LOL. My wife asked me last night if I was going to work on it this morning and giggled with my affirmative answer. She knows me well.

Why do I post this? Just like the other forms of help I try to give people, I sincerely believe that everyone should do this regularly. I record it annually and have history for 20 plus years. If you don't measure, you don't manage.

For those that aren't accountants, net worth is assets less liabilities. I did my first one in the early 1990's. It is pretty cool to see how my personal balance sheet has trended over the years. When I started a few hundred bucks was a big deal year over year. It is a form of a journal - a financial history journal. Usually I am pumped to calculate it, but not as much this year as I expected that it wouldn't be a happy comparison to last year.

Oh, and for those of you curious about an update on my mortgage saga, earlier this month I sent in my $6.01 mortgage payment ($5.99 principal and $0.02 interest with a due date of Feb 1). When the mortgage company processed it, it left $0.01 mortgage balance and $0.03 in other funds. I assume they couldn't process the last penny without a "payoff amount request" which I haven't requested. Because they received the payment in December, there is no $0.02 interest. The 2 and the 1 they left is the 3 cents sitting in "other funds". I am still waiting for a $25 documentation fee that the CB experts state I owe in my contract, but so far, they haven't sent me a bill for it...LOL.

Technology is wonderful. 20 years ago, it would take me weeks while I waited for statements to come in the mail. Now it takes about a half an hour, but for most people it should only take a few minutes each year once you get the template laid out, or instantly if you use one of the compiling web sites.

Here a simplified template:

Assets:
Liquid Assets
Cash or equivalent
Equities

Retirement Accounts
Cash or equivalent
Equities

Other Assets
Home
(I don't list cars, but you could list a market value if you wanted to)

Liabilities
Payables (even if you pay off your credit cards every month, you have balances as of 12/31
Term Debt (autos, etc.)
Student Debt
Mortgage

Net Worth