Your net worth is the total value of all your assets minus all your outstanding debt.  Start with adding up the value of your assets, such as cars, homes, investments, life insurance, or even cash.  Then subtract all your debts, which would include balances on credit cards, lines of credit, mortgages, loans, or upcoming unavoidable expenses.  Do you have a good positive net worth number or is your number a negative?

A negative number will mean a life change is imminent and perhaps you are carrying more debt than you should.  How do you feel about your net worth number?

We all spend money to buy things that we think will make our lives better or even to make us a better version of ourselves.  Advertisers know this and are very skilled at convincing us to buy now.  “You deserve an upgrade of your old stuff (even though it still works fine) to get something newer, faster and more improved, don’t you?”   Remember, the secret to having everything, is believing that you already do…….and having less debt will always increase your net worth.

When you have determined your net worth number, you can now decide how you want to change things.  Get your financial advisor to figure out this number for you if you like and use it as a talking point to work out a plan to increase your wealth over time.  You want to review your net worth every year to ensure your number is increasing.  Wealth accumulation is always measured by your personal net worth.

Christine’s Tip:

Good or bad, we all have to live with the outcome of our choices.  Why not partner with a finance coach or financial planner to help you.  Don’t do it alone.  Financial planning is designed to motivate clients to make changes, discuss trade-offs, and sometimes work through difficult decisions that may be necessary to ensure a comfortable future.  Your advisor should help you ascertain real risks and be flexible to your needs.  Most of all they should partner with you to help balance your budget, spotting possible blow-ups and removing the risk to your family’s finances.  It’s impossible for you to know everything, and believe me, the internet is not the fix you need to get your finances in order.  Find a good advisor that will work with you, one that you feel you can partner with and one whose every intention is to help you get debt-free and wealthy!