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How to calculate net worth: the formula, the date, and what counts
The net worth definition fits in one subtraction: assets minus debts, that is, what you own and can be valued in money, minus what you have borrowed and have not yet repaid.
Gross wealth is the sum of the assets alone. It is the figure that impresses and says little: two people with €500,000 of gross wealth can have €450,000 or €20,000 of net worth, depending on what they have borrowed.
On the asset side, the list is longer than people think: current accounts and savings accounts, investments, property, a stake in a company, and a car if you choose to count it; the same choice each time keeps the pictures comparable.
On the debt side, the line that misleads most is the loan. What counts is the outstanding capital. The monthly payment is a flow, and the sum of the payments still to come contains interest that does not exist yet. An unpaid credit card balance is a debt. A loan signed by two people counts for your share.
That leaves the date. Net worth is a photograph taken on a given day. An account balance is that day's balance; a transaction dated the next day is not in it. If you work out your net worth on 30 September, the transfer of 2 October waits for the next picture.
Net worth is what would be left if you sold everything and repaid everything on the same day, at the values you used.
Net worth example: a house, an account, a loan
Take a made-up case with round amounts. Someone owns a house they value at €400,000, has €20,000 on their current account, and is repaying a mortgage with €240,000 of outstanding capital. Date of the picture: 30 September.
| Line | Type | Amount on 30 September |
|---|---|---|
| House, declared value | Asset | €400,000 |
| Current account | Asset | €20,000 |
| Gross wealth | Sum of assets | €420,000 |
| Mortgage, outstanding capital | Debt | €240,000 |
| Net worth | Gross minus debts | €180,000 |
The calculation takes two steps. Assets first: 400,000 + 20,000 = €420,000 of gross wealth. Then debts: 420,000 − 240,000 = €180,000 of net worth.
One line deserves a remark. The €400,000 for the house comes from a declared estimate, and no buyer paid that price on 30 September. It stays in the calculation as you entered it, until you change it. The current account is accurate to the euro: it is the balance on the statement.
In the example, €420,000 gross and €240,000 of debt give €180,000 net, of which €400,000 is an estimate.
Net worth in several currencies: one rate per date, one total
The same person, pictured this time on 1 October 2026, receives part of their salary on a Swiss account and leaves CHF 10,000 there. The Swiss francs go into euros before they enter the total, and the question is: at which rate?
At the rate of the day of the picture, not today's rate applied to an old statement. The European Central Bank publishes a reference rate per currency for each business day. For the Swiss franc, the ECB reference rate on 1 October 2026 is CHF 0.9437 to €1. CHF 10,000 is therefore 10,000 / 0.9437, or €10,596.59 rounded to the cent.
| Line | In its currency | ECB rate on 1 October 2026 | In euros |
|---|---|---|---|
| House, declared value | €400,000 | 1 | €400,000.00 |
| Current account | €20,000 | 1 | €20,000.00 |
| Swiss account | CHF 10,000 | CHF 0.9437 to €1 | €10,596.59 |
| Mortgage, outstanding capital | €240,000 | 1 | −€240,000.00 |
| Net worth on 1 October 2026 | €190,596.59 |
Net worth moves from €180,000 to €190,596.59. A month later, with the same CHF 10,000 on the account, the euro line will have moved without a single franc added or withdrawn: the rate changed.
And when there is no rate? A currency the ECB does not quote, or a rate last published more than a week ago. The rule is to leave that amount out of the total, and to call the total what it is: a known subtotal, incomplete, rather than a wrong figure. The breakdown by currency stays readable next to it, each amount in its own money.
Avuru works this figure out from the accounts and assets you declare, on one date, net of debts, each amount converted into your display currency; an amount with no rate stays out of the total, which says so.
An amount in francs enters the euro total at the rate of the day of the picture, and if there is no rate that day, it stays out and the total says so.
