Brian: I think there are only two really responsible thing to do when including a car in your positive asset list. One is to 1) assume when you would eliminate the asset, 2) estimate a residual value at that point, and 3) include that very diminished value in your worth. Two is to understand that a car is a more unstable asset than anything else you own, and call it a liability only. I take the most conservative route, and write a car off my net worth the day I aquire it. (I assume a car will eat more than its worth in other assets over its lifetime).

Marta: Not cooking, but for those modestly handy with wood; I have done turned wood pens, cutting boards, picture frames, and chopping blocks in the past. This year I am giving serving trays / cheese service sets. At $16 worth of silver maple per serving set, estimated $5 wear-and-tear on my tools plus incidentals each, and about 4 hours labor per tray I’ve estimated I am giving $85 service tray sets for a cost of $21 ea, and ‘paying myself’ $16/hr to do it. :)

I’ve found that your simple net worth calculator is an incredibly valuable tool for both inventory and inspiration.

I do have a question–how do you treat the value of a vehicle on the “asset” portion of the calculator? I use the KBB “Trade-in” Value as found on their website, and have been wondering if this is the “best” value to use, since I’m most likely to trade in when I make my next purchase.

Also, do you update the value over time as the car depreciates? As I have a long commute to and from my job, I’ve put quite a few miles on the car since I started the calculator–and thus, KBB tells me that my trade in value has dropped considerably. While I’d like to have my NW calculator as accurate as possible, the thought of dropping the car value from one week to the next (and losing approximately 15% of my “asset” value) is disheartening.

Thanks for the help!

So here we are on the door of December and choices have to be made. Each year it gets harder to decide what to do about the gift giving thing. My personal past is replete with spending beyond my means and then covering the dismay I feel at being further in debt by remembering the effect that each gift had on the receiver. I really do like to see other people happy. Unfortunately, this personality trait has been and continues to be a major cause in keeping me from really being debt free.

However, I have to say that this last year my awareness of frugality has been a major help in getting ready for this season of gift giving. For one thing, I don’t have any credit card debt and for another, I actually have set aside an emergency fund of sorts that (I know I shouldn’t think of Christmas as an emergency) I can now tap into to ease my way through. T. and I also have talked over the situation too and come to the conclusion that waiting for the after sales is a good idea. What I hope is that waiting will work like the count to ten rule and keep us from actually buying things we don’t need.

What is a complimenting factor is that she and I are spending more and more time working on and discussing all of the things that go into our life together. So as stressful as this time can be, it is also a great time to recognize how life at least on a personal level is good.

Now if we could just end this war and bring our troops home.

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Regardless, it looks like you guys are doing very well.

So you’d essentially divide your net worth at every point on the chart by the starting value. That obfuscates how much you really have, but still helps to illustrate your compound growth