One row per account, one column per month
The Balances tab is the only place you type numbers. Each account gets a row and a category — Cash, Retirement, Investments, Home, Vehicles, Mortgage, Car loans, Student loans, Credit cards, or one you add yourself. Each month gets a column.
Debts go in as positive numbers: if you owe $14,483 on a student loan, type 14483. The category tells the sheet it's a debt, so you never have to remember a minus sign.
Updating it takes about ten minutes
- Pick a day and keep to it — the 1st, or the day after payday. Balances move during the month, so the same day each time makes months comparable.
- Open each account and copy the balance into that month's column on the Balances tab. For the house and the car, use a cautious estimate and only change it a few times a year.
- Look at the Net Worth tab. If it says an account was left blank, you probably skipped one. Type 0 for an account you've closed or a loan you've paid off.
The example: where twelve months of growth came from
The file opens with 24 months of balances for an invented household: two retirement accounts, a brokerage account, an HSA opened partway through, a house with a mortgage, a car loan that ends in April 2026, a student loan and a credit card. In October 2026 its net worth is $257,250, up $52,123 on October 2025.
| Category | Oct 2026 | Oct 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | $15,161 | $10,310 | +$4,851 |
| Retirement | $105,648 | $80,580 | +$25,068 |
| Investments | $20,352 | $14,216 | +$6,136 |
| Home | $400,000 | $390,000 | +$10,000 |
| Vehicles | $16,300 | $18,850 | -$2,550 |
| Mortgage | $284,668 | $288,280 | -$3,612 |
| Car loans | $0 | $2,491 | -$2,491 |
| Student loans | $14,483 | $16,738 | -$2,255 |
| Credit cards | $1,060 | $1,320 | -$260 |
The Net Worth tab splits that $52,123 in two: assets grew by $43,505 and debts went down by $8,618. So in this household most of the gain came from saving and the markets, not from paying down debt. Retirement accounts alone added $25,068 — about $14,800 of that was new contributions, the rest was growth. The car lost $2,550 in value over the same year, which the sheet counts as a loss, as it should.
For debt categories, a minus in the Change column means less owed.
With and without the house
For most homeowners, the house is the biggest number on the sheet, and its value is only ever an estimate. That's why the Net Worth tab also shows net worth without the home: the home's value taken out, and the mortgage taken out too. For the example household that's $141,918 — the money it could actually reach without selling the house.
Which categories are left out is up to you. On the Settings tab, each category has a Yes/No switch. Rental property? Add a category for it and decide.
Things it doesn't do
- It doesn't connect to your bank. You type the balances yourself, so no app ever gets a login to your accounts.
- It doesn't adjust for inflation. A dollar in 2026 and a dollar in 2030 count the same.
- Retirement accounts are counted at their full balance, before any tax you'd owe when you take the money out.
- After 60 months the columns run out. Start a new copy and type your latest balances as its first month.