Build your personal balance sheet
Net worth done properly: assets, debts, and the honest figure in between.
A personal balance sheet is the honest version of net worth. List your assets, list what you owe against them, and see what's really yours — laid out the way a business would do it, in plain language. It works entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
A list tells you the totals. A balance sheet tells you the truth.
Most people track wealth as a list of account balances: R 60,000 here, R 2.3m there. Add them up and you get a number. But that number quietly ignores what you owe against those assets — and it tells you nothing about how your wealth is held.
A balance sheet fixes both. It nets your debt against your assets, so the figure is honest. And it shows the shape of your wealth — in the example, half of it is one illiquid asset (property), and the bond against it is the single biggest claim on what you own. That's invisible on a list. On a balance sheet, it's the first thing you see.
A list of balances
Adds up what you have
Ignores what you owe against it
No sense of liquid vs locked-up
No structure — just a running total
A balance sheet
Assets less liabilities = the true figure
Shows your equity — what's truly yours
Shows debt as a claim on your assets
Reveals concentration and liquidity
The same discipline a business uses
This is the principle Mintelo is built on: track wealth with the same double-entry rigour a company uses for its books — so the number always reconciles, every month, without a spreadsheet. This tool shows you the snapshot. Mintelo keeps it current.
How to build a personal balance sheet
From a pile of accounts to one honest statement.
A personal net worth statement has three parts: your assets, your liabilities, and the net worth (your equity) that's left when you subtract one from the other. Here's how to fill each in.
1. List your assets at what they're worth today
Use current market value, not what you paid. For cash and investments, use the latest balance. For property, use a realistic resale price. For a vehicle, use trade value. Group them: cash and savings, investments, retirement, tax-free savings, property, vehicles and possessions, and anything else.
2. List your liabilities at the outstanding balance
Enter the amount still owed — the settlement figure, not the monthly instalment. Your home loan, vehicle finance, credit cards and store accounts, and any personal or student loans. The debt is a claim on your assets, so it belongs on the statement opposite them.
3. Subtract to find your net worth
Total assets minus total liabilities is your net worth. If it's negative, that's a shortfall — useful to know, and the honest starting point. The visual breakdown then shows how concentrated your wealth is and how much of it is financed by debt.
Common questions
After reading this section, if you still have questions, feel free to contact us however you want.
What is a personal balance sheet?
A snapshot of everything you own less everything you owe. The difference is your net worth, or equity. It's the same statement a business uses, applied to a household — and more honest than a list of balances because it nets debt against assets.
What's the difference between net worth and a list of account balances?
A list only adds up what you have. A balance sheet also subtracts what you owe, and shows the shape of your wealth — how much is liquid versus locked up, and how much is financed by debt. The net-worth figure is the honest one.
Is my financial data private?
Yes. Every calculation runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent to Mintelo or stored on a server unless you choose to email yourself a PDF copy.