How to track your net worth without a spreadsheet
Spreadsheets are where most people start tracking their money — and where most people quit. Here's how to track your full net worth without Excel or Google Sheets, keep the numbers current automatically, and still keep everything private.
Why a spreadsheet stops working
A net-worth spreadsheet looks simple at first: a column of assets, a column of debts, a total at the bottom. The problems show up over time:
- Prices go stale. Every stock, ETF and crypto needs to be updated by hand. Within a month your total is fiction.
- Formulas break. One wrong cell reference or a deleted row and the total is silently wrong.
- No real-estate value. A house is usually the biggest asset, and a spreadsheet can only hold the number you typed years ago.
- No currencies. Foreign accounts and assets need manual FX conversion every time rates move.
- No privacy model. A sheet synced to a generic cloud drive is readable by that provider and anyone with the link.
What "net worth" actually includes
Net worth is everything you own minus everything you owe. To track it properly you want all of it in one place:
- Investments — stocks, ETFs, bonds, mutual funds, crypto.
- Cash — checking, savings and term deposits, in any currency.
- Real estate — your home and any other property, at a realistic current value.
- Other assets — vehicles, private company stakes, pensions and severance.
- Debts — mortgages and loans, ideally linked to the asset they finance.
The five steps
- List everything you own and owe. Start with the big items; you can refine later.
- Use a dedicated app instead of formulas. Let the tool compute the total so there's nothing to break.
- Connect live prices, not manual entries. Pick something that fetches market prices and FX rates automatically.
- Add real estate with a real valuation. Use official data instead of a guess (see below).
- Review monthly and keep it private. A monthly snapshot reveals your trend; local or private-iCloud storage keeps it yours.
Spreadsheet vs a dedicated net-worth app
| Excel / Google Sheets | Dedicated app (e.g. Holdings) | |
|---|---|---|
| Market prices | Typed in by hand | Fetched live, automatically |
| FX conversion | Manual | Automatic, at current rates |
| Real-estate value | A number you guessed | From official datasets (OMI / HPI) |
| Mortgages | A separate row | Linked to the property they finance |
| History & charts | You build them | Built in, monthly |
| Privacy | Readable by your cloud provider | Stays in your private iCloud |
| Bank login | None — but no automation either | None required, yet still automated |
How to value real estate without guessing
Property is usually the part a spreadsheet handles worst. You can do better without an appraisal:
- In Italy, the Agenzia delle Entrate publishes the OMI quotations — market value per square metre by municipality, zone and property type. Multiply by your property's size for a defensible estimate.
- In the US, Germany and Spain, national house-price indexes (FRED Case-Shiller, Eurostat) let you project a purchase price forward to today.
Do you need to connect your bank?
No — and you may not want to. Many net-worth apps (Mint, Empower, Monarch) rely on bank aggregation through services like Plaid, which means handing over your banking credentials. A spreadsheet avoids that but gives you no automation. The middle ground is an app that automates market data (prices and FX, which are public) without ever touching your bank.
Holdings does all five steps for you
Holdings is a native Mac, iPad and iPhone app that tracks your full net worth — investments, cash, real estate, vehicles and debts — with live prices, automatic FX, and official OMI/HPI property valuations. No spreadsheet, no bank login, no account. Your data stays in your private iCloud.
See how Holdings works →Frequently asked questions
Can I track net worth for free without a spreadsheet?
Yes. Holdings tracks unlimited assets across all categories for free, including live prices and the growth dashboard. Only advanced extras (geography breakdown, real-estate valuations, goals, PDF export) are a one-time paid upgrade.
How often should I update my net worth?
Once a month is enough to see a meaningful trend. With an app that fetches prices automatically, "updating" is just opening it.
Is a net-worth app safe if it doesn't connect to my bank?
An app that never asks for bank credentials has nothing to leak. Holdings stores everything in your own iCloud and uses only public market data for prices.