How to calculate your net worth
Updated 10 Oct 2026
How do you calculate your net worth?
Add up everything you own, then take away everything you owe. What's left is your net worth.
Owned minus owed is the whole sum. The skill is in valuing each part honestly and keeping the parts apart, because £10,000 in an easy access account and £10,000 in a pension aren't the same money today.
What counts as something you own?
- Cash: current accounts, savings, cash ISAs, Premium Bonds.
- Investments: stocks and shares ISAs, general investment accounts, shares from work.
- Pensions: workplace and personal pensions, at their current value.
- Your home: what it would sell for today, not what you paid.
- Other things of real value: a car, or a stake in a business. Use what they'd sell for, not what they cost.
Leave out everyday belongings. A sofa is worth something, but counting it makes the number bigger without making it more useful.
What counts as something you owe?
- your mortgage, as the amount you'd need to pay it off;
- credit cards, loans and car finance;
- overdrafts and buy now, pay later balances.
Keep student loans apart. In England, Plan 2 and Plan 5 loans are repaid as a share of your income and written off after a set number of years, so the balance often isn't what you'll actually repay. Show it, but keep it out of the headline figure, and say so.
A worked example
Jamie is 34, owns a flat and has a workplace pension.
| What Jamie owns | Value |
|---|---|
| Current account and easy access savings | £7,000 |
| Stocks and shares ISA | £12,000 |
| Workplace pension | £25,000 |
| Flat (what it would sell for today) | £210,000 |
| Car | £6,000 |
| Total owned | £260,000 |
| What Jamie owes | Value |
|---|---|
| Mortgage (to pay it off today) | £168,000 |
| Credit card | £1,200 |
| Car finance | £4,800 |
| Total owed | £174,000 |
Jamie's net worth is £260,000 minus £174,000, which is £86,000.
The same £86,000, split the way it's useful:
| Part | Value | Can Jamie use it this month? |
|---|---|---|
| Cash you can reach | £7,000 | Yes |
| Investments | £12,000 | Within days, though the value moves |
| Pension | £25,000 | Not until pension age |
| Home equity (£210,000 minus £168,000) | £42,000 | Only by selling or borrowing |
| Car, less its finance | £1,200 | Only by selling |
| Credit card | minus £1,200 | Owed now |
Most of Jamie's net worth is the home and the pension. That's normal, and it's why the headline figure on its own can feel bigger than the money you actually have to hand.
How do you value a pension?
For a pension you build up yourself (most workplace and personal pensions), use the current value on your latest statement or app.
A defined benefit (final salary) pension promises an income, not a pot, so it has no simple value. Your scheme can give you a transfer value, which is one way to put a figure on it, but it changes over time and isn't what you'd get unless you transfer. Keep it apart from the headline, and note it as an income.
The State Pension isn't counted. It's an income from the government, not something you own.
Lost track of a pension from an old job? How to find old pensions covers the search.
How do you value your home?
Use what it would sell for today. Recent sale prices for similar homes nearby are a good guide. Then take off the full amount needed to clear your mortgage. What's left is your home equity.
How often do people work it out?
Once a quarter is often enough. The point isn't the number on one day. It's whether it's moving the right way, and which part is moving it.
Work out yours: the net worth calculator does this sum with your own figures, and keeps cash, pensions and your home apart for you.
Sources: student loan repayment and write-off rules, gov.uk "Repaying your student loan", checked on 10 Oct 2026 for the 2026/27 tax year. Defined benefit transfer values, MoneyHelper "How to transfer out of a defined benefit pension", read on 10 Oct 2026. Review due: October 2027, or sooner if a rule changes.