Your family networth is everything the household owns minus everything it owes. If you came here looking for a famous family’s number, there is no single answer for “the family” without a name. But if you want your own, you can work it out this evening with a pen and a bit of honesty.
Why track it as a household
A paycheck tells you how much comes in. Family net worth tells you whether the household is actually getting ahead. Two families on the same income can look nothing alike after ten years, depending on debts, housing and savings habits.
What is the family networth, step by step
1. Decide who is in
Usually it is the adults and any shared accounts. Children’s savings accounts are optional. Be consistent from year to year so you can compare.
2. List what you own
- Bank accounts and cash
- Retirement accounts for each adult
- Brokerage accounts and other investments
- Home value, based on a realistic sale price, not a hopeful one
- Cars, at used-sale value
- Business interests or valuable collections, if any
- Education savings accounts
Leave out ordinary household goods like furniture, unless they are truly valuable. They sell for very little.
3. List what you owe
- Mortgage balance
- Car loans
- Student loans
- Credit cards
- Personal loans, medical debt and money owed to relatives
4. Subtract
Assets minus debts is your number. If it is negative, that is common early in life, for example after taking on a mortgage or student loans, and it is still useful information.
What a good number looks like
There is no universal target. A more useful comparison is your own history. Is the figure higher than a year ago? Is it growing faster than your spending? For outside context, look at data on median households, which the US Census Bureau and Federal Reserve publish, and remember those mix all ages together.
Family-specific wrinkles
1. Two incomes, one set of books. If one partner has debts from before the relationship, decide whether to list them together.
2. Kids. Costs rise before savings do. Net worth often dips in the years after a baby or a bigger house.
3. Caring for parents. Support for older relatives may reduce your ability to save.
4. Inheritance. Expected inheritances are not assets until you receive them.
5. Insurance. Life and disability cover do not count as assets, but they protect the number from a shock.
A once-a-year family meeting
Pick a date, such as the start of a new year, and make a ritual of it. Update balances, compare with last year and talk about one goal. Maybe it is clearing a credit card, topping up an emergency fund or increasing retirement contributions. Keeping it short and regular avoids the dread that surrounds money talk.
Mistakes to avoid
- Overstating the home. Check recent nearby sales, and subtract selling costs in your head.
- Counting retirement accounts as spendable now. Early withdrawals can cost taxes and penalties.
- Ignoring small debts, which add up.
- Using the number to judge yourselves harshly. It is a map, not a grade.
When to get help
If your situation includes a business, large investments, a trust or an inheritance, a qualified adviser can help with the details. The Investor.gov site from the US Securities and Exchange Commission has plain explanations of investing basics and how to check an adviser’s background.
A quick example
A household with $20,000 in savings, $120,000 across two retirement accounts, a car worth $12,000 and a house valued at $350,000 has $502,000 in assets. With a $240,000 mortgage, a $9,000 car loan and $4,000 on cards, debts total $253,000, so net worth is $249,000. The numbers are invented only to show the sums.
So what is the family networth for your household? It is whatever this exercise says today, and next year it will be a bit different. This article is general information, not financial advice.
Teaching it to kids
Older children can learn from this without seeing exact figures. Explain the idea in plain terms: what we own, minus what we owe. Let a teenager track a small savings account and a loan example. They will pick up in an afternoon what many adults never learn, which is that spending and wealth are two separate things.
Related reading: What Is Natalie Nunns Networth? Reality TV Money Explained.
