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In the immortal words of City Girls, as featured in Drake’s “In My Feelings”:

“F*** Netflix and chill, what’s your net-net-net worth?”

Truly a beautifully-put sentiment for the ages. 

We can infer through the verse why net worth might be important to City Girls, but why would it be important to me or you? Here are some reasons:

1. It’s a more accurate measure of true wealth than your income. A metric crapload of people earn a high income and are still broke, just as it’s possible to be a low income earner and on a path to be a millionaire (hi, me!). Your net worth tells a much more realistic story than your income.
2. It’s a clear way to measure your financial goals. If you have a goal, say, to be a millionaire, your net worth is the only number that determines that– again, it’s not your income. 
3. It’s even more reason to pay off all your debt. If you’re holding onto debt long-term, you’re seriously harming your net worth. You may have tons of money in savings or retirement, but your debt is still stealing from your future and putting a huge dent in your true monetary value. 

A great tool to determine your net worth is Chris Hogan’s Net Worth Calculator. As he puts it, your net worth is simply: “what you own minus what you owe” -literally every episode of The Chris Hogan Show podcast.

Here’s my personal net worth at the end of 2018:

What I Own

Emergency fund: $1,306

Other savings: $2,538

Ripple XRP (important note: I wouldn’t invest my own money in cryptocurrency, but my dad gifted me $100 specifically to invest in this, as it’s something he believes in): $131

Retirement accounts: $1,504

Total: $5,479

What I Owe

Remaining student loan debt: $5,348

So my net worth at the end of 2018 is $5,479 -$ 5,348 = 

$131 net worth!

I laughed out loud when I wrote this number, because it’s the exact amount of the XRP my dad gifted me… I guess that really tipped the scales! Thanks, dad!

 

Reflection

Seeing a net worth of $131 might be discouraging for some people, but it’s truthfully a huge gain for me to even have a positive net worth. Right after I graduated college, my net worth was around -$9,000. I’m more than pleased with the difference. I can’t wait for more gains in 2019, the year I’ll get out of debt and start audaciously saving and investing. Stay tuned.