How To Track Net Worth Like a Pro (+ Free Template)

Estimated reading time: 18 minutes

There’s an often-overlooked financial area that many people ignore which is knowing their own net worth – a very important number in life. Not knowing it can expose you to unnecessary financial risk. But don’t worry as I’ll guide you step by step to help you understand what net worth is, and I’ll also give you a free Net Worth Tracker at the end of this blog. This way, you can start managing your money more wisely!

In this blog, we’ll dive into why it’s important to know your net worth, break down its key components including assets, income, liabilities, and expenses. Most importantly, I’ll share with you on how to use the free tracker to get a clear picture of your financial standing.

Why is Net Worth Important?

It’s great if you’ve already been tracking your expenses. That alone puts you halfway toward financial success. But many people stop there and overlook tracking their net worth even though it is just as important.

Tracking your expenses helps you understand your spending habits, but it doesn’t show you the full picture of your financial health. Just because you know where your money is going doesn’t mean you know how much you still have. 

Think of it this way where when we talk about wealthy individuals like Elon Musk, we don’t ask how much he spends every month, but we ask about his net worth.

What Exactly is Net Worth?

The key idea here is that having a high income does not necessarily mean you have a high net worth. What truly matters is your accumulated wealth, also known as your assets.

Basically, your net worth is made up of two main components including assets and liabilities. 

Assets refer to anything you own that holds or increases in value over time. For example, cash, savings, or a house you bought 10 years ago that is now worth RM700,000, this are all considered assets.

The same goes for stocks, fixed deposits, gold, and retirement savings. Even your car is considered an asset, although its value depreciates over time. We will dive deeper into this later.

In contrast, liabilities refer to anything you owe to the bank or other people. This includes all types of loans such as installment loans, car loans, and mortgages. Even things like Buy Now Pay Later plans or 0% installment schemes like the 12 months installment you took to buy the latest iPhone, are also considered liabilities.

For many of us who took a PTPTN loan for our tertiary education, the unpaid balance is counted as a liability too. So, when you take your total assets and subtract your total liabilities, the result is your net worth.

Formula:

To make things easier, I have prepared a Net Worth Tracker for you. It is a free template you can download to start tracking your money inflows and outflows right away. Just click here to get it!

How to Use the Net Worth Tracker?

After that, a copy will automatically be saved to your Google Drive which making it convenient for you to manage on any of your devices.

Each worksheet in this tracker is designed to hold a full year’s worth of financial data. When a new year begins, you can just simply duplicate the worksheet, update the year, and start entering your new data.

Asset

Firstly, let’s dive into assets which are the first part of the net worth equation. When it comes to assets, the more you have, the better. Take February as an example, if you want to track your numbers for that month, you should fill in the sheet while everything is still fresh in your memory. 

One thing to note is that only the cells with beige colour require manual input. The rest are already formula-based, so you can just leave them as they are.

We’ll start with the savings account, investments, and fixed deposit. You’ll notice that some rows are marked in white which means you don’t need to enter anything there. 

On the other hand, when you scroll down to the Total Asset section, you’ll see a breakdown of various accounts. For instance, under the personal account section, you can customize the columns based on your bank savings, e-wallets, or multi-currency accounts.

After that, you can log in to all your accounts anytime you want to update the numbers. Just rewrite the input and you’ll be able to see the total amount reflected in your asset table. 

Currency Label

I’ve also made the tracker more flexible which besides Ringgit, you can track other currencies too and it’s quite simple. All you need to do is change the currency symbol to match your account name, then scroll down to the exchange rate section to update the currency rate. You can easily find the latest rates by searching on Google and copying them into the sheet.

One important reminder is you have to make sure the currency symbol you use matches the name listed in the exchange rate section. This is to ensure the formulas work properly with consistent data input. For example, if you input an amount in USD, you need to make sure “USD” is also used under the exchange rate section. 

Following that, you can do the same for fixed deposits, EPF, and any other funds. You can even rename the columns to better match your personal portfolio. 

Housing / Property

For housing property, instead of using the purchase price, you can visit websites like PropertyGuru to check the latest market price of similar homes in your area. This gives a more accurate picture since property values fluctuate over time. After that, you only need to update this part once a year as the property market is relatively stable.

Car / Vehicle

Since we’ve touched on housing, let’s talk about your car. You can estimate its value by checking second-hand car websites like Carsome or Carlist to see how much it could sell for. 

As we all know, car prices depreciate over time, so this column can also be updated annually. Now, many people wonder whether a car should be classified as an asset or a liability. In this case if you prefer, you can list it under liabilities, especially if you plan to use the money from selling the car to repay your loan or fund a new car. This might also save you time from having to check the market price of your old car in the future.

Assets Overview

After you have filled up this section, you will find the total value of your assets for that particular month at the bottom of the section.

