It sounds intimidating and not fun at all, but your finances will be so much better for it.
“Make a list of everything you own financially speaking, your assets – like checking account balances, savings account balances and assets with significant worth like your home, car, retirement account and their current values,” O’Connell said. “Make another list of everything you owe – student loan balances, medical debt, credit card debt, etc. Subtract what you owe from what you own to calculate your net worth.”
You’ll likely feel better once you confront these numbers, she added.
“And even if things aren’t as great as they’d like, once they sit down and make an honest assessment of where they stand financially, they often feel more empowered to take the next step and make a change going forward,” she said.