Calculating your net worth

Are you ready for retirement? Let’s find out.

Calculating your net worth will bring your financial picture into focus and provide you with a better understanding of what you’ll need to do to best prepare for retirement.

Take a shot at the Retirement Planning Worksheet. Finally, a math quiz you can ace.

It’s an easy-to-use worksheet that calculates your monthly cash flow and expenses to determine your net worth.

In the first section, simply enter your current assets like RRSPs, Tax-Free Savings accounts (TFSA) and personal savings. Further down, you’ll enter your current liabilities, which includes things like credit card debts, outstanding loans and mortgages.

The second section will track your current monthly expenses (home-related expenses, personal expenses and lifestyle expenses).

In the third section, you’ll enter your gross monthly income sources, such as your government income (Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security), employment income (current and past pensions), and personal income (RRSPs, TFSAs, personal savings).

The final section is where the calculating happens. This is where you’ll estimate your monthly household expenses at retirement, which you’ll multiply by 12. This amount is your total annual household expense at retirement.

Completing this worksheet is a great starting point for planning for retirement since it gives you a snapshot of where you stand financially.

It’ll also prompt you in any area that may need adjusting as you prepare for retirement.

And finally, this Retirement Planning Worksheet is a helpful tool to use annually so you can keep track of your total net worth.