeting, net worth tracking, and financial planning.
Price: $14.99/month or $99.99/year
What it does: Links all accounts, tracks net worth over time, and provides detailed budgeting tools. Transaction categorization, spending trends, income tracking, and goal setting.
Strengths: The best all-in-one financial app. Beautiful design. Supports couples with joint account views. Excellent transaction categorization. Net worth dashboard with detailed breakdowns by account type and institution.
Weaknesses: Not free. Some people prefer separate tools for budgeting vs. net worth tracking.
3. Copilot Money – Best for Apple users
Copilot is an iOS-only financial app with excellent design and powerful tracking features.
Price: $14.99/month or $119.99/year
What it does: Account aggregation, spending tracking, net worth monitoring, investment performance, and subscription detection.
Strengths: The best-designed financial app on iOS. Smooth account linking. Great for tracking spending and net worth in a single interface. Detects and lists recurring subscriptions automatically.
Weaknesses: iOS only (no Android, limited web version). More expensive than Monarch Money. Less robust budgeting features.
4. YNAB (You Need a Budget) – Best for budgeting + net worth
YNAB is primarily a budgeting app but also tracks net worth through its account balances feature.
Price: $14.99/month or $109/year (34-day free trial)
Strengths: The gold standard for zero-based budgeting. Net worth reporting is included. Tracking accounts (investment accounts, mortgage balances) can be added alongside budget accounts.
Weaknesses: Net worth tracking is secondary to budgeting. Investment account tracking is manual (you update balances periodically rather than automatic syncing). Best for people who want a budget tool that also shows net worth, not primarily a net worth tracker.
5. Google Sheets or Excel – Best for full control
A spreadsheet is the most flexible option and costs nothing.
Price: Free (Google Sheets) or included with Microsoft 365
What it does: Whatever you build. A simple net worth spreadsheet takes 15 minutes to create and requires manually updating balances monthly.
Template structure:
- Column A: Account name
- Column B: Type (asset or liability)
- Column C: Current balance
- Bottom row: Total assets – Total liabilities = Net worth
- Add a new sheet for each month, or add monthly columns to track over time
Strengths: Complete control. No fees. No data sharing. Customizable. You can add formulas to calculate savings rate, debt payoff projections, and investment growth. The manual process forces you to look at every account monthly.
Weaknesses: Manual data entry. No automatic account linking. Easy to forget or skip months. Requires discipline.
Quick comparison
| App | Price | Auto-link accounts | Budgeting | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Empower | Free | Yes | Basic | Free net worth + investment tracking |
| Monarch Money | $99/year | Yes | Excellent | All-in-one financial management |
| Copilot | $120/year | Yes | Good | Apple ecosystem users |
| YNAB | $109/year | Yes | Best in class | Budget-first approach |
| Spreadsheet | Free | No | DIY | Full control, privacy |
Why tracking net worth matters more than tracking spending
Budgeting tracks the flow of money. Net worth tracks the result. You can follow a perfect budget and still have a declining net worth (if your investments lose value or your debt terms are unfavorable). You can be a messy budgeter and still build net worth (if you automate savings and invest consistently).
Net worth is the scoreboard. Everything else, your income, your spending, your savings rate, is the gameplay. Both matter, but the scoreboard tells you if the game plan is working.
The milestones
Financial milestones feel more tangible when tied to net worth:
$0 net worth: You owe as much as you own. For new graduates with student loans, this is the starting line. Getting to $0 is the first major win.
$10,000: Your emergency fund is probably funded. You have a foundation.
$100,000: The hardest milestone, according to Charlie Munger. But once you hit $100,000, compound interest starts to become a meaningful force. At 7% returns, $100,000 generates $7,000/year in growth.
$250,000: You are ahead of the median American household at any age under 55.
$500,000: Compound growth is now a significant contributor to your net worth. At 7%, your portfolio generates $35,000/year.
$1,000,000: The classic milestone. At a 4% withdrawal rate, this supports $40,000/year in spending indefinitely.
Tracking your net worth monthly turns these milestones from abstract goals into approaching destinations. Watching the number climb by $500 this month and $1,200 the next creates a feedback loop that motivates continued saving and investing.
How often to check
Monthly is ideal. Update your net worth on the 1st of each month (or pick any consistent date). This is frequent enough to catch problems but infrequent enough to avoid obsessing over daily market fluctuations.
Do not check daily or weekly. Stock market volatility means your net worth fluctuates daily. A 2% market drop on a $200,000 portfolio is a $4,000 “loss” that means nothing if you are not selling. Checking too frequently invites emotional reactions and panic selling.
Track the trend, not the number. Some months your net worth will decrease (market drops, large expenses). That is normal. Look at the 6-month and 12-month trend. If the line is going up over time, you are winning.
Frequently asked questions
Should I include my home in my net worth? Yes, but with a caveat. Include the estimated market value as an asset and the remaining mortgage as a liability. This gives an accurate total net worth. However, also track your “investable net worth” (net worth minus home equity) since you cannot easily spend your home equity. Both numbers are useful.
Should I include my car? Yes. Use Kelley Blue Book or Edmunds for the current value. Include the auto loan as a liability. Note that cars depreciate, so the asset value drops each year. This is normal and expected.
My net worth is negative. Is that bad? It is common, not bad. If you have student loans or a mortgage and are early in your career, negative net worth is a normal starting point. Track it monthly and focus on making it less negative, then zero, then positive. The trend matters more than the current number.
Which metric is more important: net worth or savings rate? Both. Your savings rate determines how fast your net worth grows. Net worth measures the cumulative result. Track both. A 20%+ savings rate combined with a rising net worth trend means you are on track.
How do I track net worth as a couple? Combine all joint and individual assets and liabilities. Most apps (Monarch Money, Empower) support adding a partner. For a spreadsheet, list all accounts from both partners in one sheet. Having a shared view of your combined net worth is important for financial conversations as a couple.
The bottom line
Your net worth is the most honest measure of your financial life. It does not care about your salary, your title, or your lifestyle. It only cares about the gap between what you own and what you owe.
Pick a tracking method (Empower for free, Monarch for comprehensive, a spreadsheet for full control) and update it on the first of every month. Watch the number. Celebrate the milestones. When the trend is up and to the right, you are building wealth. When it stalls, investigate and adjust.
The act of tracking, by itself, improves behavior. Seeing your net worth update monthly makes saving more rewarding, spending more conscious, and investing more motivating. Start tracking today. Future you will thank present you for the data.
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