How To Calculate Your Own Cash Flow and Net Worth

 

Rich people know their cash flow and net worth, why don’t you? People think you can begin to a net worth once they become rich and that is not true. You can calculate your net worth right now and figure out how much you are worth compared to the US dollar.

Today I will be showing you how easy it is to calculate your network so that you can know if you are in a lot of debt or if you have a positive net worth. Knowing your net worth is a good idea if you take person finances seriously. With the info, you can start planning for what you need to do and how to make bigger purchases in life like a brand new car and/or a house.

Let’s start off with the form that we will be using to help put everything in perspective. For me, I like to print things and go offline to fill everything out but I will also have an excel sheet that will help put this all together. When you pick which way you would like to calculate your cash flow and net worth, get rid of all distractions and let’s dive into it.

Calculate Cash Flow

First thing is to calculate your income, if you are married then you want to combine the incomes when we start calculating putting all the number together. You want to list the current income from your employer on a monthly basis because this is when bills are usually due and some positions give bonuses thru out the year and we don’t want to put that in the equation unless the bonus is on a monthly basis. I know some people work strictly on commission so what you want to do is take the average over the last 3 months of your position.

You also want to list if you get income from things like investments, alimony, etc, you want to place this in the other income section. Your net worth is always changing so I recommend coming back and doing this every 6-12 months or when your income changes.

Fixed Monthly Expenses

Next things are to list your normal monthly expenses. These are fixed monthly expenses that don’t change much like a mortgage or rent and other things like car payments and utility bills. Be sure to put an accurate number, if you need to go thru past bills and statements, I recommend doing that, so your cash flow calculation is pretty accurate.

Variable Expenses

After that we are going to do variable expenses, these are things you normally get on a monthly basis but it can change depending a lot of different factors. Some things will be harder to calculate so if you need to go thru bank statements to help you out, do it. Variable expenses are things like food, clothing, entertainment, and subscriptions. If you are unsure of which category to place it in, then place it in the other tab.

Equation Time

Now that we have your income and 2 different types of monthly expenses, it is time to figure out your monthly cash flow. With the income section, be sure to add everything and place it on the line with the (1) next to it. For the fixed monthly expenses you want to add everything and place is on the line with the (2) next to it. Next, you want to do the same for the variable expenses and place your answer on the line with the (3) next to it. Finally, the equation that put it all together:

Your Cash Flow= Income(1) – Fixed Expenses (2) – Variable Expenses (3).

Pretty easy, right… I hope so.

Calculate Your Net Worth

Now let’s move to the next equation which is figuring out your net worth. With finding your net worth, this will allow you to know more information about your personal finances. What we do is go over your assets and liabilities and the equation to solve your net worth.

Assets

Assets are items that have value within today’s market. Calculating all of the assets correctly may be challenging because you may believe something is worth more but on the market, it goes for less. Start by placing the value of each item next to the corresponding line that it belongs to. Be sure to log in to any accounts you may have to make sure that you have an accurate value of the account.

After you place all of the values on the line, add everything up and place the answer on line 1 of the second worksheet.

Liabilities

By now the form should be self-explanatory, place down the value that each debt stands at. This is everything from current credit card to other outstanding debts. Once again, make sure that you get the accurate information by logging in to your account or requesting a current statement. Be sure to add all the liabilities up and to place it on line 2.

List of resources

All except one are all the tools that I have used in the past when trying to figure out the value of an item within today’s market. Here is a list of the resources that I recommend checking out.

 

Home Value:

Zillow: https://www.zillow.com/

Trulia: https://www.trulia.com/

Redfin: https://www.redfin.com/

You can also go to your local county website and see if they offer a Property Tax and Value Lookup tool. This info will tell you based off the previous full year tax information.

 

Car value:

Kelly Blue Book: https://www.kbb.com/whats-my-car-worth/

Edmunds: https://www.edmunds.com/appraisal/

Carfax: https://www.carfax.com/value/

 

Boat value:

(I have not used this tool personally but have been recommended by friends)

NADA Guides: https://www.nadaguides.com/Boats

Personal Belongings:

(You will have to get creative and realistic when you search what others are selling the same item for)

eBay: https://www.ebay.com/

Craigslist: https://www.craigslist.org/

Equation Time

If you remember how easy the first equation was, well you are in for a delight. The equation is as simple as taking line 1 and subtracting line 2. There you have it, you very own net worth.

Your Net Worth= Assets(1) – Liabilities (2) 

Conclusion

With both of these documents, you will be able to calculate your monthly cash flow and net worth. Hopefully, this has been helpful to you. Like I mentioned in the video, I recommend doing this on a periodic basis so that you can have an understanding of your personal finances. 

 

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