net worth

Your Net Worth is your financial health barometer and not knowing it will cost you!

When I coach business owners and leaders in achieving their goals, we look beyond the business. Business success is merely a symptom of the habits you’ve formed and your holistic success in life. The most common cause I encounter of poor business performance is physical health. The next is financial uncertainty.

When clients indicate that a physical health habit would improve their lives, we have several measurable ways to track their progress in achieving their goals. We can track:

• Weight
• Body fat %
• Cholesterol
• Daily caloric intake
• Hours of daily exercise
• Waist Size

It seems so simple to set these goals and then to take action on them. Some combination of diet and exercise will achieve the desired outcome and measurements are fairly easy to take and to see.

The financial challenges most of my clients bring to me relate to their income, their spending, and their savings. It is common to see financial goals of an anticipated gross revenue or a savings goal for a planned purchase or investment.

One very astute and wise beyond his years client of mine recently asked me for help setting a goal around his net worth. He didn’t know his net worth and only knew it was important for it to grow.

What is net worth?

Your net worth is the balance sheet for your life. The scenario I like to give is that you have been summoned to leave earth and rise to the mother-ship, move to Eden, or to join John Galt. You have one day to sell off every asset and valuable you own and settle all of your debts. Once you’ve liquidated your belongings and made right your creditors, the balance remaining is your net worth.

Why is net worth the most important number on your financial bill of health?

If you are playing the short game, income goals can help you live comfortably and achieve your goals of recreation, lifestyle, and even investments. The trouble with income alone is that it does not care how much you spend along the way.

There is a reason many high earners and CEOs file bankruptcy as soon as their business suffers a bad year or closes their doors. Despite the fact that they saw tremendous incomes last year, their Mercedes is being towed away by the repo man. Their liabilities exceeded their assets.

What you focus on expands!

Two factors increase your net worth… 1. An increase in assets and 2. a reduction in debts. The core tenets of increasing your net worth are to save more and borrow less. The lowest risk means of doing so is to put your savings into a safe vehicle and to pay down your debts as quickly as feasible.

Some choose a higher risk option of leveraging their investments by investing their assets in real estate, the stock market, businesses, collections, and more. These investment vehicles, when carefully selected can dramatically increase the rate at which they see a return on their capital investment.

How do I determine my net worth?

As I mentioned, the most simple means of determining your net worth is to add up the value of everything you own and subtract all of the debts and liabilities you have. The next is to use a tool designed specifically for this purpose. I have you covered! Read on.

Checking your net worth is not a “one and done” process. It changes each and every day. If you are invested in the stock market, your net worth changes continuously from the opening bell until the close of the market. Each time you make a purchase or the value of your home rises, your net income changes.

The process of updating your net worth is fairly simple and takes little time. Growing your net worth on the other hand requires intentional planning and focus. You can accelerate this growth with lessons learned from others and a high level of accountability.

My invitation to you!

If you are serious about growing your net worth, I have a group for you. I am passionate about wealth building and I have a lofty net worth goal set for myself. I want to make as many millionaires as I can along the way. My group is called Wealth Watchers. We currently meet on the first Thursday of each month at 6:00pm (Mountain Time), online.

I share an intuitive and simple net worth tracking tool with all Wealth Watchers members. Sign up below for our next meetup and we will get the tool to you. Our group is committed to helping one another achieve higher net worth values through education and accountability. Not to mention, we are a social club, connecting growth mindset leaders with one another. Sign up now by clicking here:

Once you’ve joined, we have a private Facebook community where Wealth Watchers can ask questions, share wins, and offer strategies to one another, between Meetups. Find us on Facebook here: