What net worth is
Simply: what you own minus what you owe. Not your income, not your salary — this is what you have actually built.
It is also why an expensive car often pushes people backwards. It looks like an asset, but its value falls every year while the loan stays exactly where it was.
How to use it
Four times a year is plenty. Rising means the direction is right, even if the pace is slow. Falling is a question worth asking, no matter how good the salary looks.
Do not agonise over the value of pensions and policies — use whatever figure is on the statement. A consistent trend matters more than a perfect number.