Shares and debts: every euro counted once
A property held through an SCI, a French property-holding company, or in joint ownership counts for your share. The loan that finances it counts for the same share, or the net figure is wrong.
| Line | Total value | Your share at 50% |
|---|---|---|
| Property held by the SCI | €300,000 | €150,000 |
| SCI loan, outstanding capital | €100,000 | €50,000 |
| Net for you | €200,000 | €100,000 |
In this made-up case, the SCI holds a property valued at €300,000 with a loan that has €100,000 left to repay. You hold half the shares. Your net worth receives €150,000 of assets and €50,000 of debt, €100,000 net. The €300,000 appears nowhere in your figure.
Split ownership (usufruct and bare ownership) follows the same logic, though no simple percentage will do: the usufructuary and the bare owner each hold a distinct right over the same property, and each one's net worth carries the value of their right, assessed on its own.
Another mistake is quieter. Many loans are repaid from a dedicated account opened by the lending bank, sometimes shown with a negative balance equal to the loan itself. If that account sits among your accounts and the loan also sits among your debts, the same debt is counted twice. The rule is to count the loan, at its outstanding balance, and to leave the dedicated account out of the calculation.
A share of a property and the loan that goes with it count at the same fraction, and a debt enters only once, under one name.
What the figure does not say
A net worth of €190,596.59 says what your lines are worth on one date, and nothing about what you can spend tomorrow. The house weighs €400,000 in the total and offers nothing available before several months of selling and waiting; the current account empties in one transfer.
Selling or passing on also has a cost the picture ignores. A gain on a property, an inheritance, a withdrawal from an investment trigger, depending on the country, a tax that is not yet due on the date of the calculation. This is called latent tax. It stays out of net worth because it does not exist yet.
An estimate and a price look alike in the total. The €400,000 for the house is yours until you change it; a buyer, when the day comes, will offer another.
Then comes comparison. The fourth wave of the Luxembourg Household Finance and Consumption Survey, published by the BCL in November 2023 (Mathä, Montes-Viñas, Pulina and Ziegelmeyer, Working Paper 176, 2021 data) puts the median net worth of households resident in Luxembourg at €718,000. In the same survey, 66% of households own their main home, and mortgages make up 91% of household debt by value.
A median splits households into two halves. It is not a target, and the Luxembourg figure is pulled up by property prices: a household that has owned its home for twenty years shows a high net worth without one more euro on its account. A cross-border worker living in France or Belgium is not in that sample either. Your figure compares above all with your own figure from a year ago.
Net worth measures what your lines are worth on one date; it says neither what you can spend tomorrow, nor what selling would cost.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between gross wealth and net worth?
Gross wealth is the sum of everything you own, with no debts taken off: accounts, investments, property, company shares. Net worth is that gross wealth minus the outstanding capital on your loans and your other debts.
Does your main home count in your net worth?
The main home is an asset, and the loan that finances it is a debt; both enter net worth, at the estimated value for one and the outstanding capital for the other. Some people also work out a second figure without the main home or its loan, to read what is left once the roof they do not plan to sell is taken out.
How do you count a loan in your net worth?
At the outstanding capital on the date of the calculation, the one shown on the amortisation schedule or on the latest loan statement. Neither the monthly payment, which is a flow and not a stock, nor the total of the payments still to come, which adds up interest that has not accrued yet. A loan signed by two people counts for your share.
Does a Swiss franc account count in my net worth in euros?
Yes, converted at the rate of the day of the calculation. At the ECB reference rate on 1 October 2026, CHF 0.9437 to €1, a balance of CHF 10,000 is worth €10,596.59. An amount whose currency has no rate that day stays out of the total, which then shows as incomplete.
Key points
- Net worth is the sum of your assets minus the outstanding capital on your debts, read on one precise date and in one currency.
- In the guide's made-up example, €420,000 of assets and €240,000 of debt give €180,000 net, of which €400,000 is a declared estimate.
- An amount in a foreign currency enters the total at the reference rate of the day of the calculation, CHF 0.9437 to €1 on 1 October 2026 according to the ECB, and stays out of the total when no rate exists for that date.
- A property held with others and the loan that finances it count at the same share, and a debt repaid from a dedicated account enters only once, under the name of the loan.