[USER]

Should I be excluding any of these from net worth calculation – 529, hsa, 401k, equity in primary home?
If yes, please explain why?

Some people argue that certain assets shouldn’t be counted because they’re not easily accessible or meant for specific purposes—like education or retirement. Others believe everything you own should be part of the total picture, regardless of liquidity or restrictions.

What’s your take on this? Which (if any) of these would you personally leave out when estimating your net worth—and why?

I’m curious how others approach this, especially for long-term financial planning.

[Bassel]

I don’t think much about home value because the funds are not available until I sell house.

[Christine]

All of those are net worth: assets minus liabilities. Don’t include home equity in retirement asset calculations unless you plan to sell it to retire.

EX: You could own a $3M home and have $500k in retirement and you can’t RE.

But own a $500k home and have $3M in retirement and RE if the interest covers your monthly spend.

[Jason]

We do different calculations to answer different questions.
Total net worth might be calculated as a way of assessing progress (good) or comparing with others (usually unproductive).

I focus most on assets that can be used to generate income or liquidity to meet my ongoing financial needs.

Importantly, this approach focuses on the utility of assets, and looks at them as a tool, not a goal.

For that, I exclude my home (unless I plan to sell/downsize) and all personal property.

[Kevin]

Of course not. Those are assets.
Net worth = Assets minus liabilities.

As simple as that.

Anyone who doesn’t count their equity or other assets is either financially illiterate or simply ignorant.

[Elizabeth]

Those are all included in Net Worth, so do not exclude them.
If you are tracking progress towards your FI goal, that is a different calculation where I would exclude the 529 plans and the home equity.

I would include the HSA and 401k towards your FI goal.

[Kerry]

All technically part of net worth but we never considered the following as part of our “usable” net worth (i.e. FIRE target): 529s, because _we_don’t plan to be the ones using them, our home equity, because we plan to stay here forever, not use the equity to live on, and UTMA accounts that we created and manage, because the money’s not ours anymore.

HSAs we do count, since this is money we can and will use for expenses.

[Author]

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