If you’re like most people, you check your bank account several times a week. You know exactly when your direct deposit hits, and you have a rough idea of what your monthly bills look like.
But if someone asked you, “What is your financial trajectory?”—would you have an answer?
Income is a snapshot; it tells us what you’re making today. Net worth is the movie. It tells the story of where you’ve been, where you are, and exactly when you’ll be able to stop working if you want to.
The Signal vs. The Noise
In the world of personal finance, we are often overwhelmed by “noise”: stock market fluctuations, interest rate headlines, or the latest crypto trend.
Tracking your net worth cuts through that noise. It is the literal “bottom line” of your financial life. It is calculated with a simple formula:
$$\text{Net Worth} = \text{Total Assets} – \text{Total Liabilities}$$
- Assets: Cash, retirement accounts, brokerage portfolios, home equity, and physical property.
- Liabilities: Student loans, credit card debt, mortgages, and car loans.
Why Net Worth is the “North Star”
Focusing on this single number changes your behavior in three specific ways:
- It Defeats “Lifestyle Creep”: You can make $250,000 a year and have a negative net worth if your liabilities outpace your income. Tracking net worth forces you to see if your “wealth” is actually growing or if you’re just spending more as you earn more.
- It Highlights Leverage Points: When you see all your debts and assets in one place, you can identify “leverage points.” For example, you might realize that the high interest on a credit card is “eating” the gains in your savings account.
- It Provides Psychological Clarity: Markets go up and down. By tracking your trajectory over months and years, you stop panicking during a bad week in the market because you can see the long-term momentum of your trajectory.
Cleaning Up Your Financial Hygiene
Tracking your net worth shouldn’t require a 12-tab spreadsheet that you only update once a year when you’re feeling guilty. True financial hygiene comes from consistent, low-friction monitoring.
When you know your number, decisions become easier. Should you buy that new car? Check the impact on your net worth. Should you move your bonus into a high-yield account or pay down the mortgage? The trajectory will tell you the answer.
Stop Guessing, Start Visualizing
Most spreadsheets are static and boring. We built the Cortex Net Worth Engine to give you a living, breathing look at your financial life.
It doesn’t just list your assets—it analyzes your liquidity, identifies your leverage points, and visualizes your trajectory so you can see exactly where you’ll be in 5, 10, or 20 years.