net worth
Net worth is everything you own minus everything you owe, and it is the truest single number about your financial life.
In plain English
Most people measure themselves by their salary. It is the wrong number, and it is why high earners can reach fifty with nothing.
Net worth is the honest one. Add up everything you own. The savings, the investments, the land, the car, the value of the business. Then subtract everything you owe. The loans, the card balances, the money borrowed from family. What remains is your net worth, and it is the only figure that shows whether the years are actually adding up to anything.
It can be negative, and for many people early in life it is. A young graduate with a student loan and no savings has a negative net worth and a perfectly good future. The number is not a verdict on you. It is a position on a map.
What makes it powerful is watching it move. Calculate it once, write it down, then calculate it again in six months. If it is rising, whatever you are doing is working, regardless of what your salary says. If it is flat while your income grows, then your money is arriving and leaving without ever stopping to become anything.
You own ₦3 million in savings and investments and a car worth ₦4 million. You owe ₦2 million on a loan and ₦500,000 on a card. Your net worth is ₦4.5 million. Next year the same calculation tells you, honestly, whether you moved forward.
Questions people ask
How often should I calculate it?
Twice a year is plenty. Checking it constantly turns a long term measure into a source of anxiety.
Should I include my house?
Include it at what it would realistically sell for, and include the mortgage you owe against it. Counting the asset while ignoring the debt is how people fool themselves.
What if my net worth is negative?
Then you know where you stand, which is the entire point. It is a starting position, not a life sentence, and clearing expensive debt is usually the fastest way to move it.
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