Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/614658
The Art of Manliness Continued JOBS for TEAMS | 16 www.jobsfor teams.com Simply add up all the money you have as well as the value of assets like your home and vehicles, and then subtract your debt. Boom — there's your net worth. When it comes to determining the value of your assets, some people recommend including things like personal belongings such as your furniture, jewelry, and even your cloth- ing. Personally, I don't do that because I'm just lazy, but if you want a more ac- curate picture of your net worth, add those things in as well. If you don't want to go through the hassle of figuring out your net worth yourself, just connect all your finan- cial accounts to Mint.com. You can connect all your savings and invest- ment accounts (your assets), as well as your credit cards, student loans, and mortgage accounts (your liabilities). Mint makes tracking your net worth a breeze and generates an up-to-date chart of how it's increasing or decreas- ing day-to-day and month-to-month. The goal, of course, is to see the line move in a generally upward trajectory. How to Start Increasing Your Net Worth Today Increasing your net worth is just a matter of paying off debt, saving more, and earning more. Simple in concept, but often hard to do. You really have to start playing the long game with your finances when you switch from a paycheck to a net worth mentality. Some months, you'll barely see your net worth budge. You may even have periods when it decreases significantly. But if you keep working at it, you'll slowly start seeing your net worth inch up. Practice frugality. Spending less than you earn is the easiest way to increase your wealth. While you might not have much control over your in- come, you have significant control over how much you save. So maybe your boss can't give you a raise this year — start saving more money by going out to eat less or buying fewer clothes. According to the authors of The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing, reduc- ing your spending is not only easier, but also more efficient: "For every ad- ditional dollar of earnings you plan to save, you will likely have to earn $1.40 because you have to pay income taxes. However, every dollar you don't spend is a dollar that can be invested." Start an emergency fund. Fo- cusing on a big, long-term goal like ac- cumulating a million-dollar net worth can seem so daunting that you'll just give up on even trying to grow your overall wealth at all. So break your ultimate goal into more manageable micro-goals. Your first micro-goal towards build- ing your wealth should be establishing an emergency fund. An emergency fund is money for those unexpected setbacks in life and their accompany- ing bills. Instead of taking on more debt by using your credit card to pay for these expenses, you can use cash from your emergency fund. And if you're lucky enough not to have to dip into your fund? Well, you'll be ac- cruing interest (albeit small amounts) in your bank account, thus increasing your net worth. I like the Dave Ramsey approach to starting an emergency fund. It's what