By: Ms. J

 Do you know your net worth? Your net worth is your Assets minus Liabilities/Debts. Would you consider yourself in the red or good and clear? If you do not know, take a quick calculation using the below website for a quick evaluation.

http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/networth/networth.html

Did you take it? Quick and easy… right?

Some may be surprised at the outcome and some are not. Many of us these days more or less are in the red due to student loans, bad credit card decisions, personal loans etc. For myself, I am in the red and that is largely attributable to my school loans, besides that I only have 1 credit card and an auto loan; however this is still a large sum of money to pay off. I like to deem my student loans as an investment in which I must pay back. If you are not going to invest in yourself then who else will.

Now take a look at your monthly income and expenses.

https://investor.gov/sites/default/files/Monthly-Income-and-Expenses.pdf

Compare the two. Does this make sense to you? Do you think it is feasible for you to pay your expenses and increase your net worth by reducing your debt at the same time? If so, get started. If not, evaluate why not, maybe you are not making enough money or you’re in a bind right now. Whatever it is, find out so that you can find different ways to solving this issue.

As much as we do not want to be defined by a number, we are. This number is considered depending on the job you will be pursuing, the house that you want to buy, the car that you want to drive and much more. Considering your income to debt ratio before you make a purchase starting from a young age can have a huge impact on your lifestyle.