This number is also displayed in a cell on the left, giving you a clearer snapshot of your current assets. You will also see a percentage breakdown of your assets, along with a chart on the right side of the sheet for better visual understanding.

As you can see, I’ve used a typical asset distribution where housing makes up the largest portion which is quite common, since buying a home is usually the biggest purchase most of us make. If you want to monitor how your assets fluctuate throughout the year, you can simply observe how the total monthly asset value changes over time. 

Others

Besides that, this section also lets you track trends in your total liabilities, expenses, net worth, and savings rate, so you can have a more complete view of your financial progress.

Income

Now, let’s move on to the next part which is your income. If you are an employee, this section will be very straightforward. I recommend entering your after-tax salary instead of your gross salary since that’s the actual amount you can manage and spend.

If you have other sources of income such as bonuses, dividends, or rental income, make sure to include them here as well. For freelancers, any income earned from projects can be entered too. This way, you can get a clearer picture of your income over time and see whether it fluctuates from month to month.

The total income for each month will be automatically summarized and displayed in the last row of the income section.

On the left side, you will also see a breakdown of your yearly cumulative income by category, shown both in exact figures and in percentages. 

For those who follow the FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early), these percentages are especially important. They help you understand how much of your income comes from active versus passive sources and whether you would still be financially stable if you decided to quit your current job.

Liability

Next, let’s move on to the second part of the equation which is liabilities. As we know, liabilities are something that reduce your net worth, but that does not necessarily mean having less liability is always better. For example, a student loan can be considered a good debt if it helps you complete your tertiary education and secure a better-paying job. 

Similarly, for those in sales, a car loan can be a good debt too as it allows for easier travel and potentially more sales opportunities. What you have to do is always be careful that taking on too much debt or overleveraging can lead to serious financial trouble. This is why tracking your liabilities regularly is so important.

Fortunately, it’s quite simple to do. Just list down all your loans, such as housing loans, car loans, student loans, personal loans, or any other forms of debt. 

Since most of us make regular repayments each month, it’s important not to use the original loan amount. Instead, you should update the outstanding balance which is the remaining amount you still owe.

Housing Loan

For instance, if you have a housing loan with Tiger Bank, you can easily check your remaining loan balance for the month through their app. This is especially important if you’re on a full flexi loan because in some cases you might want to repay the balance in one lump sum to save on interest.

Here’s a tip if you’re too busy or lazy to track it every month. If you’re paying a fixed amount each month, you can simply check your remaining loan balance at the beginning of the year, then estimate the monthly reduction by deducting your monthly payments throughout the year. 

Due to fluctuating interest rates, the actual balance may differ slightly from your estimate but you can just update the number when the new year begins.

Car Loan

As for your car loan, you can skip this liability section if you haven’t included the car under your asset section. Instead, just record the repayment under your monthly expenses.

Expenses

Lastly, we’ve come to the final section which is your expenses. This represent the money flowing out of your pocket. This section is divided into two parts including investments and expenditures.

Investment

For the investments part, simply record the amount of funds you deposit into any investment platforms during the month.

In fact, the 11% EPF contribution should not be considered as an expense since we did not include it in the income section either. The income recorded is your take-home pay which already excludes EPF, PCB, and SOCSO deductions.

Instead, the accumulated amount in your EPF account that including Account 1, Account 2, and Account 3, will be reflected in your assets section once you fill it in.

Expenditure

Moving to the expenditure part, you can update the list and make sure it stays consistent with your existing expense tracker if you already have one. 

Budgeting App

But if you’re completely new to tracking expenses, I recommend using my personal favourite app – Buddy Budgeting. It has a lot of customisable features and is very user-friendly. You can download it from the App Store, and best of all, it’s completely free.

Default Expenses Tracker

If you prefer something quick and hassle-free, you can also get a rough estimate of your monthly spending using the built-in expense tracker from your bank app or e-wallet. Then, just fill in the numbers once a month. This is a great way to reduce pressure if you do not have time to track every single detail. Don’t feel bad as It’s still better than not tracking anything at all.

What is Your Net Worth?

Now that you’ve completed all the sections above, you can finally see your net worth. Just scroll to the bottom of the sheet, and you’ll find the calculated number which is simply your total assets minus your total liabilities. That’s your net worth.

Conclusion

In sum, calculating your net worth is essential because it gives you a clear picture of your financial position and helps you make informed decisions about your financial goals. Whether you want to grow your savings, reduce debt, or invest wisely, tracking your net worth is a valuable habit for anyone who wants to manage and monitor their finances effectively.

This simple yet impactful practice helps you understand where your money stands today, set realistic goals, and make smarter decisions for the future. So start using the Net Worth Tracker today! Download it now and take control of your financial journey!

Checkout the YouTube video for a visual guide to this blog!

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